Houston Ship Channel
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Houston Ship Channel
The Houston Ship Channel, in Houston, Texas, is part of the Port of Houston, one of the busiest seaports in the world. The channel is the conduit for ocean-going vessels between Houston-area terminals and the Gulf of Mexico, and it serves an increasing volume of inland barge traffic. Overview The channel is a widened and deepened natural watercourse created by dredging Buffalo Bayou and Galveston Bay. The channel's upstream terminus lies about four miles east of downtown Houston, at the Turning Basin, with its downstream terminus at a gateway to the Gulf of Mexico, between Galveston Island and the Bolivar Peninsula. Major products, such as petrochemicals and Midwestern grain, are transported in bulk together with general cargo. The original watercourse for the channel, Buffalo Bayou, has its headwaters to the west of the city of Houston. The navigational head of the channel, the most upstream point to which general cargo ships can travel, is at Turning Basin in east Houston. ...
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Houston Ship Channel Galena
Houston (; ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in Texas, the Southern United States#Major cities, most populous city in the Southern United States, the List of United States cities by population, fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the List of North American cities by population, sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in 2020. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat and largest city of Harris County, Texas, Harris County and the principal city of the Greater Houston metropolitan area, which is the fifth-most populous List of metropolitan statistical areas, metropolitan statistical area in the United States and the second-most populous in Texas after Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, Dallas–Fort Worth. Houston is the southeast anchor of the greater megaregion known as the Texas Triangle. Comprising a land area of , Houston is the List of Uni ...
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Headwater
The headwaters of a river or stream is the farthest place in that river or stream from its estuary or downstream confluence with another river, as measured along the course of the river. It is also known as a river's source. Definition The United States Geological Survey (USGS) states that a river's "length may be considered to be the distance from the mouth to the most distant headwater source (irrespective of stream name), or from the mouth to the headwaters of the stream commonly known as the source stream". As an example of the second definition above, the USGS at times considers the Missouri River as a tributary of the Mississippi River. But it also follows the first definition above (along with virtually all other geographic authorities and publications) in using the combined Missouri—lower Mississippi length figure in lists of lengths of rivers around the world. Most rivers have numerous tributaries and change names often; it is customary to regard the longest t ...
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Lynchburg Ferry
The Lynchburg Ferry is a free ferry across the Houston Ship Channel in the U.S. state of Texas, connecting Crosby-Lynchburg Road in Lynchburg to the north with the former State Highway 134 and San Jacinto Battleground State Historic Site in La Porte to the south. Operated by the Harris County Toll Road Authority, the crossing is the oldest operating ferry service within the state of Texas. It carries automobiles, bicycles and pedestrians for free. Harris County had operated the ferry from 1888 to 2020. Ferries depart daily approximately every 5–10 minutes, beginning at 4:30 a.m. (04:30) and operate through 8:15 p.m. (20:15) and have a maximum capacity of 12 vehicles. The service averages between approximately 1,500-2,000 vehicles per day. The service has two ships in its fleet, both completed in 1964 by the Todd Shipyard. The ferries are named in honor of former Texas governors William P. Hobby and Ross S. Sterling. A third ferry with a capacity of 9 vehicles da ...
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Fred Hartman Bridge
The Fred Hartman Bridge is a cable-stayed bridge in the U.S. state of Texas spanning the Houston Ship Channel. The bridge carries of State Highway 146 (SH 146), between the cities of Baytown and La Porte (east of Houston). The bridge is also expected to carry State Highway 99 (SH 99) (Grand Parkway) when it is completed around Houston. The bridge, named for Fred Hartman (1908–1991), the editor and publisher of the ''Baytown Sun'' from 1950 to 1974, is the longest cable-stayed bridge in Texas, and one of only four such bridges in the state, the others being Veterans Memorial Bridge in Orange County, Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge in Dallas and Bluff Dale Suspension Bridge in Erath County. It is the 77th largest bridge in the world. The construction cost of the bridge was $91.25 million. The bridge replaced the Baytown Tunnel (of depth clearance ). The tunnel had to be removed when the Houston Ship Channel was deepened to , with a minimum bottom width, to accommodate ...
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Sam Houston Ship Channel Bridge
Sam Houston Tollway Ship Channel Bridge (formerly known as the Jesse H. Jones Memorial Bridge) is a span in Harris County, Texas. It was acquired from the then– Texas Turnpike Authority (TTA) (now North Texas Tollway Authority) on May 5, 1994, and is now a part of the Harris County Toll Road Authority system. The bridge opened to traffic in May 1982 and carries four lanes of the Sam Houston Tollway over the Houston Ship Channel with a clearance of . Conception The 1952 City of Houston planning document recommended a second loop designated the Outer Belt. Harris County took control of the project in 1960. Efforts to construct the Beltway 8 crossing started in the mid-1960s, culminating in an effort vetoed by Governor John Connally on June 18, 1967. Voters twice rejected bond funds for the bridge, so the effort was reconstituted as a toll bridge. This did not work at that time. In 1978, the Texas Turnpike Authority performed a study showing the project as feasible, and sold $1 ...
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Sidney Sherman Bridge
The Sidney Sherman Bridge is a strutted girder bridge in Houston, Texas. It spans the Houston Ship Channel (Buffalo Bayou) and carries the East Loop segment of Interstate 610 (Texas), Interstate 610 on the east side of the city. It is more popularly known as the 610 Bridge or Ship Channel Bridge. History Construction on the bridge was on the planning boards by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDoT)as far back as 1962. Originally planned with a mainspan, it was rejected by the United States Army Corps of Engineers, Army Corps of Engineers for fear that the narrow main span was a hazard to ships on the Ship Channel. So, a main span was in the plans, instead, and the Army Corps approved of the design. Construction on the bridge started in 1969, and it was opened to traffic on March 2, 1973 (along with the East Loop of I-610). Just a year before, the National Society of Professional Engineers named the new bridge one of the top-10 outstanding engineering achievements in ...
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Washburn Tunnel
The Washburn Tunnel is a two-lane underwater motor-vehicle tunnel connecting Galena Park and Pasadena, two suburbs of Houston, Texas. Completed in 1950, it travels north-south underneath the Houston Ship Channel. It was named after Harris County, Texas Auditor Harry L. Washburn. It is the largest and first toll-free vehicular tunnel in the Southern United States. Overview The Merritt Chapman and Scott Corporation of New York built the $7 million project. First, a trench by had to be dug. Second, the sections had to be locked into position 85 feet underwater. Finally, the last touches, such as tiling the inside, were completed. It is the only underwater vehicle tunnel currently in operation in the state, as the Baytown Tunnel was replaced in 1995 by the Fred Hartman Bridge. The tunnel consists of a single bore, 895 meters (2,909 feet) in length, with a six-percent roadway grade outward from the center towards each exit. Forced transverse ventilation is potentially provided ...
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Environmental Mitigation
Environmental mitigation, compensatory mitigation, or mitigation banking, are terms used primarily by the United States government and the related environmental industry to describe projects or programs intended to offset known impacts to an existing historic or natural resource such as a stream, wetland, endangered species, archeological site, paleontological site or historic structure. To "mitigate" means to make less harsh or hostile. Environmental mitigation is typically a part of an environmental crediting system established by governing bodies which involves allocating debits and credits. Debits occur in situations where a natural resource has been destroyed or severely impaired and credits are given in situations where a natural resource has been deemed to be improved or preserved. Therefore, when an entity such as a business or individual has a "debit" they are required to purchase a "credit". In some cases credits are bought from "mitigation banks" which are large mitigati ...
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Houston Port Authority
The Port of Houston is one of the world's largest ports and serves the metropolitan area of Houston, Texas. The port is a 50-mile-long complex of diversified public and private facilities located a few hours' sailing time from the Gulf of Mexico. Located in the third-largest city in the United States, it is the busiest port in the U.S. in terms of foreign tonnage and the second-busiest in the U.S. in terms of overall tonnage. Though originally the port's terminals were primarily within the Houston city limits, the port has expanded to such a degree that today it has facilities in multiple communities in the surrounding area. In particular the port's busiest terminal, the Barbours Cut Terminal, is located in Morgan's Point. The Port of Houston is a cooperative entity consisting of both the port authority, which operates the major terminals along the Houston Ship Channel, and more than 150 private companies situated along Buffalo Bayou and Galveston Bay. Many petroleum corporations h ...
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Salt Marsh
A salt marsh or saltmarsh, also known as a coastal salt marsh or a tidal marsh, is a coastal ecosystem in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and open saltwater or brackish water that is regularly flooded by the tides. It is dominated by dense stands of salt-tolerant plants such as herbs, grasses, or low shrubs. These plants are terrestrial in origin and are essential to the stability of the salt marsh in trapping and binding sediments. Salt marshes play a large role in the aquatic food web and the delivery of nutrients to coastal waters. They also support terrestrial animals and provide coastal protection. Salt marshes have historically been endangered by poorly implemented coastal management practices, with land reclaimed for human uses or polluted by upstream agriculture or other industrial coastal uses. Additionally, sea level rise caused by climate change is endangering other marshes, through erosion and submersion of otherwise tidal marshes. However, recent ackn ...
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Bayport Terminal
The Bayport Container Terminal, or simply the Bayport Terminal, is a major deep water port in the Greater Houston area in Texas (United States). This relatively new terminal, part of the Port of Houston, is designed to handle standardized cargo containers and offload the nearby Barbours Cut Terminal, which has no further room for expansion. The Bayport Terminal is situated along the Bayport Ship Channel off Galveston Bay, between La Porte, Texas and Seabrook, Texas (adjacent to Shoreacres and El Jardin). This channel itself feeds into the larger Houston Ship Channel, which runs from Houston, through Galveston Bay, to the Gulf of Mexico. The port sits adjacent to the Bayport Industrial District, a large complex of firms primarily involved in petroleum and petrochemical processing. The facilities at Bayport formerly included a cruise ship terminal, built at a cost of US$81 million. The terminal briefly saw use for cruises following Hurricane Ike when ships like Carnival Cruis ...
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