Inland Waterways.

The Mississippi River and its tributaries, as well as the Columbia, Sacramento, and San Joaquin Rivers on the West Coast make up nearly 12,000 miles of navigable waterways -- the U.S. freight network's "water highway." Inland waterway infrastructure includes locks and dams as well as navigation channels. Investing in this infrastructure helps move agricultural exports and relieves strain on other transportation modes. One barge can move as many tons as 70 tractor trailers.1 Recent boosts in federal investment and an increase in user fees have begun to reverse decades of declining lock and dam conditions, with unscheduled lock closures reaching a 20-year low in 2017.2 While this is encouraging, the system still reports a $6.8 billion backlog3 in construction projects and ongoing lock closures -- totaling 5,000 hours between 2015 and 2019 -- harming the industries that rely on the waterways to get their goods to market. The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates delays cost up to $739 per hour for an average tow, or $44 million per year 4. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]