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America’s Central Port in Granite City, Ill., recently marked the signing of an $8.5 million Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant agreement that will help fund the construction of a new south harbor project. Last year, the port obtained a $6 million TIGER grant for the project’s first phase, which calls for installing new levee relief wells and building 9,600 track feet of new mainline to serve the new harbor facility.

The Tri-City Regional Port District, which governs America’s Central Port, plans to build the south harbor and connecting rail lines for the Southwest Regional Intermodal Freight Transportation Hub, a multi-modal inland waterway transportation barge port and associated rail/truck facility to be located in Madison County, Ill. The harbor is projected to handle export agricultural products from Midwest growers and shippers, and various import products.

The south harbor is a key element of the port’s intermodal transit gateway, providing a seamless connection between river, road and rail systems in the heart of America, said Dennis Wilmsmeyer, the port district’s executive director, in a prepared statement.

“[It] will connect major rail lines and four interstate highways with a lock-free, public inland waterway of national and regional significance,” said Wilmsmeyer. “This new harbor will create a new global maritime gateway, utilizing the marine highway of the Mississippi River to transport cargo from Chicago and points north to the ports of the Gulf of Mexico and beyond.”

America’s Central Port is served by BNSF Railway Co., CN, CSX Transportation, Kansas City Southern, Norfolk Southern Railway and Union Pacific Railroad, and connects with regional switching carrier the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis. Local switching services within the port are provided by the Port Harbor Railroad.