Port of Omaha

The Port of Omaha is Omaha, Nebraska's receiving area for cargo from the Missouri River. The official Port of Entry for Omaha is located at 5229 Boeing Court in East Omaha. [ [http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/toolbox/contacts/ports/ne/3512.xml "Port of Omaha"] , U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Retrieved 1/26/08.] The Port was formally sanctioned by the U.S. Congress in 1888. [Mason, C. (1890) "The Veto Power: Its Origin, Development and Function in the Government of the United States. Ginn & company. p 145. Retrieved 1/26/08.]

About

Founded immediately on the settlement of Omaha in 1856, the Port of Omaha was surveyed by Benjamin H. Barrows. [ [http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9E05E3D61330E233A25752C3A9649D946196D6CF "Obituary Notes,"] "New York Times". Retrieved 1/26/08.] Originally located at the foot of Davenport Street in Downtown Omaha, in recent years that site has been redeveloped as a boat launch and docking location called Miller's Landing. In addition to originally handling outbound barge shipments of grain and passenger boats, the Port also handled inbound shipments of steel and asphalt. [Larsen, L.H., Cottrell, B.J. and Dalstrom, H.A. (1997) "Upstream Metropolis: An Urban Biography of Omaha and Council Bluffs." University of Nebraska Press. p 411.]

Starting in the 1930s the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers planned to channelize the Missouri River, and business leaders in Omaha immediately began clamoring for increased barge traffic to the city. In 1937 the Omaha Chamber of Commerce began lobbying the Nebraska State Legislature to create a dock authority that could take funds from the Public Works Administration to support the development of the Port property. The Union Pacific Railroad, based in Omaha, supported the move believing it would generate more business for its tracks. In 1938 John Latenser, Sr. drew up plans, which were subsequently submitted and denied by the PWA. Subsequent bids to the Reconstruction Finance Corporation and the Works Progress Administration failed as well, leaving the city without adequate docking facilities when barge traffic opened in 1940. [Daly-Bednarek, J.R. (1992) "The Changing Image of the City: Planning for Downtown Omaha, 1945-1973." University of Nebraska Press. p 96.]

A spur railroad line once shot to the location, and in the 1950s there were plans to develop the site with modern storage buildings and a crane for unloading; however, those plans did not come to fruition. [ [http://www.historicomaha.com/omhaair1.htm "Omaha from the Air: Port of Omaha"] , "Omaha World Herald". Retrieved 1/27/08.]

As part of its Yucca Mountain plan, the U.S. Department of Energy proposes using the Port to receive up to 125 barge shipments carrying giant high-level radioactive waste containers from the Missouri River from the Cooper Nuclear Station in Brownville, Nebraska. [ [http://www.nirs.org/factsheets/nemoksbargefactsheet92804.pdf "The Yucca Mountain dump plan would launch up to 125 barges of deadly high-level radioactive waste onto the Missouri River,"] Nuclear Information & Resource Service. Retrieved 1/26/08.]

A new, 11 mile segment of trail scheduled for the Omaha riverfront will provide the opportunity for recreation within sight of the Missouri River. The trail will stretch from the Port of Omaha to N.P. Dodge Park. The Missouri River Pedestrian Bridge will cross the Missouri next to the Port across to Playland Park in Council Bluffs.

ee also

* Transportation in Omaha
* History of Omaha

References