The final $33 million needed to complete the project is included in President Obama's 2017 budget proposal. Watch video
Additional federal funds have been approved for the $300 million Delaware River channel deepening project, officials confirmed.
The Army Corps of Engineers will receive nearly $22 million in its 2016 fiscal year budget and another $33.1 million is included in President Barack Obama's proposed 2017 fiscal year budget, Corps spokesman Ed Voigt said.
The project to deepen a 100-mile stretch of the channel from 40 to 45 feet began in 2010. The area covered by the dredging extends from Camden to the mouth of the Delaware Bay.
Work is currently under way to blast rock outcroppings in a stretch of river from Claymont, Delaware, to Philadelphia International Airport.
Once the deepening is complete, larger ships and vessels carrying heavier cargoes will have access to Delaware River ports.
A contract for work funded with the $22 million will likely be awarded this summer, Voigt said, while the final contract would come after Oct. 1.
If the $33.1 million is approved as part of the 2017 budget, that money would fund completion of the dredging project.
"It has to be approved by Congress, but we don't expect any hiccups," said Jacklin Rhoads, spokeswoman for U.S. Sen. Robert Casey, D-Pennsylvania, a longtime champion of the project.
After the $76.8 million rock-blasting work is complete, two additional contracts will be awarded to complete the channel deepening. Contract 9 will cover about 11 miles of dredging from north of Wilmington, Delaware, to Chester, Pennsylvania, while Contract 10 will cover remaining work in the Delaware Bay.
This dredging project was driven by the $5 billion expansion of the Panama Canal, a project which will be complete this year. Ports along the East Coast are scrambling to accommodate the larger vessels that will transit the canal, dubbed Post-Panamax ships.
Proponents of the Delaware River project say it will mean an annual increase of 2.5 million tons of cargo coming into the region's ports.
The channel deepening project is about 80 percent complete and is expected to conclude by the end of 2017.
Matt Gray may be reached at mgray@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MattGraySJT. Find the South Jersey Times on Facebook.