The Shawneetown river port is reopening and getting an upgrade, as a part of the state's capital construction program.
The $11.2 million dollar investment will repurpose the closed coal loading dock and make it a offload terminal for grain and fertilizer.
State Senator Dale Fowler says there’s also a private investor that scrapped plans to invest in Mt. Vernon Indiana to invest in the Shawneetown Port.
“It was great to see them not go to Indiana and come over to southern Illinois, so hopefully this will continue to entice more out-of-state investment, and that's exciting too. We're seeing that in southern Illinois. We're now seeing out-of-state investment out of state companies looking at southern Illinois as a place to bring their business and put people to work.”
The project is estimated to provide nearly 300 construction jobs, more than a dozen cargo service jobs and around two dozen new trucking jobs.
