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Grounbreaking Port Freeport

[ April 16, 2021   //   ]

Port Freeport in Freeport, Texas, celebrated a historic milestone on April 8, 2021 with a ceremonial groundbreaking for the Freeport Harbor Channel Improvement Project, a federal cost-shared
initiative with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). The channel is being dredged from its current 46 feet to depths ranging from 51 to 56 feet.
The channel deepening project has been a strategic initiative for Port Freeport for many years, receiving Congressional authorization in 2014. The area’s ongoing industrial expansion fueled by the production of shale oil and gas and the Port’s proximity to fast-growing populations
have intensified the need for this project.
Port Freeport was one of two seaports nationwide to receive a “new start” designation in February 2020 for commencement of construction. In June, Port Freeport entered into a Project Partnership Agreement (PPA) with the USACE, and the first dredging contract was awarded in
September. The estimated total cost of the project is $295 million, of which the federal government share is $165 million and Port Freeport as the local sponsor will contribute the remaining $130 million to be funded by the 2018 voter-approved bond package. To date, Port Freeport has received $43.9 million in federal funding for the project.
The project will take approximately five years to complete, coinciding with the 100th anniversary of Port Freeport being created by the voters of Brazoria County, who in 1925 recognized the importance of diverting the Brazos River, so the region would have a reliable, deep-water port for the movement of commerce.

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