Intracoastal Waterway ‘Now Dangerous’

by Cruising Editor on 18 May 2006 Citizens of eastern US states have long been blessed with an inland waterway which spans the entire length of the east coast. It’s called the ‘Intracoastal Waterway’, ICW for short, or affectionately, ‘the ditch’ - but its charisma for the cruising boater and sailor far exceeds its unimaginative name.

As Sailmagazine.com reported recently, ‘generations of cruising sailors have ‘gunk holed’ the Intracoastal Waterway, enjoying its destinations and pleasures while avoiding the rigors of the ocean and the dangers of an offshore rounding of Cape Hatteras. Many is the race boat that has zipped up or down in a hurry, missing the destinations and pleasures while avoiding the stress of an offshore delivery.’

However, this wonderful asset seems to be falling into neglect, and reports are rife in various local media about the lack of maintenance.

The Savannah Morning Post recently reported that boaters were complaining that some areas were so neglected that they were becoming dangerous. Mariners complain the waterway, a boon to recreational craft, is the government's lowest priority despite its economic value.

The Waterway is a 3,000-mile-long partly natural, partly artificial, sheltered passage for commercial and leisure boats along the U.S. Atlantic coast from Boston to Key West and along the Gulf of Mexico coast from Apalachee Bay, Fla., to Brownsville, Texas, on the Rio Grande.

Funding cuts, neglect—they're taking a toll on the ICW to such a point that the state of Florida, which has its own program to keep the ICW active and deep, has officials who worry that they'll end up with the only workable portion of the system.

However, users are not taking it lying down. According to sailmagazine.com, an organisation called The Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway Association was created because the ICW is ‘too good to kiss off’. Their strongest support comes from barge companies, but yachtsmen are in this too, and BoatU.S. is aboard, sponsoring a series of town hall-style meetings this summer to invite public comment on future plans for the Intracoastal Waterway.

'The ICW is at a crossroads,' says BoatU.S. Assistant Vice President Ryck Lydecker. 'It's a vital artery for recreational and commercial vessel traffic and many waterfront communities rely on it for their livelihood, yet waterway maintenance falls further behind each year as budgets are cut for dredging and repairs. Anyone who uses the ICW knows the situation is deplorable,' he said, adding, 'but we want to get beyond today's problems to develop a vision for the future of the waterway from the perspective of those who use it, those who depend on it.'

Federally maintained, the authorized depth of the 1,100-mile ICW is between 10 and 12 feet. However, shoaling and silting have reduced controlling depths in some spots to as little as five feet. Tow boats and barges touch bottom or run aground almost daily while recreational boaters report frequent damage from navigation hazards since nautical charts can't keep up with actual conditions. Both types of vessels are increasingly apt to run offshore in the open ocean rather than chance damage using the inland route.


SAFETY CONCERNS

Tow boat and barge operators are forced to work in unsafe conditions every day. Vessels are running aground and experiencing substantial damage. One tow company owner estimates that his company alone has at least one grounding every 24 hours. Another company reported to AIWA that annual repairs, due to damage caused by improper depths, cost an average of $287,000 a year.

Recreational boaters encounter the same situations. The shallow depths cause serious damage to yachts and other boats and can be very expensive to the individual boat owner. Navigation charts frequently are out-of-date and cause serious problems for even the most experienced.

The latest example of its decrepit state, boaters say, is what's happening at the mouth of the Ogeechee River at an area called Hell's Gate.

Earlier this spring, a routine U.S. Army Corps of Engineers survey discovered the ominously named stretch of choppy water was only 2.5 to 3 feet deep in places.

'It should be 12 feet at mean low water,' said U.S. Coast Guard Lt. Commander Larry Greene.

That's the depth Congress authorized for the length of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, which runs from Boston to Key West.

Boaters are outraged at the lack of maintenance. They say the federal government prioritizes dredging needs with an antiquated formula that fails to take into account the burgeoning economic impact of recreational boaters.

The results, they say, put them at risk.

Richmond Hill resident Daniel Grant, who's been boating in the Savannah area since the day he was christened, said his 29-foot Columbia sailboat 'Psyche' could have easily grounded in the mismarked Hell's Gate channel.

'Psyche' needs 4 feet, 9 inches of water to pass through.

'You can't get from Savannah to Ossabaw except at high tide,' he said.

LEISURE BOATERS IGNORED

Recreational boaters are an undervalued but growing population, according to Charlie Waller, manager and co-owner of Isle of Hope Marina.

'When do people buy boats?' he asked. 'It's when they retire. And the baby boomers are moving into retirement.'

He estimates about half his marina business comes from Intracoastal clients, mainly snowbirds stopping on their way to or from Florida. The transients pay dockage, and buy fuel and ice.

And it's not only marina owners who benefit.

'What you've got (with a boat) is a traveling home,' Waller said. 'They need all the things a home needs: grocery stores, restaurants, tourist sites, doctors, vets.'

Savannah-area marinas bring in about $2 million a year from Intracoastal boaters, according to Waller's rough estimates.
SHORT TERM FIX, LONG TERM PROBLEM

Because the Corps hasn't dredged the Georgia portion of the waterway since 2002, the channel shifted in Hell Gate, as it's called on nautical charts.

The Coast Guard's aid to navigation team addressed the shift before any boaters reported it, posting a sign, 'Danger: Shoaling.'

It also removed a permanent channel marker and replaced it with temporary buoys indicating where the channel now flows. A local notice to mariners broadcast every four hours on VHF radio warns of the dangers, Greene said.

But the team's work provides only a temporary fix for an icon of the eastern states, which took huge efforts on the part of citizens and politicians to bring it into being in the first place. It would be a tragedy if it fell into disuse through neglect.

The toll-free waterway was authorized by Congress in 1919, then gradually lengthened and deepened during the first half of the 20th Century, and improved again in the second half. It is meant to be maintained by the Army Corps of Engineers at a minimum depth of 12 feet for most of its length. The Intracoastal Waterway has a good deal of commercial activity; barges haul petroleum, petroleum products, foodstuffs, building materials, and manufactured goods. Commercial entities pay a fuel tax for use of the waterway.


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