The Ohio Department of Transportation won't ever have to pave, plow or patch its two newest highways.
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The Ohio River and Lake Erie have been designated Marine Highway Corridors to promote the use of waterways to move people and freight and ease congestion on roads and rail lines.
"Ohio has 716 navigable miles of waterways, and they are utilized at 30 percent of the capacity," ODOT spokesman Scott Varner said. "There is so much room for growth. Ohio is really a maritime state despite what people think."
While ships ply the Great Lakes with coal, iron ore and grain, ODOT officials envision container ships, passenger ferries and other vessels on those waterways, easing congestion on Interstate 90.
The Ohio River could see considerable increases in shipping in five years once the Panama Canal opens a wider and deeper third lock in 2014, said Mark Locker, ODOT's new director of the Office of Maritime and Freight Mobility. Container ships could travel through the Gulf of Mexico to ports in New Orleans and Mobile, Ala. -- with cargo continuing to the Ohio River via the Mississippi River and Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway.
"With gas prices going up, Washington is looking at alternate green ways which are cleaner, cheaper and lower the transportation costs of moving goods," Locker said. "Water is the natural choice."
A federal program to create Marine Highways was mandated by Congress in December 2007. The U.S. Maritime Administration, an agency in the U.S. Department of Transportation, is expected to publish its final rules in the Federal Register early this year.
Once the program is under way, federal money will be available for projects to bring more commercial and passenger traffic on waterways -- either by expanding existing services or developing new ones, Locker said. ODOT hopes to be in the forefront since it was one of the first states to apply to the maritime administration to establish corridors in January 2009. It received approval to establish corridors along the Great Lakes, called the Interstate 90/Marine Highway Corridor, and the Ohio River -- the Marine One Corridor, Locker said.
All Great Lakes states have agreed to form a coalition, with Ohio as the lead state, he said.
"We want to get more international traffic in and out of the St. Lawrence Seaway," he said. "But the large cargo vessels from Europe and Asia would have to downsize to a smaller vessel because it is fairly narrow." The group will also work with Canadian officials to establish short sea shipping of cargo and passengers, he said.
He plans to separately meet with state officials from both corridors to discuss proposals, and a port inventory will determine what products are going in and out. They will also look at how rail, roads and airports can be linked to waterways.
Railroads and trucking firms do not oppose marine highways because rail systems are at capacity and moving double-stacked containers, and trucks will always be a vital part of the transporting goods and services, he said.
"Whether it comes in from rail or water at some point, the door-to-door delivery has to be by truck," he said. "They see it as a really good collaboration."
Shipping by water is the most efficient way to move large quantities of materials, said Glen G. Nekvasil, spokesman for the Lake Carriers' Association, which endorses the marine corridor program. Ships carry more cargo, burn less fuel and produce fewer emissions, he said.
The association, headquartered in Rocky River, represents 18 American companies that operate 55 U.S.-flagged vessels on the Great Lakes. Last year 66.5 million tons of dry-bulk cargo, including grain, salt and iron ore, was hauled on the lakes.
Virtually no ships carry containers on the lakes, mainly because ports do not have cranes to unload them, Locker said. Another deterrent to Great Lakes shipping is weather -- the St. Lawrence Seaway closes in the winter.
"During that time you would have to find another way to ship goods," Locker said.