The Matrix was designed to help communities identify the current “value” of their navigational and port infrastructure, allowing them to extrapolate the potential costs for maintaining these resources in the face of changing water levels and storm conditions due to climate variation. Potential secondary economic impacts, such as those that could be anticipated as the result of the failure of primary support infrastructures, can easily be added to matrix data to expand the scope of economic impacts (this could be many times the value of primary structures).
To illustrate how the Infrastructure Matrix and Dredging Cost Tool can be used, two specific Great Lakes Ports and Harbors were chosen. The Port of Duluth/Superior in Minnesota and Wisconsin and the Port of Toledo in Ohio were chosen as case studies to apply the regional infrastructure Matrix and Dredging Cost Tool in Specific applications.