Cairo port project gets additional funding, but construction timeline still uncertain

Both the state and federal governments are pumping additional money into plans to develop a riverport in southern Illinois at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers.

President Joe Biden’s administration announced Wednesday that the Alexander-Cairo Port District will receive a $150,000 grant to develop a master plan to identify the scope for port development and the future of the riverport.

And the Illinois Department of Transportation recently authorized an additional $790,000 for planning and development.

The new federal money will come from the Delta Regional Authority, an agency established in 2000 to promote and encourage economic development of the lower Mississippi River and Alabama Black Belt regions. The funding is part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that President Biden signed in 2021.

The state money is part of a $40 million investment that was originally appropriated in the 2019 Rebuild Illinois capital improvements program.

That would cover only a fraction of the overall cost of development, which the Illinois Answers Project reported in March could be as high as $250 to $300 million. But officials have said they hope to receive private investment to cover most of the costs once they secure the necessary state and federal permits.