MILWAUKEE (WTAQ) - It would be easier to transport goods on the Great Lakes under the proposed federal budget for next year.

President Obama's spending package for 2013 includes $31 million to dredge commercial harbors and navigation channels in Wisconsin and elsewhere in the Upper Midwest.

The budget includes 15 projects along the Great Lakes in Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and Minnesota.

Shippers have requested the dredging projects to improve the safety or harbors and navigation channels -- and to prevent low water levels which force shippers to reduce their loads on occasion.

Lieutenant Colonel Mike Derosier of the Army Corps of Engineers says the proposed improvements would create a better environment, a safer infrastructure, and a stronger economy.