Port Infrastructure: Financing of Navigation Projects at Small and Medium-Sized Ports

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Army Corps of Engineers' financing of navigation projects at small and medium-sized public ports, focusing on: (1) how small and medium-sized public ports financed the nonfederal share of the cost of navigation projects from 1986 through 1999; (2) the extent to which projects have been terminated or suspended at small and medium-sized public ports during this period because the ports were unable to demonstrate a feasible source of funding for the nonfederal share; and (3) whether federally sponsored innovative financing mechanisms could help small and medium-sized public ports fund the nonfederal share of navigation projects.