Intracoastal Waterway

Intracoastal Waterway
Intracoastal Waterway
	Intracoastal Waterway at Sunrise Boulevard, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, 2010
Country	United States
Specifications
Length	3,000 miles (4,800 km)
History
Date completed	June 18, 1949
Geography
Start point	Annisquam River
End point	Brownsville, Texas
Branch(es)	Gulf Intracoastal Waterway
Connects to	Atlantic portion; Gulf portion

The Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) is a 3,000-mile (4,800 km) inland waterway along the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts of the United States, running from Massachusetts southward along the Atlantic Seaboard and around the southern tip of Florida, then following the Gulf Coast to Brownsville, Texas. Some sections of the waterway consist of natural inlets, saltwater rivers, bays, and sounds, while others are artificial canals. It provides a navigable route along its length without many of the hazards of travel on the open sea.