The Mission of the Tennessee River Valley Association and its Tennessee-Cumberland Waterways Council

is to ensure the continued development, improvement, maintenance, and modernization

of the Tennessee and Cumberland River’s vital water resources infrastructure.

Waterway Benefits

  • The Tennessee River is the nation’s fourth-largest waterway by volume of goods transported annually

  • The Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers are integral components of our nation’s 11,000-mile interconnected inland waterway network

  • 18 navigation locks at 14 TVA/Army Corps Dams

  • Annually 60 million tons of commerce is moved via the Twin River System

  • Over $8 billion in economic development benefits per year to the region

  • Approximately $1.5 billion in annual shipper savings

  • Products originating from, or designated to, 20 states pass through the system of Kentucky and Barkley Locks, the lower-most locks on the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers, respectively

  • Our region’s waterways contribute to National Security and Defense

  • Decatur, AL built Delta, Atlas, and Vulcan rockets transit the Tennessee, Ohio, and Mississippi Rivers aboard the Rocketship on their way to launch sites in California and Florida where they deliver NSA, communications, and weather satellites into orbit

  • The Pegasus Barge regularly transports components of our nation’s Manned Space Program to and from test facilities at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AL

  • Our region’s river systems provide waterborne transportation access to the Oak Ridge National Laboratories and three TVA Nuclear Power Plants

  • Farm products vital to the American economy are moved to export terminals and markets on our waterways by barge

  • Midwest farm products are shipped by water to our region’s feed mills that provide low-cost feeds for livestock benefitting local competitiveness

  • Farmers more than one hundred miles removed from riverside terminals benefit from the cost savings of waterborne transportation of their products

  • Savings from reduced costs of transportation result in those savings staying on the family farm and thereby strengthening local economies

  • American agriculture’s ability to compete in the global marketplace is reliant on our world-leading inland waterways network

  • Tourism and Recreation are huge contributors to the Twin Rivers region's economy

  • Multiple Riverboat Companies conduct regularly scheduled stops at River Cities throughout the Twin Rivers region

  • Recreational boating has exploded in recent years with a multitude of local marinas that provide on-water and off-water storage for watercraft of diverse sizes and functionality

  • Locks at TVA and Army Corps Dams annually perform more than 20,000 recreational lockages

  • The States of Alabama, Kentucky, and Tennessee operate State Parks located on our rivers supporting tourism and local economies