Gulf Intracoastal Waterway

The Gulf Intracoastal Waterway ( GIWW ) is a waterway in the Southern United States and extends along the Gulf of Mexico from Brownsville, Texas to Fort Myers on the west coast of Florida. He, together with the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, stretching from Florida to Boston, Massachusetts, the Intracoastal Waterway.

History

In 1808, Treasury Albert Gallatin developed on behalf of the U.S. Senate a plan for a total state-funded system of roads and canals. This plan was marked by the tensions between the U.S. and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland with his possessions on North American soil. Since the naval supremacy in the North Atlantic was firmly in British hands, should be a near- coastal system of canals connecting the U.S. coastal cities by ship. The British -American War from 1812 to 1814 then again made ​​clear its urgency.

During the railway construction in the United States expanded greatly in the second half of the 19th century, skippers lost greatly in importance. It was not until 1880 created the first isolated canals, and with the domestic Waterways Commission, set up by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1907, the plans for large, deep -developed channels moved back into the center of U.S. policy. With the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1925, the construction of a continuous, 9 foot (2.7 m) deep and 100 foot began (30 m) wide waterway from New Orleans in Louisiana to Galveston in Texas. The great success of the track prompted Congress in 1927 to arrange the extension up to Corpus Christi in Texas. In 1942, then, the line was still up to Brownsville, directly on the border with Mexico, expanded. The next stage was 1962, the depression on 16 foot (4.8 m) and spread to ask, 200 foot (60 m).

Supervision

The Gulf Intracoastal Waterway is overseen by five districts of the Army Corps of Engineers. From west to east these are: the Galveston District, the New Orleans District, Vicksburg District, the Mobile District and the Jacksonville District.

Ports

Large 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