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Inland Navigation System Planning The Upper Mississippi River-Illinois Waterway (2001) / Chapter Skim
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The Public Interest in the Upper Mississippi River
Pages 15-18

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From page 15...
... In contrast, extending locks shifts the costs of reducing congestion from towboat operators to the government (a portion of the project costs are paid by the fuel tax that goes into the Inland Waterways Trust Funded. The federal government, through the Corps, is responsible both for investing in navigable waterways and for managing their operations and for minimizing or mitigating environmental side effects.
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From page 16...
... The many federal, state, and local environmental conservation laws, such as the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act, reflect public concern for protecting the river and its ecosystems. In addition, environmental protection provides tangible benefits from tourism, recreation, and the production of food and fiber.
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From page 17...
... Because traffic is managed by waiting time and service rules that were not designed to internalize congestion costs, lock demand is artificially high. If the benefits of lock extensions are based on waterway traffic levels without any type of traffic management system, the analysis will thus overstate the social benefits of extensions and could lead to lock extensions where none are justified.
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From page 18...
... Striking the proper balance between the multiple uses and users and thereby protecting the public interest requires denying some potential users access when they want it. Rationing access could be done by regulation: for example, commercial traffic could be given priority over recreational boating, or tows could be forced to sign up for a schedule long in advance.
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Key Terms

  • lock extensions
  • inland waterways
  • traffic management
  • towboat operators
  • river traffic

  • mississippi river
  • waterway traffic
  • environmentally sustainable
  • fuel tax
  • social benefits

  • trust fund
  • waterways trust
  • reduce congestion
  • manage river
  • waterway shippers

  • increased grain
  • reflect public
  • mississippi range
  • implicit goal
  • produces social

  • managing congestion
  • extending locks
  • improved service
  • freight transportation
  • ecosystem services

  • mainly motivated
  • endangered species
  • wrong analysis
  • brazil getting
  • changes caused


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