Funding from the Infrastructure Law will be used to upgrade installations along 25,000 miles of U.S. inland waterways.  Approximately $2.5 billion has been earmarked for improvement of locks and to increase the depths of canals.  Over $850 million has been assigned to projects along the upper reaches of the Mississippi River critical to barge shipment of corn and soybeans to livestock producers in the southeast and for export.

It is estimated that a 15-barge tow is equivalent in capacity to six freight trains with 220 cars or over a thousand semi-trailers with evident impact of freight cost and environmental impact.

The barge system especially for tributary waterways leading to the Mississippi is critical to poultry production and export as evidenced by the sharp increase in freight rates caused by low water levels due to drought in 2023.