A bipartisan group of lawmakers is urging the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to create a new organization aimed at improving oversight and coordination of inland waterway infrastructure projects.
U.S. Rep. Bob Onder, (R-Mo.), and Chris Deluzio, (D-Pa.), led a letter to the Corps calling for the establishment of an Inland Navigation Construction Organization, or INCO, within USACE headquarters.
According to the lawmakers, the proposed organization would centralize oversight of inland waterway modernization projects, improve accountability, and better coordinate planning and execution across river systems and Corps districts.
“America’s inland waterways are one of our greatest natural advantages over our competitors, and they’re currently managed through a patchwork of disconnected regional structures, with limited centralized oversight and little long-term strategic coordination,” Onder said in a statement.
The lawmakers argued that inland navigation projects are currently managed as separate efforts despite the interconnected nature of the nation’s river system. They said that structure has contributed to delays, cost overruns, and inconsistent priorities across projects funded through the Inland Waterway Trust Fund and federal appropriations.
The letter notes that only three major inland navigation projects have been completed during the past 28 years, while several others have faced schedule delays stretching a decade or more beyond original projections.
Supporters of the proposal said the INCO would function as a centralized oversight body without removing project delivery authority from existing Corps districts or requiring new statutory authority from Congress.
Tracy Zea, president and CEO of Waterways Council Inc., backed the proposal, saying the inland waterways modernization program would benefit from being managed “as a single, coordinated national program rather than a collection of competing individual projects.”
Additional lawmakers signing onto the effort included Reps. Randy Weber, Mike Quigley, Emanuel Cleaver, Shomari Figures, Eric Sorensen, Wesley Bell, Troy A. Carter Sr., and Mark Alford.
The lawmakers said the inland waterway system moves hundreds of millions of tons of cargo annually and remains critical to the agriculture, manufacturing, and energy sectors.
