$250K Grant Advances Port Development Plans

A $250,000 grant award announced January 13 is another step toward making a new riverport in Wickliffe, Ky., a reality.

Gov. Andy Beshear’s office announced the award, which the Kentucky Water Transportation Advisory Board recommended last month. The funding will allow the West Kentucky Regional Riverport Authority (WKRAA) to excavate five acres of land comprising the former Fort Jefferson, an American Revolutionary War fort, in the middle of the 19-acre port project.

No historical buildings remain on the site where the fort once stood at Lower Mississippi Mile 950.2, where Mayfield Creek enters the river. However, construction would not have been possible without an archaeological assessment. Jerry Pace, executive director of the port authority, said Cultural Resource Analysts of Lexington, Ky., has been awarded the contract to excavate the site. An agreement with the city of Wickliffe calls for any artifacts collected to be displayed at a museum adjacent to a memorial to the fort and its inhabitants. The memorial was dedicated in October 2024 at a nearby park where a large cross overlooks the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers.

GEO Consultants of Kevil, Ky., is the prime contractor for work at the site, Pace said. The most recent efforts have included clearing brush to allow for archeological exploration. The first phase of an environmental study has already been completed, but additional phases are necessary, Pace said.

A Decade Of Work

WKRAA Board Chairman David Rambo noted that the grant award, from the 2026 Kentucky Public Riverport Construction and Maintenance (KPRCM) program, is the latest of several rounds of funding designed to help transform unused property owned by a paper mill into a working port. The site includes mooring cells and a concrete approach used during the paper mill’s construction and in some early operations by a previous owner.

In 2016, community leaders from Ballard, Carlisle, Hickman and Fulton counties, each of which touches the Mississippi River, formed the Kentucky Alliance for a Vibrant Economy (WAVE) and developed an economic plan. That spurred the creation of a port authority to examine the potential to develop a port near the confluence.

In 2020, the port authority hired Commonwealth Economics to complete an economic feasibility analysis, which was completed in 2021. It included a study of the regional market along with interviews to determine required acreage, storage space and key equipment as well as projected annual output and employment. It also compared projected net revenues to required capital expenditures.

In November 2023, the project received $300,000 from a Kentucky Product Development Initiative program grant, matched dollar for dollar by Ballard and Carlisle counties, for initial site development, including site overviews and the first significant engineering assessments. The board issued a Request For Information in March 2024 looking for an investor, developer or operator interested in the site “to solicit feedback and creative ideas from innovative and capable teams on how to best develop an inland riverport” as a public-private partnership, according to the RFI.

The riverport authority was awarded $250,000 from KPRCM funds for initial archaeological activities in January 2025. The funding received January 13 is designed to further that work.

“We have come a long way since we started,” Pace said.

What’s Next

Phoenix Paper has signed a site access agreement allowing developers to conduct due diligence work and studies but would like to see a higher level of engineering design before agreeing to a long-term lease agreement, Pace said. He emphasized that the plant wants to make certain that any operations would not disrupt plant production, including access to a nearby water intake.

Not having that lease secured means it has been difficult to receive federal funding necessary to fund that engineering work, however, Rambo said.

The port authority was a finalist for federal Port Infrastructure Development Program (PIDP) grants in 2023 and 2024 but was ultimately unsuccessful. Rambo said that as a result of conversations with federal officials after being notified the port authority did not receive those grants, the board has determined it would be better to seek state funding while continuing to look for potential investors in a public-private partnership. The estimated cost of the engineering work needed could exceed $2 million, he said, so a funding source will be necessary to proceed.

The port board is also working closely with other state agencies to make the site as attractive for developers as possible. Grant funding will allow the extension of a water main to the site. The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet has included an access road to the site from U.S. 51 in its future planning.

Rambo said that in the past 14 months the port board has spoken with three potential operators or developers, although no agreements are currently in place.

“We’re always open to agreements with anyone who would be interested in the project,” he said.

In addition to the primary port property, the board is also promoting the potential development of two acres of riverfront property owned by the city of Wickliffe that includes an existing boat ramp.

“We’ve done everything we know to do,” Rambo said.

Pace and Rambo continue to believe in the port project, saying it could be a key location for transloading grain, fertilizer, fuel and construction products, including rock, sand and salt. Its location near the busy confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers and below the last locks and dams on the system is ideal for almost any product moving to and from the Gulf, they said.

“We think this site is very complementary to Kentucky’s overall maritime effort and could have a significant impact on economic growth for the state,” Rambo said.