Mike Luken, Port of West Sacramento Manager has announced that the Port of West Sacramento has been included in President Obama’s proposed 2010 Civil Works budget for $10 million to re‐launch its ship‐channel deepening project.
Inclusion in the President’s budget proposal is a key step in securing the federal funding needed to move the $80 million channel‐deepening project forward.
     By deepening the 43‐mile ship channel connecting the Port to San Francisco Bay from 30 feet to 35 feet along its entire length, more than 75 percent of fully loaded oceangoing freight ships will be able to serve the Sacramento region, compared to less than 40 percent currently.
     Luken indicates that the project is a partnership between federal, state, and local governments. U.S. Representatives Mike Thompson, Ellen Tauscher, and Dan Lungren, who represent the Port in Congress, along with U.S. Senators Diane Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, championed the deepening project to bring it back online.
     The project also has received strong support from members of the Sacramento region state legislative delegation, including State Senators Lois Wolk, Darrell Steinberg, and Dave Cox, and Assembly members Mariko Yamada, Dave Jones, Roger Niello, and Ted Gaines.
     “This project is a great partnership between the Port, the federal government and the state, which is investing $10 million through the Trade Corridor Improvement Fund created with voter approval of Proposition 1B in 2006,“ said Senator Wolk, who represents the Port and West Sacramento.
     “We’re anxious to get the channel‐deepening project underway and pleased to know we have the President’s support at this critical juncture,” said Mike McGowan, chairman of the Sacramento‐Yolo Port Commission. “We need to get the project launched soon to help the Port remain viable as a key Northern California goods movement facility.”
     “This project is an excellent example of the federal government’s priority on restoring the nation’s infrastructure. It will help to generate tremendous private investment in Northern California and create the family wage jobs that are greatly needed to restore our nation’s economy,” said Christopher Cabaldon, Mayor of the City of West Sacramento and member of the Sacramento‐Yolo Port Commission.
     In addition to federal and state funding, the Port is investing up to $10 million in the project. Additional federal funding for the next phases of the deepening project will be requested through future budget processes.
     The channel‐deepening project, which was initially started in 1989 but later stopped due to since‐resolved utility issues, is scheduled to begin in 2010 with completion targeted for 2013. The federal Civil Works funding would support the first phase of construction.
     The channel‐deepening project is led by the US Army Corps of Engineers with the Port of West Sacramento serving as local sponsor. The deepening project is a top regional transportation priority of the Sacramento Area Council of Governments (SACOG), Sacramento Metro Chamber of Commerce, West Sacramento Chamber of Commerce, Stevedoring Services of America (SSA), and the California rice industry, the Port’s beneficial cargo owners and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU). All of these organizations played a pivotal role in moving the channel‐deepening project into its first phase of construction.
     Mike Luken stated that the project would reduce regional freeway congestion and air emissions; enhance cargo exports, such as rice; facilitate the import of cement, steel, large equipment, biofuels, and bulk fertilizer that support Northern California and Central California agriculture; bulk construction materials for private and public projects; and create habitat areas in the Sacramento River Delta.