Corpus Christi, TX –Port Commissioners voted unanimously to approve its $15.5 million share of funding for the extension of the La Quinta Ship Channel and ecosystem restoration, the first major projects of the Port of Corpus Christi’s Channel Improvement Project. In 1990, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Port of Corpus Christi began studies to improve the width and depth of this city’s ship channel. The Channel Improvement Project includes widening and deepening the ship channel to handle increasing larger vessels; constructing barge lanes to separate ship traffic, making channel maneuvering safer; extending the La Quinta Channel to provide the necessary access for a proposed multi-purpose dock and container handling facility, and construction and restoration of a number of ecosystem habitats to enhance the quality of life in the Coastal Bend. In 2007, Congress authorized the Port’s Channel Improvement Project, but actual funding has only just been received and that funding is for only a portion of the Project—the extension of the La Quinta Channel and construction of the ecosystem restoration features. This project will provide deep water access to over 1,000 acres of Port property which is already fully permitted for the construction of a container terminal and a 3,800-foot multi-purpose dock facility. Congress awarded the Galveston District Corps $58,477,000 in federal funds to move forward with this project. The Port’s estimated cost-share is $15,500,000. Construction of the La Quinta extension is expected to start later this year and be complete in early to mid 2013. Terminal construction and operations will bring jobs and economic recovery to a region that recently experienced a severe decline due to the BRAC closure of Naval Station Ingleside. The terminal project has the potential to create 2,500 skilled and high-paying jobs during the construction phase providing some relief to the significant number of jobs affected by the base closure. “The approval by the Commission of the Port’s share of funding is part of our commitment to support the realization of one of the most important diversification projects undertaken by the Port,” said Mike Carrell, Port Commission Chairman.