Intracoastal Waterway (redirected from Intracoastal Canal)

Intracoastal Waterway, c.3,000 mi (4,827 km) long, partly natural, partly artificial, providing sheltered passage for commercial and leisure boats along the U.S. Atlantic coast from Boston, Mass. to Key West, S Fla., and along the Gulf of Mexico coast from Apalachee Bay, NW Fla., to Brownsville, Tex., on the Rio Grande. The toll-free waterway, authorized by Congress in 1919, is maintained by the Army Corps of Engineers at a minimum depth of 12 ft (4 m) for most of its length; some parts have 7-ft (2.1-m) and 9-ft (2.7-m) minimum depths. Among some of the waterway's most often used canals along the Atlantic route are the Chesapeake & Delaware and the Chesapeake & Albemarle; along the Gulf route the most used are the New Orleans–Rigolets Cut, the Port Arthur–Corpus Christi Channel, and the Inner Harbor Navigational Canal at New Orleans. The separate Okeechobee Waterway, S Fla., crosses the Florida peninsula. Plans to build a canal across N Florida to link the Atlantic and Gulf sections were blocked in 1971 by a presidential order to prevent potential environmental damage. Many miles of navigable waterways connect with the coastal system, including the Hudson River–New York State Canal System, the Chesapeake Bay, the sounds of North Carolina, the Savannah River, the Apalachicola River, and the entire Mississippi River system. The Intracoastal Waterway has a good deal of commercial activity; barges haul petroleum, petroleum products, foodstuffs, building materials, and manufactured goods.

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Intracoastal Waterway [¦in·trə′kōst·əl ′wȯd·ər‚wā]

(navigation)

An inside protected route extending through New Jersey; from Norfolk, Virginia, to Key West, Florida; across Florida from St. Lucie Inlet to Fort Myers, Charlotte Harbor, Tampa Bay, and Tarpon Springs; and from Carabelle, Florida, to Brownsville, Texas.

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Intracoastal Waterway 

a system of canalized water routes along the shore of the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean in the USA.

The channel consists of two branches divided by the Florida peninsula: the Gulf branch, from Brownsville, Texas, to Apalachicola, Florida, and the Atlantic branch, from Boston to Miami, Florida. It is 2.85–3.66 m deep in the main sections, and it is accessible to sea vessels in certain portions. The main cargoes transported along the Gulf waterway, the more important of the two, are oil and oil products, metal pipes, and sulfur. Wood pulp, paper, and oil products are transported along the Atlantic branch. The channel is used for coastal transport.