Intersection of the Houston Ship Channel and Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, a marine simulator navigation study

In 1990, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Waterways Experiment Station (WES) initiated a navigation study of proposed improvements to the Houston/Galveston navigation channels. Reaches studied in this effort include the Entrance Channels, Galveston Ship Channel, the intersection of the Houston Ship Channel (HSC) and the Gulf IntraCoastal Waterway (GIWW), the Galveston Bay portion of the HSC, and the land-locked portion of the HSC. This report will focus on the intersection of the HSC and the GIWW. The WES Ship/Tow Simulator was used to evaluate and optimize several proposed improvement plans by developing numerical models and databases for both the existing and proposed conditions. Mariners licensed for the project site traveled to WES to participate in validating and testing the simulation models. This study was sponsored by the U.S. Army Engineer District (USAED), Galveston (the District)