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Q&A
Update on Blue Highways project and waterway transportation initiatives
0:51:32
ยท
110 sec
Council Member Salamanca inquires about the status of the Blue Highways project, and EDC President Andrew Kimball provides a comprehensive update on the initiative's progress and related waterway transportation efforts.
- EDC is working on multiple locations for the Blue Highways project, including Brooklyn Marine Terminal and sites in Manhattan, Queens, and the Bronx
- There's a focus on using the former prison barge location in Hunts Point as a transloading point for perishable goods
- EDC is collaborating with private sector companies like UPS, Prologis, FedEx, and Amazon to encourage waterway usage for goods transportation
Rafael Salamanca
0:51:32
I'm excited about the the Blue Highways project that we're working on now with the closure of the floating jail.
0:51:40
Can you give us a status of where we're at with the Blue Highways?
Andrew Kimball
0:51:46
Yeah.
0:51:46
Appreciate that.
0:51:48
Blue Highways is is very top of mind.
0:51:51
I'm spending significant portion of my days on it now between the work we're doing on the Brooklyn Marine Terminal as one of the key nodes.
0:52:00
We have a MARAD grant of $5,000,000 where we're looking at five other stops to deploy dollars.
0:52:10
Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, the Bronx.
0:52:14
Then there are the two locations on the Hunts Point Peninsula.
0:52:19
The work that you know of that we're looking at with the fish market and FDM as well as where the prison barge location is that could be a outstanding transloading point for perishable goods in containers being barged from the Brooklyn Marine Terminal.
0:52:36
I am hopeful working with you in the coming weeks.
0:52:39
We're going to take some major steps forward on that.
0:52:42
We're also working with the private sector, UPS, Prologis, FedEx, Amazon, to encourage, support, prod where necessary, folks to take a closer look at the use of the waterways.
0:52:59
There are some promising signs of those with significant warehouse distribution centers in the Jersey side finally realizing that the cost of having trucks paying tolls, getting stuck in traffic on the bridges, much less following the air in our neighborhoods is leading them to seriously consider, moving goods by water.