Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway--Economic aspects

The Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (AIW) and its associated ports are both the entranceways of international commerce to the U.S. and arteries of domestic commercial transportation. Each year the federal government invests thousands of dollars into the waterways and ports of the United States. The goals of this thesis are (1) to provide an historical background of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway and the selected ports and (2) to determine if federal expenditures are yielding results at the AIW and the ports. Several modest statistical analyses are used to determine if Federal investment influences passenger and cargo volume at the selected ports. Findings indicate that federal investment does influence cargo volume, however, there are many additional factors to be considered which may play a greater role in passenger and cargo volume at these ports.