Inland Waterways Capital Development Plan:
Invest in America’s Inland Waterways
Transportation System 

Modern lock and dam infrastructure is critical to U.S. competitiveness in the world market, to environmental protection, to energy efficiency, to the sustainment of well-paying American jobs and to congestion relief.  America’s inland waterways are a precious resource, and the envy of the world because of the natural “water highway” the waterways system provides for commerce. 

In mid-April, the Inland Waterways Users Board (IWUB) ratified unanimously the Inland Marine Transportation System Capital Projects Business Model, designed to improve the reliability of this critical system and provide a way forward for the next two decades. 

Read more about this comprehensive, consensus package of recommendations developed by a government/industry team:

• IMTS Capital Projects Business Model Final Report (6 MB)

• Executive Summary

• “Inland Navigation Construction Selected Case Studies: Marmet Locks & Dam, Monongahela River Locks and Dams 2, 3, 4, Olmsted Locks and Dam,” prepared by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Great Lakes and Ohio River Division, July 17, 2008

• PowerPoint presentation

• Congressional testimony

• Steve Little before House Transportation & Infrastructure subcommittee

• Matt Woodruff before Senate Environment & Public Works Committee

More than 200 organizations that rely on the nation's waterways have signed a declaration of support for the IMTS Capital Projects Business Model

•  Read the declaration and an alphabetical list of supporters

•  Add your organization's support to the declaration

•  Frequently Asked Questions

Read a joint news release from Waterways Council, American Waterways Operators, and National Waterways Conference on the occasion of the IWUB's adoption of the Capital Projects Business Model (April 13, 2010)

WCI's May 5 Capitol Currents newsletter offers additional coverage of the IMTS Capital Projects Business Model.

A Modal Comparison of Domestic Freight Transportation Effects on the General Public

This study was conducted by the Texas Transportation Institute, Center for Ports and Waterways, and released in November 2007. Conducted over a one-year period and peer-reviewed by independent university-based experts, the study was co-sponsored by the U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD), and the National Waterways Foundation.  It was amended in March 2009 to include additional information about the carbon footprint of different modes of transportation.

• Study

• Executive Summary

• Waterways: Vital to the Nation

• News Release:

• New National Study Compares Freight Transportation by Barge, Truck and Train

• National Waterways Foundation Produces Research on Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Amends Study Comparing U.S. Freight Transportation Modes

• Brochures:
  

  • Waterways Working for America

  
  

  • Advantages of Inland Barge Transportation: A Smaller “Toward A Full Accounting of the Beneficiaries of Navigable Waterways,” by Dr. Larry G. Bray, C. Michael Murphree, M.A., and Chrisman A. Dager, MBA, Center for Transportation Research, University of Tennessee, January 2011

  • Carbon Footprint

• Presentation (PowerPoint): 
  Waterways Working for America [7 MB file; right click and select "Save link as..." or similar command]