Everything about The Houston Ship Channel totally explained
The
Houston Ship Channel in
Houston, Texas is part of the
Port of Houston—one of the
United States's busiest
sea ports.
The
channel is a conduit between the continental interior and the
Gulf of Mexico for both
petrochemical products and
Midwestern grain. The original watercourse for the channel,
Buffalo Bayou, has its
headwaters 30 miles (48 km) to the west of the city of Houston. It has been used to move goods to the sea since at least 1836. The proximity to Texas
oilfields led to the establishment of numerous petrochemical
refineries along the waterway, such as the
ExxonMobil Baytown installation on the eastern bank of the
San Jacinto River.
While much of the Ship Channel is associated with heavy industry, two icons of
Texas history are also located along its length. The saw service during both World Wars, and is the last remaining example of a
dreadnought-era battleship in existence. The nearby
San Jacinto Monument commemorates the
Battle of San Jacinto (1836) in which Texas won its independence from
Mexico.
The Houston Ship Channel has been periodically widened and deepened to accommodate ever-larger ships, and is currently 530 feet wide by 45 feet deep by 50 miles long (161 meters by 14 meters by 80 kilometers).
[ The islands in the ship channel are part of the ongoing widening and deepening project. The islands are formed from soil pulled up by dredging, and the salt marshes and bird islands are part of the Houston Port Authority's beneficial use and environmental mitigation responsibilities.][
On December 25, 2007, The Houston Ship Channel was featured on Anderson Cooper's CNN Special,"Planet in Peril," as a controversial and potential polluter of nearby neighborhoods. This year, the University of Texas released a study proving that children living within 2 miles of the Houston Ship Channel are 56% more likely to become sick with Leukemia than the national average. ]
The Ship Channel has five vehicular crossings. They are the Washburn Tunnel, the Sidney Sherman Bridge, the Sam Houston Ship Channel Bridge and popularly known as the Beltway 8 Bridge; the Fred Hartman Bridge in Baytown, Texas; and the Lynchburg Ferry.
The channel was designated a National Civil Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) in 1987.
Image:Houston Ship Channel Galena.jpg|Aerial view of the Houston Ship Channel on Buffalo Bayou. This point is located in the city of Galena Park, a suburb of Houston. Downtown Houston is visible at right, about 10 miles (16 km) distant. View is to the west.
Image:Houston Ship Channel Barbours Cut.jpg|Aerial view of the Barbours Cut container terminal on the Houston Ship Channel. Photo taken before the Fred Hartman Bridge crossed the channel. View is to the northwest.
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