Modernization of the Upper Mississippi locks system could finally be in sight with the help of new infrastructure funding Congress recently approved. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act includes $2.5 billion for inland waterways projects. That, plus annual spending could finally speed long-delayed replacement of 80-year-old Mississippi River locks, a key for Midwest agriculture. Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says the Army Corps of Engineers must soon tell Congress which specific projects it plans to fund.

He says the Corps’ system of prioritizing projects hasn’t always been about money and priorities outside the Midwest have for years put other projects ahead of the Upper Mississippi and Illinois Rivers…

Grassley says agriculture stands firmly behind this infrastructure prioritization.

The Army Corps included $4.5 million in its Fiscal Year 2020 work plan for planning and design work on new Upper Mississippi locks and environmental restoration–the first new funding since 2012. Congress originally authorized Upper Mississippi River locks modernization in 2007.