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Article: Federal budget cuts threaten to choke off Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway.
- Article from:
- The Post and Courier (Charleston, SC)
- Article date:
- July 11, 2004
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 The Post and Courier. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: Brian Hicks
Jul. 11--Sailors affectionately call it "The Ditch," but the 1,200-mile Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway is an economic superhighway that pours at least $10 billion into the Southeast every year.
Barges push millions of tons of fuel, military equipment and assorted goods along the waterway that flows between Norfolk and Miami, enough to fill 2 million tractor-trailer rigs annually.
At the same time, hundreds of thousands of sailboats, motorboats and mega-yachts safely ply the ribbon of water, skirting the dangers of the unforgiving Atlantic.
For millions of vacationers the waterway is the gateway to the coast, a calm ...