America s Inland Waterways

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1 America s Inland Waterways Original prepared by Steve Little Crounse Corporation Modified by Chuck Knowles Kentucky Transportation Center

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3 America s Inland Waterways: An Inland Marine Highway for Freight Transportation Portland Tulsa Houston Minneapolis/ St. Paul St. Louis Corpus Christi Chicago Mobile New Orleans Pittsburgh Our inland marine highways move commerce to and from 38 states throughout the nation s heartland and Pacific Northwest, serve industrial and agricultural centers, and facilitate imports and exports at gateway ports on the Gulf Coast. 12,000 miles of commercially navigable channels 240 lock sites

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5 Lock and Dam Infrastructure

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8 America s Inland Waterways: An Inland Marine Highway for Freight Transportation Moving the nation s commodities Barges are ideal for hauling bulk commodities and oversized or overweight equipment: Coal Grain Petroleum Iron & Steel Project cargoes Chemicals Aggregates Intermodal containers

9 2009 U.S. Waterborne Commerce 2.2 Billion Tons 61% Foreign Trade / 39% Domestic (857 million tons) Of Domestic: 61% on Inland Waterways

10 2009 Inland Waterway Commodities 2009 Inland Waterway Commodities (522 Million Tons)

11 America s Inland Waterways: An Inland Marine Highway for Freight Transportation Moving the nation s commodities Waterways transport: more than 60% of the nation s grain exports about 22% of domestic petroleum products 20% of the coal used in electricity generation

12 Advantages of Inland Waterways Transport: Easing Rail and Highway Congestion in Our Communities Units to Carry 1,750 Short Tons of Dry Cargo One loaded 1 barge covered hopper barge carries 58,333 bushels 16 rail cars of wheat, enough to make almost 2.5 million loaves 70 trucks of bread.

13 Advantages of Inland Waterways Transport: One 15-Barge Tow Equals 216 Rail Cars or 1,050 Trucks One 15-Barge Tow 1,050 Large Semi Tractor-TrailersTrailers 216 Rail Cars + 6 Locomotives

14 Advantages of Inland Waterways Transport: Easing Rail and Highway Congestion in Our Communities Waterways provide great cargo capacity and move freight more safely than truck or rail. In fact, they carry the equivalent of 58 million truck trips per year, with room to spare. If waterborne cargo were diverted to highway or rail: Truck traffic would double on the Interstates Rail tonnage would increase 25%

15 Hypothetical Case Study: Waterways Closure on the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers If cargo going through St. Louis by barge were shifted from the river system to the city s already crowded Interstates: Highway costs over 10 years would increase from $345 million to over $721 million Truck traffic on St. Louis Interstates would increase by 200% Traffic delays would increase by almost 500% Injuries and fatalities on Interstate segments would increase from 36% to 45% Maintenance costs would increase 80% to 93%

16 Advantages of Inland Waterways Transport: Moving Freight Efficiently Throughout America Transporting freight by water is also the most energy-efficient choice. Barges can move one ton of cargo 616 miles per gallon of fuel. A rail car would move the same ton of cargo 478 miles, and a truck only 150 miles Ton-miles Traveled per Gallon of Fuel

17 Advantages of Inland Waterways Transport: The Greener Way to Go Inland barges produce less carbon dioxide while moving America s cargoes. In terms of CO 2 produced per ton of cargo moved, inland barges have a significant ifi advantage over trains and trucks. Tons of CO 2 per Million Ton-miles

18 Advantages of Inland Waterways Transport: Safeguarding Our Health and the Environment Inland waterways transport generates fewer emissions than rail or truck per ton-mile. Barge transportation generates the lowest emissions as measured in grams per ton-miles in four standards tracked by the EPA: Particulate matter (PM) Carbon monoxide (CO) Hydrocarbons (HC) Nitrogen oxides (NOx) PM HC CO NOx PM HC CO NOx PM HC CO NOx 0.732

19 Advantages of Inland Waterways Transport: Safeguarding Our Health and the Environment Inland waterways transport moves hazardous materials safely. Overall, spill rates remain low. Trucks lose gallons per one million tonmiles, rail cars 4.89 gallons and barges 2.59 gallons per one million ton-miles. Rate of Spills in Gallons per Million Ton-miles 2.59 Spills of More Than 1000 Gallons

20 Advantages of Inland Waterways Transport: Safeguarding Our Health and the Environment Inland waterways transport has a low injury record compared to rail or truck. Ratio of Injuries in Freight Transportation For each injury involving barge transportation, there are 95.3 injuries related to rail and 1,609.6 truck-related injuries. 1,609.6

21 Advantages of Inland Waterways Transport: Safeguarding Our Health and the Environment Inland waterways transport has a low fatality record compared to rail or truck. Ratio of Fatalities in Freight Transportation For each barge transportation fatality, there are 18.1 fatalities related to rail and 132 truck- related fatalities. 132

22 Inland Waterways Reduce Cost of Transporting Many Commodities The inland waterway system saves ~$7 billion per year in costs to ship a vast amount of cargo

23 Enables Coal Fired Power Plants to Generate Electricity at Lower Cost 16.6% less expensive to operate on a navigable stream (TVA study)

24 Once Through Cooling Systems Depend on Navigation i Channels Almost all older power plants on navigable streams use once through cooling systems. A significant reduction in water depth would require construction of cooling towers or acceptance of outages during low water periods. Converting all power plants on the inland river system to cooling towers would cost $22.4 billion

25 Controlled Waterway Prevents Flood Damages Flood damages avoided by Corps of Engineers controlled reservoir projects was estimated to be $10 billion in 2008 TVA prevents damages of about $230 million annually in the Tennessee Valley and along the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers.

26 Economic Development Benefits Accrue from Navigation Example: TheOhioRiverSystem (ORS) Power Service Areas of the utilities operating on the ORS encompass 829 counties (27% of nation) Impacts due to the presence of a navigable Ohio River waterway $497 billion in output (discounted over 50 years) 80, in annual employment Source: Preliminary results from a University of Tennessee, Center for Transportation Research paper, Economic Evaluation of A Commercially Navigable Ohio River Wt Waterway System

27 Water Supply Relies on Wt Waterway Pools 72 federal locks and dams on the Ohio River System with 63 having pools with active water intakes In 2008, 388 active intakes withdrew 23.3 billion gallons of water

28 America s Inland Waterways: Anticipating Future Demands 1998 Truck Volumes on U.S. Highways (U.S. DOT reports)

29 America s Inland Waterways: Anticipating Future Demands 2020 Truck Volumes on U.S. Highways (U.S. DOT forecasts)

30 America s Inland Waterways: Anticipating Future Demands Waterways: well-positioned to respond to future needs

31 Lock and Dam Infrastructure

32 America s Aging Waterways Infrastructure Concrete deterioration at Chickamauga Crumbling lock wall, Lower Mon 3, opened in 1907 Leaking miter gates, Upper Miss Lock 19

33 Age of America s Locks Age in 2005 (Years) Number of Chambers *Includes all operational deep and shallow draft Corps and TVA navigation locks.

34 Chuck Knowles Waterways Research Coordinator Kentucky Transportation Center edu