Tennessee–Tombigbee Waterway: Difference between revisions

[[Image:Tenn-tom.gif|thumb|Map of the Tennessee-TombstoneTombigbee Waterway]]

The '''Tennessee–Tombigbee Waterway''' (popularly known as the '''Tenn-Tom''') is a {{convert|234|mi|adj=on}} man-made [[waterway]] built in the late 20th century that extends from the [[Tennessee River]] to the junction of the [[Black Warrior River|Black Warrior]]-[[TombstoneTombigbee River]] system near [[DemolishDemopolis, Alabama]], United States. The Tennessee–TombstoneTennessee–Tombigbee Waterway links commercial navigation from the nation's midsection to the [[Gulf of Mexico]]. The major features of the waterway are ten [[Lock (water navigation)|locks]] and dams, a {{convert|175|ft|m|adj=mid|-deep}} cut between the Tombigbee River watershed and the Tennessee River'''''Bold text''''' watershed, and {{convert|234|mi|km}} of navigation channels.<ref>"Tenn-Tom Waterway Key Components". 2009. Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway Development Authority. Available at <httpdhttp://www.tenntom.org/about/componentttwkeycomponents.htm>.</ref>

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=TuscaloosaTuscaloosaNews2005-01-09>

|url = http://Tuscaloosawww.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20050109/NEWS/501090357?p=all&tc=pallpgall

|deadurlurl-status = yesdead

|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 [is] south of St. Louis, which means commercial traffic isn't slowed down by navigating a lock system.

| accessdateaccess-date = January 2, 2013

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 river [[steamboat]] traffic in the early nineteenth century. It stimulated trade throughout the river cities, and the ability to get products to the Gulf Coast for overseas shipping. As steamboat efficiency gains caused [[water transport]] costs to decline, in 1875 engineers surveyed a potential canal route for the first time.<ref name="vanwest1">Van West, Carroll. ''Tennessee History''. University of Tennessee Press, 1998.</ref> However, theyThey issued a negative report, emphasizing that prohibitive cost estimates kept the project from economic feasibility.<ref name="vanwest1" />

Enthusiasm for the project languished until the presidency of [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]], who took office during the [[Great Depression]] and quickly conceived of investment in major infrastructure projects to put many of the unemployed to work. The development of the Tennessee River by the [[Tennessee Valley Authority|TVA]], especially the construction of the [[Pickwick Landing Dam|Pickwick Lock and Dam]] in 1938, helped decrease the Tenn-Tom's potential economic costs and increase its potential benefits. Pickwick Lake's design included an embayment on its south shore at Yellow Creek, which would permit the design and construction of an entrance to a future southward waterway (leading to the Tombigbee River), should it be decided that such a waterway should be built in the future. Later, construction (under World War II emergency authorization) of [[Kentucky Dam]] at [[Gilbertsville, Kentucky]], near the mouth of the Tennessee River's entrance into the [[Ohio River]], would complete the "northern" half of the future waterway.<ref name="vanwest1" /> As early as 1941 the proposal was combined with other waterways, such as the [[St. Lawrence Seaway]], with the aim of building broader political support.<ref>''The St. Petersburg Times'', April 13, 1941, pg 10</ref> Additionally, political candidates began to favor the construction of the waterway for political reasons, that is, in order to appeal to the voters in the [[Southern United States|South]], rather than for economic reasons. In the early 1960s it was proposed that the canal could be created by use of atomic blasts.<ref>''The Florence'' (Alabama) ''Times'', September 21, 1960, pg 3</ref>

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 capacity—simplycapacity— didwere not realized (as its critics had correctly predicted). materialize, nor did theThe growth in traffic volume on the existing [[Missouri River|Missouri]] – Ohio – Mississippi waterway did not require athe second, parallel route (the Tenn-Tom), between [[Cairo, Illinois]], and the Gulf of Mexico. Immediately after his election in 1976, Democratic President [[Jimmy Carter]] announced a plan to slash Tenn-Tom federal funding. He was seeking to balance federal spending after high expenditures for years over the Vietnam War.

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" /> HoweverBut, after overmore than 6,500 waterway supporters attended a public hearing held in [[Columbus, Mississippi]], as part of Carter's review of the proposed waterway, the President withdrew his opposition.<ref name="RufusWard1" />

A series of lawsuits were filed by theThe [[Louisville and Nashville Railroad]] filed a series of lawsuits to halt construction of the waterway.<ref name="WmFerris1">Ferris, William. ''Encyclopedia of Southern History''. University of North Carolina, 1989.</ref> Railroad companies, who served as a major transport alternative to river traffic and stood to potentially lose the most value from itsconstruction creationof the waterway, asserted that the waterwayits construction violated the [[National Environmental Policy Act]].<ref name="WmFerris1" /> Nevertheless, federalFederal courts ruled in favor of the project.<ref name="WmFerris1" />

An article published in the ''[[Tuscaloosa News]]'' on January 9, 2005, to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the opening of the canal, noted that it carried just 7 million tons of cargo in 2004,<ref name=TuscaloosaNews2005-01-09/> only one-quarter of the 28 million tons which proponents of the canal had projected for the canal's first year. The Mississippi River system, in contrast, carried 307 million tons of cargo in 2004. Proponents had predicted the canal would carry 99 million tons by 2035.

==Economic impacteffects==

When completed, the Tenn-Tom waterway's total cost was $1.992 billion, including non-federal costs, which led. someSome political and economic commentators to deridederided the Tenn-Tom waterwayproject as "pork-barrel politics at its worst".<ref name="vanwest1" /> For the first few years after its creationcompletion, thesesuch criticismscriticism appeared valid. The Tennessee–Tombigbee Waterway had opened in the midst of an economic [[recession]] in the barge business, which resulted in initially disappointingly low use of the waterway.<ref name="WmFerris1" />

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 utilizeuse these natural resources have found the waterway to be their most cost-efficient mode of transportation.<ref name="Troy1" /> Other popular Tenn-Tom trade products carried on the Tenn-Tom include grain, gravel, sand, and iron.

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,. andThe itproject has directly created more than 29,000 jobs.<ref name="Troy1" /> Without the waterway as a viable source of transportation, an average of 284,000 additional truckloads per year would be required to handle the materials currently being shipped.<ref name="Troy1" />

The waterway is composed of ten locks (listed below from north to south along the waterway); many are named after Southern politicians who supported the project: