North Carolina's ICW: Neglected Economic Engine

What would you think of an infrastructure project that reduces petroleum imports, reduces congestion on I-95 and 17 without expensive and disruptive construction, and brings sustainable jobs to thirteen counties in Eastern North Carolina? How could that be done? Improve and expand the North Carolina portion of the Atlantic Section of the Intracoastal Waterway as an integral part of the North Carolina and national transportation system.

Advantages:

• Water transport of cargo is the most fuel efficient and lowest cost method. A gallon of fuel moves a ton of cargo eight times as far on water as on land;
• Water transport is by far the least costly and safest of all transportation modes and has the lowest environmental impact;
• A single barge carries as much cargo as 58 trucks; typical tows are from four to fifteen barges – a single tug and fifteen barge tow replaces 870 trucks;
• USDOT projects truck traffic on I-95 will double by 2030 increasing an average of 10,000 trucks per day, equivalent to a dozen fifteen barge tows;
• Increased ICW traffic would offer the opportunity for steel barge and tug construction and maintenance, barge cleaning and storage operations and related economic development opportunities in Eastern North Carolina.

Problems:

• Decades of neglect of the ICW, lack of funding for maintenance dredging, postponed modernization projects, lack of official advocacy by the State of North Carolina;
• Failure to view the ICW as part of an integrated transportation system: the State agency that interfaces with US Corps of Engineers is Fish and Wildlife, not DOT;
• Failure to involve counties and regional councils of government (COGs): the only NC commission with ICW responsibility is the Morehead City Navigation and Pilotage Commission, with responsibility as far as Aurora, but whose membership is required to be from Carteret County (ICW transits 13 counties);
• Shortage of intermodal transshipment facilities at railheads and ocean ports;
• Failure to adapt highway asset management strategies to waterway infrastructure analysis

Recommendations:

• Create a North Carolina ICW Commission with membership from each of the 13 bordering counties, regional COGs and rural transportation planning organizations (RPOs) to develop a comprehensive, coordinated plan for water transport, integrated with land transportation planning and economic development planning;
• Investigate opportunities for intermodal transshipment facilities at Washington, New Bern, Morehead City, Jacksonville, Wilmington, Southport and other locations along the ICW with rail and truck facilities;
• Charge NCDOT with task of ICW transportation planning;
• Assign a cabinet level official to interface with US Army Corps of Engineers

For more information, consult the following:

Waterways Council, Inc., (WCI), the national public policy organization that advocates for a properly funded and well-maintained system of inland waterways and ports.
Bluewater Charts & Books Newsletter -Following the Intracoastal Folly: What is happening to keep the waterway running
NC State Ports Authority - 21stCentury Transportation Intermodal Committee - February 21, 2008 Report

North Carolina Coastal Federation
US Army Corps of Engineers: Inland Navigation - Value to the Nation
North Carolina Beach, Inlet & Waterway Association