[20200707]IF11593_内陆和沿海水道：国会入门和议题.pdf

https:/crsreports.congress.gov July 7, 2020Inland and Intracoastal Waterways: Primer and Issues for CongressThe federal government improves and maintains a system of 12,000 miles of inland and intracoastal waterways with over 200 lock and dam chambers. This system facilitates the interstate movement of commercial cargo by barge. Commercial navigation on these waterways annually moves over 500 million tons of commodities, including petroleum products, farm inputs (e.g., fertilizer), coal, and grainsaccounting for 4% to 5% of total commercial tonnage shipped in the United States. High-value cargo in containers rarely moves on the inland or intracoastal waterways. Most of the waterways are rivers (e.g., Mississippi River and its tributaries) or along coasts located in the central and eastern half of the conterminous United States. Although these waterways are a relatively small part of the nations freight transportation network, they are an important transportation route in some regions. Other waterway stakeholders include recreational boaters (the dominant traffic on the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway), entities that have special equipment transport needs (e.g., nuclear power facili