As in the title, if the US government had the money and the political will could it transform the Mississippi to accommodate ships of a drought (depth a ship needs) of at least 13m?
The only practical solution on upper Missisipi would be to make a concrete-lined channel parallel to the river - to alleviate the silting problem. Very costly compared to railroad of the same capacity. Imagine all the locks, pumps and silt settling ponds..well..may work if you restrict draft to 8.5m. Low-end ocean-going vessels (i.e. Liberty ships) has draft of 8.5m, reducing cost by 57% compared to 13-meter compatible channel.As in the title, if the US government had the money and the political will could it transform the Mississippi to accommodate ships of a drought (depth a ship needs) of at least 13m?
Presumably if they are willing to spend the money to basically create the longest, biggest canal in the world, they can afford an extra trillion or so to also completely redo the road network along the route and build sufficiently high bridges.I've heard, don't know if it's true or not, that the Mississippi is one of the most treacherous rivers in the world to try and navigate due to a number of factors. Among those the massive silt content and realativly high speed of the current. Those two factors combined tend to constantly shift where the navigable channel is.
This part I do know for certain. There are a number of bridges that cross the Mississippi that are no where near high enough to allow ocean going ships to pass below them. Air draft is just as important to a ship as channel depth. Some of these bridges are so low that sailboats with 55' air draft cannot pass beneath them without unstepping their masts. That alone would kill the project.
St. Louis - Minneapolis channel is roughly 1000km. Cost is 5.5 times of Panama channel for 13m draft, and 2.4 times of Panama Canal for 8.5m draft.Presumably if they are willing to spend the money to basically create the longest, biggest canal in the world, they can afford an extra trillion or so to also completely redo the road network along the route and build sufficiently high bridges.
In the deep dark recesses of my mind, there is a recollection of the bridge building schemes of one Hughie Long ... keep any bridges across the Mississippi low enough to preclude anything but river boats and barge traffic from proceeding up river. ...
St. Louis - Minneapolis channel is roughly 1000km. Cost is 5.5 times of Panama channel for 13m draft, and 2.4 times of Panama Canal for 8.5m draft.