Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway

Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway, system of navigation channels, 234 mi (377 km) long, Ala. and Miss., connecting the Tennessee River with the Tombigbee River and, via the Mobile River, with the Gulf of Mexico. Constructed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from 1972 to 1984, it flows S from the Tennessee via a canal in NE Mississippi, crosses into Alabama at Aliceville Lake, then runs SSE to Demopolis, Ala. There are ten locks and dams on the waterway, which opened in 1985 and increased commerce by shortening the distance by water to the Gulf of Mexico from many inland areas.