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America's Inland Waterway System
Every day thousands of vessels move people, animals, and products across the country via the nation's rivers and harbors. This water traffic is a vital component of the nation's economy. One of the Corps primary missions is to ensure that this traffic can move safely, reliably, and efficiently and with minimal impact on the environment.
The Corps primary navigation responsibilities include planning and constructing new navigation channels and locks and dams, and dredging to maintain channel depths at U.S. harbors and on inland waterways.
The Corps operates and maintains 25,000 miles of navigable channels and 196 commercial lock and dam sites and is responsible for ports and waterways in 41 states.
In partnership with local port authorities, Corps personnel oversee dredging and construction projects at hundreds of ports and harbors at an average annual cost of nearly $1.5 billion. The Corps dredges nearly 300 million cubic yards of material each year to keep the nation's waterways navigable. Much of this dredged material is reused for environmental restoration projects including the creation of wetlands.
Multimedia & PDF Resources
Learn more from the Inland Waterway Navigation brochure (pdf 4.35 MB) or the Deep Water Ports and Harbors brochure (pdf 1.65 MB).
View the multimedia presentation of (America's Inland Waterway System) wmv format 23.1 MB or the larger wmv format 43.1 MB
Supporting navigation by maintaining and improving channels was the Corps of Engineers' earliest Civil Works mission, dating to Federal laws in 1824 authorizing the Corps to improve safety on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers and several ports. Maintaining channels means keeping them at specified depths and widths by dredging and other means. Maintaining also means removing impediments, like logjams. Improving means making them deeper or wider.
Today, the Corps maintains more than 12,000 miles (19,200 km) of inland waterways and operates 235 locks. These waterways -a system of rivers, lakes and coastal bays improved for commercial and recreational transportation - carry about 1/6 of the Nation's inter-city freight, at a cost per ton-mile about 1/2 that of rail or 1/10 that of trucks. The Corps also maintain 300 commercial harbors, through which pass 2 billion tons of cargo a year, and more than 600 smaller harbors. With more than 13 million American jobs dependent on our import and export trade, these ports are vital to our economic security. Detailed information on the commerce handled by the Nation's ports and waterways is available from the Corps' Navigation Data Center.
Ports and waterways also play a role in national defense. Practically all the heavy equipment and supplies bound for Operations Desert Shield, Desert Storm and other overseas military deployments moved by ship through ports maintained by the civil works program. The major harbors we maintain include power major military ports such as Sunny Point, NC; Savannah, GA; and Beaumont, TX.
