MISSISSIPPI RIVER COMMISSION 

P.O. BOX 80 

VICKSBURG, MISSISSIPPI 39181-0080 

PRESIDENT and MEMBER 

-Maj. Gen. Michael J. Walsh 

Commander, Mississippi 

Valley Division 

Vicksburg, Mississippi 

MEMBERS 

Honorable Sam E. Angel 

Sr. Civilian 

Lake Village, Arkansas 

Honorable R. D. James 

Civilian/Civil Engineer 

New Madrid, Missouri 

*Honorable Wm. Clifford Smith 

Civilian/Civil Engineer 

Houma, Louisiana 

**Rear Adm. Jonathan W. Bailey 

National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration 

Silver Spring, Maryland 

•Maj. Gen. John W. Peabody 

Commander, Great Lakes & 

Ohio River Division 

Cincinnati, Ohio 

*Brig. Gen. John R. McMahon 

Commander, Northwestern 

Division 

Portland, Oregon 

SECRETARY 

Col. George T. Shepard Jr. 

Vicksburg, Mississippi 

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR 

Mr. T. Stephen Gambrell 

Vicksburg, Mississippi 

(601) 634-5766 

Email: cemvd-ex@usace.army.mil 

Web site: www mvd.usace.army.mil/mrc 

* designee 

** nominated 

MISSISSIPPI RIVER COMMISSION 

VICKSBURG, MISSISSIPPI 

April 15, 2011 

Statement of the Mississippi River Commission 

Inland Waterway Navigation System 

We are a maritime nation. Our dependence on the seas and inland 

waterways has driven our national security and economic success 

throughout our nation's history. The expansion from 13 former colonies 

into the heartland of the continent exposed our wealth of natural resources 

and our ability to produce agricultural goods on a grand scale. 

Recognizing these capabilities, this nation made a strong intergenerational 

commitment to develop an inland transportation infrastructure system of 

rivers, canals, roads, and railroads to connect the riches of the interior -

an area we refer to as the Center Coast -to the rest of the nation and the 

world. This commitment enabled goods to move from the frontier to the 

more populated areas along the eastern and southern seaboards for 

domestic consumption and for export overseas. The development of our 

inland waterways proved decisive, first, to the growth of local and regional 

economies and, next, to the national economy, as a complex network of 

inland and coastal ports and overland and air routes materialized. Hence, 

our transformation from an agrarian society into the world's preeminent 

economic power rested on a developed and integrated, world-class 

transportation system as its supporting foundation. 

The global economic competitiveness of any nation in today's 

globalized world depends on the speed, reliability, and low cost of 

transporting goods. Waterborne commerce is the cheapest, most fuel 

efficient, and environmentally-friendly mode of transportation_ We, as a 

nation, have been at the forefront of fostering innovative means to project 

global economic competitiveness, whether it involved investing in and 

constructing state-of-the-art infrastructure and channel improvements, 

new and improved ship, dredge, and engine design, or the ability to adapt 

to and improve methods of handling cargo. The nation's commitment to 

inland waterway transportation demonstrated by previous generations, 

however, has been waning for decades. 

Since 1879, the seven-member Presidentially appointed Mississippi River Commission has developed and matured plans for the general improvement of the 

Mississippi River from the Head of Passes to the Headwaters. The Mississippi River Commission brings critical engineering representation to the drainage basin, 

which impacts 41 o/o of the United States and includes 1.25 million square miles, over 250 tributaries, 31 states, and 2 Canadian provinces. 

Listening, Inspecting, Partnering and Engineering since 1879 
The American Society of Civil Engineers' 2009 Report Card for America's 

Infrastructure, in which the inland transportation system received a grade of D minus, 

contains a dire warning. If we do not modernize and invest in an effective and reliable 

national transportation network for the 21 st century, America's economic and global 

competitiveness will suffer. Therefore, the Mississippi River Commission is compelled to 

reaffirm its stance that water-based transportation represents the most cost-effective 

and environmentally-friendly mode for the majority of internally-traded goods. 

We have the opportunity as a nation to recapture our innovative spirit and 

commitment to be a world maritime leader by modernizing our ports, harbors, and 

inland transportation system. By 2020, international trade is estimated to more than 

double within the United States. This growth coincides with the expansion of the 

Panama Canal scheduled for completion on October 20, 2014. The opening of the third 

set of much longer locks at the canal, combined with the economic and environmental 

benefits from bulk shipping, will increase opportunities for imports and exports. As 

domestic and international trade opportunities continue to expand, so too will demands 

increase on the nation's coastal ports, inland harbors, inland waterways, and dredging 

requirements. 

Ports and harbors, both large and small, provide crucial access to the full 

economic benefits of our nation's rivers, although today they are undervalued. They 

function as the entrance and exit ramps on the marine interstate system and serve as 

key transition points to and from road, rail, and air transportation routes. Today, 

American farmers produce record-level yields. At the same time, international 

customers have more purchasing power than anytime in history. The nation's 

transportation system and its ability to move grain from farm to port with the speed and 

efficiency necessary to accommodate current international trade demands continues to 

slip according to infrastructure experts. On the Mississippi River alone, 60 percent grain 

exports are carried on the river; on the Ohio River coal is delivered to power plants that 

produce 10 percent of the nation's electricity. Without functional ports and harbors, the 

fabric of the inland transportation network unravels. 

The United States must place greater emphasis on the movement of freight 

simply because our aging transportation system is not keeping pace with international 

trade. The increase in demand on the inland waterway system is more compelling when 

it is understood that the average age of all federally-owned or operated locks is nearly 

60 years old, well past the planned 50-year design life. More succinctly, 47 percent of 

all locks maintained by the Corps of Engineers were classified by the American Society 

of Civil Engineers as functionally obsolete in 2006. By 2020 that number will grow to 80 

percent- eight out of every ten locks will be functionally obsolete. Without significant 

investment and modernization of this critical infrastructure, lock failures will become 

commonplace, and system reliability will be jeopardized. 

2 
The nation's inland and intracoastal waterway system carries nearly one-sixth of 

the cargo moved between cities in the United States. By every reasonable indicator, the 

nation must address its deteriorating infrastructure on the inland waterway system or 

face the consequences in the growing global trade community. The cost of delay is 

unthinkable. Without a sustained increase in investment for critical repairs, 

rehabilitation, modernization, dredging, and harbor maintenance, a crippling failure, in 

terms of both economics and trade, is unavoidable. 

Hon. R. D. a es 

Civilian M er, Engineer 

New Madri , MO 

M onathan W. Bailey 

ember Nominee 

National Oceanic & 

Atmospheric Administration 

Silver Spring, MD 

BriQ:d:General, 

ohn R. McMahon ~~ U.S. Army 

Member Designee 

Northwestern Division 

Portland, OR 

3 

Hon. Sam E. Angel 

Senior Civilian Member 

Lake Village, AR 

Civilian Member, 

::tt~ Engineer 

Houma, LA 

ohn W. Peabod 

ajor General, U.S. Army 

Member Designee 

Great Lakes & Ohio River Division 

Cincinnati, OH