Navigable Waterways and Channels of the United States

A geographic database of navigable waterways and channels in and around the United States, maintained by the United States Army Corps of Engineers. It includes link and node databases for representing shipping lanes and physical entities like ports and river confluences. The dataset supports analytical studies of navigation performance, commodity flow statistics, and mapping.

Use Cases

• Analyze navigation performance using link data representing shipping lanes and channels.
• Compile commodity flow statistics by routing through nodes representing ports and intermodal terminals.
• Map waterway networks for transportation planning using the link and node geographic structure.
• Study river confluence patterns and waterway connectivity using the node database.

Strengths

• Periodically updated by the United States Army Corps of Engineers, ensuring maintenance.
• Part of the authoritative National Transportation Atlas Database (NTAD) from the U.S. Department of Transportation.
• A data dictionary is accessible for attribute information, providing documentation.

Limitations

• The specific number of rows, columns, and total size is unknown, limiting precise assessment of scale.
• The sample data is unavailable, preventing immediate review of data structure and quality.

Provenance

Source

United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), part of the U.S. Department of Transportation/Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) National Transportation Atlas Database (NTAD).

Collection Method

Periodically updated geographic database compiled for analytical and mapping purposes.

Freshness

Last updated on 2026-02-09.

Geography

Navigable waterways and channels in and around the United States.