The Jefferson County Port Authority has a deadline of June 1 to apply for a Port Infrastructure Development Program grant, facilitated by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration.
PIDP grants support ports’ efforts to improve infrastructure to meet America’s growing freight transportation needs, according to the DOT’s website. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, approved by Congress in 2021, allocated $2.25 billion for the PIDP grant program over five years, from 2022-2026.
Executive Director Cyndi Buchheit-Courtway said at the May 13 Port Authority board meeting that 187 organizations applied for the PIDP grant, and 37 received funding. Jefferson County was not awarded the $25 million it sought in the application, she said.
The Port Authority was founded in 1976 to make improvements in Jefferson County along the Mississippi River. The Port Authority owns and operates a port in Herculaneum on former Doe Run Co. property used for the loading and unloading of shipping vessels, as well as land in Kimmswick, intended to be used for riverboats to dock at, allowing tourists to explore the area.
APH, an international company, has selected Herculaneum to further develop the port to accommodate the company’s specialized barges that will carry large metal shipping containers from Plaquemines, La., up the Mississippi River. However, the deal is at a standstill while plans are being ironed out in Louisiana.
Additional plans are in the works for Kimmswick, including an outdoor steamboat-themed amphitheater and an extended dock that would allow more tourism boats to land.
A total of $488,628,000 in funding is available to be awarded as discretionary grants for the 2026 PIDP grant program, according to the DOT’s website, and another application period has opened for ports to try again.
Port Authority board members voted 8-0 to approve spending $40,000 on consulting services with WSP to reapply for the grant. Board member Rich Patterson was absent from the meeting.
“Thirty-four states and four territories requested $3 billion total,” Buchheit-Courtway said. “Thirty-seven projects were awarded. There is another grant opening up (and) the deadline is June 1. It’s a very tight deadline.”
The Port Authority paid WSP $95,000 for consulting services the first time it applied for the grant. Buchheit-Courtway said she received feedback on the grant application, and said, despite the fast-approaching deadline, the application process should go smoother this time around.
One port project in the state, in West Quincy, just north of Hannibal, was awarded a PIDP grant in this funding round.
The West Quincy Port Development Project received more than $27 million to construct a barge receiving dock, conveyors and an approximately 21,000-ton dry fertilizer warehouse.
At the May 13 meeting, the board also approved applying for a $700,000 MoDOT grant by May 27, which the Port Authority will apply for in-house.
Board chairman Derrick Good said the grant could be used to replace aging equipment at the Herculaneum port, or to purchase an additional storage building on the port site, thus allowing the Port Authority to accept more vessels and expand business.
Buchheit-Courtway told the board members that, due to the Port Authority’s checking account number being shared online, the Port Authority now must spend $226.15 per month for fraud protection through its bank.
She said the political group Missourians for Ethical and Transparent Government shared the account number on several Facebook groups, which caught the attention of the bank. She said the numbers were not censored when the Port Authority fulfilled an open records request from the group.
“Now, every morning, I have to go and log into our account and approve every single check that comes through to verify that it was a legit check that our group wrote,” Buchheit-Courtway said. “That’s $226.15 per month of taxpayer money that we have to spend.”
Buchheit-Courtway also announced that a project to replace the road leading to the Herculaneum port should begin soon.
The project hit a snag with easement agreements with Doe Run Co. and Energy Transfer, but she said the paperwork is now finalized.
The Port Authority awarded KCI Construction Co. in Creve Coeur a $2.2 million contract to replace the road with an industrial-use road. KCI was the lowest of three bidders for the project. The project is being funded with a state grant.