Port of Pittsburgh Seeks New Technology Partners
The Port of Pittsburgh Commission (PPC) is building an innovative wireless broadband network along the rivers in Pittsburgh and is seeking partners to explore new applications for transportation, safety, security and environmental monitoring, according to James R. McCarville, Executive Director of the Port of Pittsburgh Commission. The project, called Wireless Waterways, consists of both the Network System Infrastructure (NSI), which will be scalable and expandable, and an Interoperability Test Bed (ITB). The project has been under construction for nearly a year by the PPC’s contractor, CONXX, Inc., from Johnstown, PA. The PPC will begin to conduct experiments within the Test Bed in June.
More Funding for Port of Pittsburgh District
The Port of Pittsburgh Commission Executive Director, James R. McCarville, praised the announcement from Senators Specter and Casey that additional funding was included for the locks and dams in the Port of Pittsburgh District. These funds included $25m for rehabilitation of the Emsworth Dam; $21.4m for maintenance on the Ohio River; $16.8m for maintenance on the Mon; and $9m for maintenance on the Allegheny River and $1.75 for the important study of the navigation needs of the Upper Ohio River at Emsworth, Dashields and Montgomery, all in southwestern Pennsylvania. Not as sufficient, however, was the $6.2m for the rehabilitation of Locks and Dams 2-3-4 on the Lower Monongahela river, near Pittsburgh.
Stimulus Funding for Port of Pittsburgh
“Fantastic”, was the response that James R. McCarville, Executive Director of the Port of Pittsburgh Commission, had to the announcement that the US Army Corps of Engineers planned to spend over $110m in Stimulus funding for navigation in southwestern Pa. Specifically, the $84m scheduled for Charleroi Lock in the Lower Mon 2-3-4 project, rescues a billion dollar project that otherwise might have had to go on to life support/shutdown. Those funds will be used to complete the construction of the river wall, and construct a new Upper Guard Wall and a new Lower Guard Wall to safely guide vessels in and out of the chamber. Thirteen million will be added to the $25.8m in the FY09 budget for repairs to the Emsworth Dam and $285…
Report Compares Inland Waterways Markets, Tech and Policies
"Inland Waterways and the Global Supply Chain" an International Conference Report on "SmartRivers 2006" is currently available at the Port of Pittsburgh Commission website www.port.pittsburgh.pa.us. SmartRivers is a coalition to benchmark best practices for inland waterways, on both sides of the Atlantic, and to help those waterways better integrate themselves into the global supply chain. “Benchmarking conferences were held in Pittsburgh in 2005 and in Brussels, Belgium Europe in 2006. James R. McCarville, Executive Director for the Port of Pittsburgh Commission. It set out the strategic similarities and differences of the US and European Union (EU) inland waterway systems.
