Type Waterway Ocean/sea sources Gulf of Mexico Year built 1909 | Primary outflows Sabine Lake Basin countries United States Ocean/sea source Gulf of Mexico | |
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Location Southeast Texas
Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana Managing agency Sabine–Neches Navigation District Settlements Beaumont, Orange, Port Arthur River sources Neches River, Sabine River | ||
The Sabine–Neches Waterway is located in southeast Texas and Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana. The waterway includes parts of the Neches River, Sabine River, Sabine Lake, and Taylor Bayou. The waterway ranks as third busiest waterway in the United States in terms of cargo tonnage according to the American Association of Port Authorities. It also ranks as the top bulk liquid cargo waterway, the top U.S. crude oil importer, and is projected to become the largest LNG exporter in the United States. The Gulf Intracoastal Waterway crosses the waterway near Port Arthur.
Two of the top twenty (20) ports in terms of tonnage are located on the waterway. The Port of Beaumont, ranked fourth (4th) in the 2013 U.S. Port Ranking by Cargo Tonnage survey is located at the northern end of the waterway. The Port of Port Arthur, ranked eighteenth (18th) in the same survey, is located near the southern end of the waterway. The Port of Orange is also served by the waterway.
The waterway is currently a minimum of 40 feet deep and a minimum of 400 feet wide. In 2014, federal congressional approval was received to deepen the waterway to a depth of 48 feet. The $1.1 billion deepening project is expected to start in 2017 with an estimated project length of 12 to 15 years.
History
The governing navigation district, Sabine–Neches Navigation District was formed in 1909. The channel was deepened to twenty-five (25) feet in 1912. Channel depth was increased to thirty (30) feet in 1925. The channel was deepened to thirty-five (35) feet in 1935. The channel was deepened to its current depth of a minimum of forty (40) feet in 1962.