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{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2013}}
[[Image:Tenn-tom.gif|thumb|Map of the Tennessee-
The '''Tennessee–Tombigbee Waterway''' (popularly known as the '''Tenn-Tom''') is a {{convert|234|mi|adj=on}} man-made [[waterway]]
The ten locks are {{convert|9|×|110|×|600|ft|m}}, the same dimension as the locks on the [[Mississippi River|Mississippi]] above Lock and Dam 26 at [[Alton, Illinois]].<ref name=
{{cite news
|url = http://
|title = 20-year anniversary of Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway: Canal's success debated
|work = [[Tuscaloosa News]]
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|archivedate = August 19, 2016
|archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20160819174225/http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20050109/NEWS/501090357?p=all&tc=pgall
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|quote = The Tenn-Tom is at least 300 feet wide over its entire length, but the inside dimensions of its 10 locks are 110 feet wide by 600 feet long ... The locks on the Mississippi River are the same dimensions as those on the Tenn-Tom, but none of them are
|df = mdy-all
}}
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| quote = While early plans called for a canal 28 feet wide and four feet deep, with 44 locks, the 234-mile Waterway was built with a minimum width of 300 feet, a depth of nine feet (or more), and just 10 large locks (all 600 feet long and 110 feet wide).
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==Early history and construction==
First proposed in the Colonial period, the idea for a commercial waterway link between the Tennessee and Tombigbee rivers did not receive serious attention until the advent of
Enthusiasm for the project languished until the presidency of [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]]
As part of his "[[Southern Strategy]]" for
▲As part of his "[[Southern Strategy]]" for election, Republican [[Richard Nixon|President Richard Nixon]] committed to the project. He included $1 million in the Corps of Engineers' 1971 budget to start construction of the Tenn-Tom.<ref name="RufusWard1">Ward, Rufus. ''Tombigbee River. History Press, 2010.</ref> Funding shortages and legal challenges delayed construction until December 1972, but Nixon's efforts initiated official Tenn-Tom waterway construction.<ref name="RufusWard1" />
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began work on the project in 1972. During the construction process, land excavation reached about {{convert|175|ft|m}} in depth and required the excavation of nearly 310 million cubic yards of soil (the equivalent of more than 100 million dump truck loads). The project was completed on December 12, 1984, nearly two years ahead of schedule.<ref>Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway Development Authority.</ref>
==Controversy==
The $2 billion in required funding for the Tenn-Tom waterway was repeatedly attacked by elected representatives and political organizations. Opponents asserted that the estimated economic benefits of the waterway by the Corps of Engineers were unsupportable based on projected traffic volume. The waterway's essential economic rationales—that it would generate a demand for industries to locate along its banks, and use its barge handling
By 1977, the Tenn-Tom was merely one of many such Corps of Engineers projects that had been initiated on the dubious rationale that they would somehow directly or indirectly return to the Treasury their cost(s) of construction. Carter, and the economic advisors recruited to his administration, objected not only to the "waste" of taxpayer dollars on [[pork-barrel]] projects; they strongly disapproved of the distortions in investment that such expenditures caused within the "real" economy.<ref name="RufusWard1" />
An article published in the ''[[Tuscaloosa News]]'' on January 9, 2005, to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the opening of the canal
==Economic
When completed, the Tenn-Tom waterway's total cost was $1.992 billion, including non-federal costs
The [[1988–89 North American drought|1988 drought]], however, closed the [[Mississippi River]] and shifted traffic to the Tenn-Tom canal.<ref name="RufusWard1"/> This coincided with an economic turnaround on the Tennessee-Tombigbee corridor, wherein trade tonnage and commercial investment increased steadily over several years.
The two primary commodities shipped via the Tenn-Tom are coal and timber products, together comprising about 70 percent of total commercial shipping on the waterway.<ref name="Troy1" >"Economic Impacts of the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway". 2009. Troy University.</ref> The Tenn-Tom also provides access to over {{convert|34|e6acre|km2}} of commercial forests and approximately two-thirds of all recoverable coal reserves in the nation. Industries that
According to a 2009 [[Troy University]] study, since 1996 the United States has realized a direct, indirect, and induced economic impact of nearly $43 billion due to the existence and usage of the Tenn-Tom Waterway
==Divide Cut==
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==Locks and dams==
{{GeoGroup}}
The waterway is composed of ten locks (listed below from north to south along the waterway)
* [[Jamie Whitten Lock and Dam]]; formerly named Bay Springs Lock and Dam – impounds [[Bay Springs Lake]] {{coord|34|31|20|N|88|19|30|W|region:US-MS_type:landmark|name=Jamie Whitten Lock and Dam}}
* [[G. V. Montgomery Lock]]; formerly named Lock E {{coord|34|27|47.06|N|88|21|53.5|W|type:landmark|name=G.V. Montgomery Lock and Dam}}
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