Slicing through lowlands near Surf-side Beach, canal is most valuable waterway in America, carrying as much annual tonnage as the Panama Canal and more than twice that of St. Lawrence Seaway. The protected waterway was authorized in 1942 and completed in 1949. Now stretches 1,066 miles from Brownsville, Texas, to Carrabelle, Florida. Surf-side bridge on Texas 332 east spans Intracoastal Waterway to waters of the Gulf of Mexico.