Federal transportation officials have approved more than $10 million for projects to improve air quality at ports in Jacksonville, Fort Lauderdale and Miami, the Biden administration announced Wednesday.
The money for the awards comes from a new program included in the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, according to a press release from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration.
The grants include $8.3 million to replace diesel-powered trucks with electric utility tractor rigs and install high-power DC fast chargers at the Talleyrand Marine Terminal in Jacksonville and the Port Everglades Terminal in Fort Lauderdale.
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The change is expected to “reduce truck emissions, queueing, idling and traffic congestion,” the release said. Another $1.8 million is going to a new terminal operating system at the Seaboard Marine Port in Miami.
The system is expected to reduce truck idling time at the gates by at least 10 minutes.
“The new system will improve the efficiency of trucks picking up or dropping off containers in the yard, reducing their operating time, the amount of carbon emissions, air pollutants and noise associated with idling trucks and equipment,” the release said.
The funding is part of $148 million in grants aimed at reducing truck emissions going to 16 port projects in 11 states and Puerto Rico.
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