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Houston Ship Channel

 
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The Houston Ship Channel in Houston, Texas
Houston, Texas

Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States of America and the largest city within the state of Texas. As of the 2007 U.S. Census estimate, the city has a population of 2.2 million within an area of 600 square miles ....
 is part of the Port of Houston
Port of Houston

The Port of Houston is the port of Houston, Texas, the fourth-largest city in the United States. The Port is a 25-mile-long complex of diversified public and private facilities located a few hours' sailing time from the Gulf of Mexico....
—one of the United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
's busiest sea ports. The channel
Channel (geography)

In physical geography, a channel is the physical confine of a river, slough or ocean strait consisting of a bed and banks.A channel is also the natural or man-made deeper course through a reef, bar , bay, or any shallow body of water....
 is a conduit between the continental interior and the Gulf of Mexico
Gulf of Mexico

The Gulf of Mexico is the ninth largest body of water in the world. Considered a smaller part of the Atlantic Ocean, it is an oceanic basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba....
 for both petrochemical
Petrochemical

Petrochemicals are chemical products made from raw materials of petroleum or other hydrocarbon origin. Although some of the chemical compounds that originate from petroleum may also be derived from coal and natural gas, petroleum is the major source....
 products and Midwestern
Midwestern United States

The Midwestern United States is one of the four geographic regions within the United States of America that are officially recognized by the United States Census Bureau....
 grain
GRAIN

GRAIN is an international non-governmental organization based in Barcelona, Spain, which works toward sustainable agriculture. It was formed upon the realization that the genetic diversity of the world's food crops are being drastically eliminated....
. The original watercourse for the channel, Buffalo Bayou
Buffalo Bayou

Buffalo Bayou is a main waterway flowing through Houston, in Harris County, Texas, United States. It begins on the west side of the county near Katy, Texas and flows approximately east to the Houston Ship Channel and then into Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico....
, has its headwaters 30 miles (48 km) to the west of the city of Houston.






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Port of Houston Iss012 E 9567
The Houston Ship Channel in Houston, Texas
Houston, Texas

Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States of America and the largest city within the state of Texas. As of the 2007 U.S. Census estimate, the city has a population of 2.2 million within an area of 600 square miles ....
 is part of the Port of Houston
Port of Houston

The Port of Houston is the port of Houston, Texas, the fourth-largest city in the United States. The Port is a 25-mile-long complex of diversified public and private facilities located a few hours' sailing time from the Gulf of Mexico....
—one of the United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
's busiest sea ports. The channel
Channel (geography)

In physical geography, a channel is the physical confine of a river, slough or ocean strait consisting of a bed and banks.A channel is also the natural or man-made deeper course through a reef, bar , bay, or any shallow body of water....
 is a conduit between the continental interior and the Gulf of Mexico
Gulf of Mexico

The Gulf of Mexico is the ninth largest body of water in the world. Considered a smaller part of the Atlantic Ocean, it is an oceanic basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba....
 for both petrochemical
Petrochemical

Petrochemicals are chemical products made from raw materials of petroleum or other hydrocarbon origin. Although some of the chemical compounds that originate from petroleum may also be derived from coal and natural gas, petroleum is the major source....
 products and Midwestern
Midwestern United States

The Midwestern United States is one of the four geographic regions within the United States of America that are officially recognized by the United States Census Bureau....
 grain
GRAIN

GRAIN is an international non-governmental organization based in Barcelona, Spain, which works toward sustainable agriculture. It was formed upon the realization that the genetic diversity of the world's food crops are being drastically eliminated....
. The original watercourse for the channel, Buffalo Bayou
Buffalo Bayou

Buffalo Bayou is a main waterway flowing through Houston, in Harris County, Texas, United States. It begins on the west side of the county near Katy, Texas and flows approximately east to the Houston Ship Channel and then into Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico....
, has its headwaters 30 miles (48 km) to the west of the city of Houston. It has been used to move goods to the sea since at least 1836. The proximity to Texas oilfields led to the establishment of numerous petrochemical refineries
Oil refinery

An oil refinery is an industrial process plant where crude oil is processed and refined into more useful petroleum products, such as gasoline, diesel fuel, asphalt, heating oil, kerosene, and liquefied petroleum gas....
 along the waterway, such as the ExxonMobil
ExxonMobil

The Exxon Mobil Corporation, or ExxonMobil, is an United States petroleum and natural gas corporation. It is a direct descendant of John D....
 Baytown installation on the eastern bank of the San Jacinto River
San Jacinto River

The San Jacinto River runs from Lake Houston in Harris County, Texas to Galveston Bay.In the past, it was home to the Karankawa Indians.There are two forks to the San Jacinto river, simply known as the East and West Forks....
.

While much of the Ship Channel is associated with heavy industry, two icons of Texas history
History of Texas

The written history of Texas dates to 1519, when Alonso ?lvarez de Pineda explored the northern Gulf Coast, although the region was first settled by indigeneous peoples around 10,000 B.C....
 are also located along its length. The saw service during both World Wars, and is the oldest remaining example of a dreadnought
Dreadnought

Dreadnought may refer to:* Dreadnought, a type of battleship of the early 20th century, following the launch of the HMS Dreadnought in 1906...
-era battleship in existence. The nearby San Jacinto Monument
San Jacinto Monument

The San Jacinto Monument is a high column located in Harris County, Texas, Texas, United States, near the city of La Porte, Texas.. It is topped with a 220-ton star that commemorates the site of the Battle of San Jacinto, the decisive battle of the Texas Revolution....
 commemorates the Battle of San Jacinto
Battle of San Jacinto

The Battle of San Jacinto, fought on April 21, 1836, in present-day Harris County, Texas, was the decisive battle of the Texas Revolution. Led by General Sam Houston, the Texas Army engaged and defeated General Antonio L?pez de Santa Anna's Mexico forces in a fight that lasted just eighteen minutes....
 (1836) in which Texas won its independence from Mexico
Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federalism constitutionalism republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of Mexico....
.

The Houston Ship Channel has been periodically widened and deepened to accommodate ever-larger ships, and is currently wide by deep by long (161 meters by 14 meters by 80 kilometers). The islands in the ship channel are part of the ongoing widening and deepening project. The islands are formed from soil pulled up by dredging, and the salt marshes and bird islands are part of the Houston Port Authority's beneficial use and environmental mitigation responsibilities.

On December 25, 2007, The Houston Ship Channel was featured on Anderson Cooper's CNN Special,"Planet in Peril," as a controversial and potential polluter of nearby neighborhoods. This year, the University of Texas released a study proving that children living within of the Houston Ship Channel are 56% more likely to become sick with Leukemia than the national average.

The Ship Channel has five vehicular crossings. They are the Washburn Tunnel
Washburn Tunnel

The Washburn Tunnel is a two-lane underwater motor-vehicle tunnel connecting Galena Park and Pasadena, Texas, two suburbs of Houston, Texas. Completed in 1950, it travels north-south underneath the Houston Ship Channel....
, the Sidney Sherman Bridge
Sidney Sherman Bridge

The Sidney Sherman Bridge is a strutted girder bridge in Houston, Texas. It spans the Houston Ship Channel and carries the East Loop segment of Interstate 610 on the east side of the city....
, the Sam Houston Ship Channel Bridge
Sam Houston Ship Channel Bridge

Sam Houston Tollway Ship Channel Bridge is a bridge in Harris County, Texas. It was acquired from the-then North Texas Tollway Authority on May 5, 1994 and is now a part of the Harris County Toll Road Authority system....
 and popularly known as the Beltway 8 Bridge; the Fred Hartman Bridge
Fred Hartman Bridge

The Fred Hartman Bridge or Baytown Bridge is a cable-stayed bridge in the U.S. state of Texas. It spans the Houston Ship Channel and carries State Highway 146 between the cities of Baytown, Texas and La Porte, Texas...
 in Baytown, Texas; and the Lynchburg Ferry
Lynchburg Ferry

The Lynchburg Ferry is a ferry across the Houston Ship Channel in the U.S. state of Texas, connecting Crosby-Lynchburg Road in Lynchburg, Texas to the north with the former Texas State Highway 134 and San Jacinto Battleground State Historic Site in La Porte, Texas to the south....
.

The channel was designated a National Civil Engineering Landmark
List of historic civil engineering landmarks

The following is a list historic civil engineering landmarks as designated by the American Society of Civil Engineers since it began the program in 1964....
 by the American Society of Civil Engineers
American Society of Civil Engineers

The American Society of Civil Engineers is a professional body founded in 1852 to represent members of the civil engineering profession worldwide....
 (ASCE) in 1987.

See also

  • Phillips Disaster
    Phillips Disaster

    The Phillips Disaster refers to a devastating series of explosions and fire in October of 1989, near the Houston Ship Channel in Texas, USA. The initial blast registered 3.5 on the Richter Scale, and the conflagration took 10 hours to bring under control....


External links