Gulf Intracoastal Waterway
The Gulf Intracoastal Waterway (GIWW) is a waterway in the southern United States and stretches along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico from Brownsville , Texas, to Fort Myers on the west coast of Florida . Together with the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway , which extends from Florida to Boston in Massachusetts , it forms the Intracoastal Waterway .
history
In 1808, Treasury Secretary Albert Gallatin developed a plan for a state-funded system of roads and canals on behalf of the US Senate . This plan was marked by the tension between the United States and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland with its possessions on North American soil. Since the control of the sea in the North Atlantic was firmly in British hands, a system of canals near the coast was supposed to connect the US coastal cities by ship. The British-American War from 1812 to 1814 made its urgency again.
While railroad construction expanded rapidly in the USA in the second half of the 19th century, inland shipping lost much of its importance. It was not until 1880 that the first isolated canals were built, and with the Inland Waterways Commission , appointed by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1907, plans for large, deep canals returned to the center of US politics. The Rivers and Harbors Act of 1925 began construction of a continuous, 9 foot (2.7 m) deep and 100 foot (30 m) wide waterway from New Orleans , Louisiana to Galveston , Texas . The great success of the route prompted Congress as early as 1927 to order the extension to Corpus Christi in Texas. In 1942 the line was expanded to Brownsville, right on the border with Mexico . The next stage in 1962 was the deepening to 16 feet (4.8 m) and widening to 200 feet (60 m) in places.
At sight
The Gulf Intracoastal Waterway is overseen by five Army Corps of Engineers districts . From west to east these are: the Galveston District, the New Orleans District, the Vicksburg District, the Mobile District, and the Jacksonville District.
Ports
Major Ports on or near the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway:
- Panama City , Florida
- Pensacola , Florida
- Mobile , Alabama
- Pascagoula , Mississippi
- Gulfport , Mississippi
- New Orleans , Louisiana
- Larose , Louisiana
- Houma , Louisiana
- Morgan City , Louisiana
- Intracoastal City , Louisiana
- Lake Charles , Louisiana
- Port Arthur , Texas
- Galveston , Texas
- Texas City , Texas
- Corpus Christi , Texas
- Brownsville , Texas