Maritime Mobility
As the nation's lead agency for waterways management, port safety and security, and vessel safety inspection and certification, the Coast Guard maintains a continuous and clear focus not only on the prevention of marine accidents but also on the response measures needed to cope with manmade and natural disasters. The Coast Guard also is responsible for maintaining and patrolling the safe and efficient navigable waterways system needed to support domestic commerce, facilitate international trade, and ensure the continued availability of the military sealift fleet required for national defense. Domestic icebreakers that keep shipping lanes open for commercial traffic in winter and the Vessel Traffic Services system that coordinates the safe and efficient movement of commercial vessels through congested harbors are two examples of how the Coast Guard maintains the waterways.
The Coast Guard maintains the "signposts" and "traffic signals"--more than 50,000 federal aids to navigation, including buoys, lighthouses, day beacons, and radio-navigation signals--on the nation’s waterways. These navigation aids provide a critical component of the overall navigational picture needed by all mariners. The Coast Guard's maritime Differential Global Positioning System network is fully operational and provides boaters and mariners the most accurate electronic maritime navigation system available. Like plowing snow-covered roads, Coast Guard domestic icebreakers keep shipping lanes open as much as is reasonably possible for commercial traffic in winter. In congested harbors, the Coast Guard coordinates the safe and efficient movement of commercial vessels through its Vessel Traffic Services system.The Coast Guard is also responsible for approximately 18,000 highway and railroad bridges that span navigable waterways throughout the country. The Coast Guard issues permits for bridge construction, orders obstructive bridges to be removed, and oversees drawbridge operations.