Since the birth of our nation, population and manufacturing centers have thrived on water access through our coastal ports and inland waterways. They provided critical access from the coasts to the heartland long before there were roads and rails. As the U.S. has grown, so has our reliance on our inland marine transportation system (IMTS) that today links agriculture, energy, manufacturing, and national security across the country and around the world.

The IMTS has evolved into a large and complex network that supports the national and international transshipment of goods annually. It contributes almost $500 billion to the U.S. gross domestic product, while saving approximately $8 billion dollars compared to shipping by road or rail. This network directly supports 38 of 50 states through 12,000 miles of navigable waterways and 192 navigation locks that serve hundreds of intermodal ports, terminals, shippers, and transportation companies. It is crucial to the country staying competitive in agriculture and energy exports and to enabling our manufacturing process.

Yet, despite its critical role supporting our nation’s economy and security, the IMTS has been neglected and subsequently compromised. Floods, droughts, sedimentation, environmental conditions, infrastructure health, and economic factors have impacted the once robust and now fragile network. Because these challenges occur over time, they are easily overlooked; but the impact and ramifications of chronic underinvestment are huge and growing. According to a 2017 study from the National Waterways Foundation and the U.S. Maritime Administration, delays due to inland navigation lock failures alone cost shippers over $1 billion annually.

To constructively address these issues and unleash the immense potential of the IMTS, it will take adequate funding and a comprehensive and innovative approach. We must consider not only the connectivity of the system, but its power to protect and increase economic growth, bolster defense capabilities, and improve both national and international trade. Successful, smaller-scale examples of this approach already exist, and they include the Saint Lawrence Seaway and the Rhine and Danube River systems. More complex examples, such as the global marine shipping and air traffic control systems, also hold great insights for IMTS improvements.

YOne could argue that the time has come to develop a new American waterway system that will capitalize on the immense potential this nationwide network provides. This should be a multifaceted approach with its objectives plainly stated to embrace and leverage the distinct advantages of this inherently complicated system. Chief areas of focus for IMTS modernization would be:

• Implement a systems approach: Integrate the IMTS and all its elements into an interconnected network linking the U.S. interior to national and international trade.
• Improve data management: Simplify data capture, accuracy, and accessibility, and reduce the cost (time and money) of information management
• Improve infrastructure management: Establish a long-term and large-scale investment plan to ensure reliability and optimize design performance for entire expected benefit lifecycle (structural health monitoring, digital twin, sustainment and predictive maintenance, controls modernization, sediment management and dredging, etc.)
• Innovate shipping: Increase waterway utilization and types of use (intermodal, container-on-barge, etc.)
• Develop a focused IMTS freight model aligned with U.S. Department of Transportation and the Committee on Marine Transportation System’s existing national freight strategies: This can inform IMTS user groups and help guide national priorities and policy, including how the IMTS increases connections with other transportation modes.

This might seem daunting, but the clock is ticking. This proven approach will help leverage our massive investment, advance economic and security opportunities, and enable us to grow and thrive as a nation. The EU has been successful with this route, shipping nearly twice our annual cargo on a waterway roughly half the size of the U.S. Among other precedents, in 1954, the U.S. established the Ohio River Navigation and Modernization program that ran from 1954 through 2023, replacing 52 navigation locks with 19 new modernized locks.

The benefits a modern IMTS would deliver are significant, including better utilization, lower transport costs, improved transit times, better data management and accessibility, and innovative shipping and infrastructure management. Our quality of life is directly affected by the health of the inland waterway, from supplying essential daily products to the big-picture impact of our country’s economic performance.

The untapped potential of this network is massive, and the U.S. has the technology and expertise to execute. What we need is the plan to be championed.