Paducah Riverport West receives $24 million federal grant for first-phase construction

The Paducah-McCracken County Riverport Authority received a $24 million federal BUILD grant on July 1, 2026, advancing the planned Riverport West expansion in McCracken County toward permitting and first-phase construction.

The project is planned near Ohio River Mile 944 in West Paducah, adjacent to the Triple Rail Site and less than two miles from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Paducah Site. The grant supports the first phase of a larger port expansion, but construction has not begun.

First phase is not the full port buildout

A March 1 Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development project report identified McCracken County Fiscal Court as the state-match applicant and approved $5 million through Kentucky’s GRANT Program. The report estimated total Phase I costs at approximately $30.2 million and described a $25 million BUILD request made before the federal award was announced.

The July 1 award was $24 million. Combined with the $5 million match, that is less than the approximately $30.2 million Phase I estimate, so final funding and project execution documents will determine how the award and match are applied.

Phase I is planned to include the main access and heavy-haul road and one riverfront barge berth. The broader Riverport West concept includes three barge berths, a larger dock and rail infrastructure, but the federal award does not fund the entire planned buildout. Later dock and rail phases will require additional state or federal funding.

Design is advanced, but permits remain

The Kentucky project report listed Riverport West at 90% design and said the project would advance into NEPA environmental review, permitting and construction after the federal award. A July report from The Waterways Journal said environmental studies had been completed and that final state and federal permitting remained before construction.

The state report also listed an expected federal award decision date of September 1, 2026. That date was prepared before the actual July 1 announcement and is not the current award date.

Why Paducah officials pursued the project

Paducah’s existing public riverport, now referred to as Riverport East, is near capacity, according to city and project records. The City of Paducah said its current facility at 2000 Wayne Sullivan Drive was at full capacity when commissioners supported the Riverport West funding application in February.

Riverport West is intended to add multimodal capacity near the Triple Rail Site, connecting future river, road and rail logistics in western McCracken County. The site’s proximity to the DOE Paducah Site is part of the transportation rationale, but the project materials reviewed do not establish a committed customer for the new port.

Projected 2027 start and 2028 completion

Riverport Authority Executive Director Jimmie Garrett told The Waterways Journal that construction is expected to begin in 2027 and finish in 2028. Those dates are projections, not a final construction commitment, and depend on permitting, procurement and project execution.

Garrett also projected that the completed site would employ about 14 additional workers. For Paducah-area residents and businesses, the immediate effect of the grant is the availability of federal funding to move the project through final design, permitting and the first funded access and berth improvements—not construction activity already underway.

The next practical milestones are completion of required environmental and permitting work, final design, funding coordination and construction procurement.

Sources

• Comer Announces $24 Million Secured for Paducah’s Riverport West Project
• Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development GRANT Program Project Report, March 1, 2026
• $24 Million Grant Advances Paducah Port
• City Commission Meeting Highlights — February 10, 2026