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Navigation and safety working group presses federal support for anchorages, sensors and bridge risk work
Summary
Captain Watiney told the commission that bridge fendering, anchorages and sensors need attention and requested federal dredging, surveys and funding for sensors and current meters; he cited $79,000 for air-gap sensors and a $400,000 appropriation for current meters via congressional directed spending.
Captain Watiney presented the Navigation and Safety Working Group's recommendations and requests for federal and state support to address immediate navigational risks.
Watiney said the Interstate 10 bridge sensor installations are underway and reported that the commission, with DOTD and the governor's office, secured $79,000 to add three air-gap sensors on bridges. "We also acquired another $400,000 sponsored by Senator Bill Cassidy under the congressionally directed spending appropriations in fiscal year 2024. These funds are dedicated to current meters," he said.
The captain urged the commission to request assistance from the governor's staff to press U.S. senators and representatives for Army Corps action to dredge and survey anchorages, citing a specific authority in the transcript as "word of 2020 section 106." He identified Pallet Town Anchorage as a priority safety issue where ships entering the Mississippi face unsafe conditions without the ability to anchor.
Watiney also asked the commission to consider studies of fendering systems on bridges for larger ships and proposed alert systems that pilots could trigger through vessel traffic systems. He said the work overlaps with Coast Guard risk assessments and recommended coordination with the Corps of Engineers and Coast Guard as their national port risk assessments are finalized.
The working group additionally supported the towing industry's request for fixed bridges on the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway and sought establishment of a task force with industry, the Coast Guard, DOTD and other stakeholders to coordinate infrastructure decisions.
The commission agreed to place formal requests raised in the working group's final report on the next general-session agenda once the report is submitted.
