UMRBA Announces Expansion Of Navigation Assets Inventory
The Upper Mississippi River Basin Association (UMRBA) announced on September 25 the expansion of a key navigation asset to include information from a 734-mile stretch of the Missouri River for the first time.
The Navigation Assets Inventory, launched in 2021, is an interactive map that features ports, terminals, boat accesses and other navigation-related information on Marine Highways 35 and 55, allowing users to search for intermodal access with a certain dock type or storage capacity. The expansion of the Navigation Assets Inventory includes an additional 734 miles of navigable river from Sioux City, Iowa, to St. Louis, including two ports, more than 50 terminals and 14 live National Weather Service and U.S. Geological Survey stream gauges.
The expanded Navigation Assets Inventory now includes Marine Highways 35, 55, 29 and 70, creating new opportunities for ports, terminals and operators to access federal funding, technical support and other resources to expand or develop new shipping services and make the Missouri and Upper Mississippi rivers a more cost-effective and self-sustaining transportation route.
UMRBA hosts the Navigation Assets Inventory as part of its efforts to facilitate interstate coordination and leadership on behalf of the five Upper Mississippi River states–Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri and Wisconsin.
“Use of the Upper Mississippi and Missouri rivers for freight supports and improves the flexibility of the entire U.S transportation system and increases our economic competitiveness in a global marketplace,” Iowa DOT Director Scott Marler said.
“Through UMRBA, the states’ DOTs work collaboratively to achieve full integration of the inland waterways into the nation’s surface transportation system, ensuring that reliable, regularly scheduled, competitive and sustainable services are routine choices for shippers in the Midwest,” Missouri DOT Director Patrick McKenna said.
The expanded Navigation Assets Inventory is available here: umrba.org/navigation-assets-inventory.
The Upper Mississippi River Basin Association is a five-state interstate organization formed by the governors of Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri and Wisconsin to coordinate the states’ river-related programs and policies and work with federal agencies that have river responsibilities.
For more information about UMRBA, visit www.umrba.org.
