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Traffic on the Mississippi


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I know I said something in another thread about how when I was little, I used to love to sit up on the levee and watch the barges go by on the Mississippi River. Well, some things never change, and I often find myself out on the Riverfront just sitting in the (somewhat) quiet, and watching the barges go by, almost in complete silence. Its always been relaxing. Anyway, I realized I had quite a few pictures from boats and barges on the Mississippi, and thought it might be cool to put them in a thread. Pointless? Probably. But when your bored, anything is possible. ;)

Anyway, here are some of my pictures. You've probably seen most of them already, but oh well. Boats range from steamboats, ferries, and barges, to tugboats and patrol boats.

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And I'll throw in this bonus picture from Lake Ponchartrain :D

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I also figured this could be the main thread for info and news about the Port of New Orleans and the Port of Southeast Louisiana.

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Very nice, Nate. I'm jealous! How cool would it have been to be a child and be able to sit on the levee and watch the ships and barges go by. Just as cool as living in the French Quarter as a child... <_<

Thanks! That's another one of my favorite memories from growing up in New Orleans. :D

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The river traffic in New Orleans fascinates me. If you're heading towards uptown via Tchoupitoulas, your eye can't help but spot those massive cargo lifts on the left! Haha, or atleast that's how it is for me. It's also interesting that New Orleans' exceptionally high volume of freight traffic does not allow for much recreational boating, if any. Correct me if I'm wrong, but this is true for Baton Rouge as well. My girlfriend (a BR native) was shocked that my uncle back home went yachting on the Mississippi.

BTW: Nice pics Nate...always wanted to ride one of those Mississippi Queen boats up the river. My high school's senior prom was on one of those, and it was awesome, even though we never strayed too far from the dock!

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All I got to see growing up were a few barges along the Arkansas River.

How busy is barge traffic on the Arkansas River? The Port of New Orleans is one of the busiest ports in the world, and you can really tell by just looking out on the River from the levee. It literally never stops.

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Whenever I'm in New Orleans I like to steal a little time and go sit out on the levee. It's great at Jackson Square right where the river bends. There's something relaxing yet profound about watching the Mississippi flow by, our nations most valuable commercial transportation lane.

Thanks for the pictures.

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The river traffic in New Orleans fascinates me. It's also interesting that New Orleans' exceptionally high volume of freight traffic does not allow for much recreational boating, if any. Correct me if I'm wrong, but this is true for Baton Rouge as well. My girlfriend (a BR native) was shocked that my uncle back home went yachting on the Mississippi.

I'm almost completely sure it's same up in Baton Rouge. The Port of Greater Baton Rouge is one of the busiest inland ports in the world, and along with the Port of New Orleans, forms the Port of South Louisiana, the largest port in the Western Hemisphere, and the busiest in the world in terms of tonnage. But even if it wasn't the same in Baton Rouge, who would want to be out there on an average sized boat among those massive boats! Sure ain't me! In that picture of the coast guard patrol boat I posted, that boat is about the same size as an average person's boat. Compare the size of that thing to the barges, which are some of the largest in the world. Both New Orleans' and Baton Rouge's ports are deep enough to handle the current largest barge in the world.

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How busy is barge traffic on the Arkansas River? The Port of New Orleans is one of the busiest ports in the world, and you can really tell by just looking out on the River from the levee. It literally never stops.

I guess considering how far inland it is it's not too bad on the Arkansas River but you certainly don't have stuff passing by all the time. I'm not sure how much barge traffic there is. But I do know it really starts dropping off as you make your way upstream from Pine Bluff.

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Fascinating pics! S. Louisiana is in a great position to capitalize on all the industry in the middle part of the county. I have always wondered about the term "inland" port, in that location is the overwhelming factor, with a sea port you can choose Philly or NYC or Boston, but you have to go dock in New Orleans and are forced to pass Memphis etc.

Then again being from a river city, I have no complaints, I would guess that the vast majority of the traffic that comes southbound to New Orleans and Baton Rouge is from the Ohio branch vs. the Missouri or upper Mississippi. West Virginia and Pittsburgh both have claims for the largest fresh water only ports in the world. New Orleans is nothing like our region but it shows you how someplace so different in so many ways is key to your region's continued growth and development. :)

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Fascinating pics! S. Louisiana is in a great position to capitalize on all the industry in the middle part of the county. I have always wondered about the term "inland" port, in that location is the overwhelming factor, with a sea port you can choose Philly or NYC or Boston, but you have to go dock in New Orleans and are forced to pass Memphis etc.

Then again being from a river city, I have no complaints, I would guess that the vast majority of the traffic that comes southbound to New Orleans and Baton Rouge is from the Ohio branch vs. the Missouri or upper Mississippi. West Virginia and Pittsburgh both have claims for the largest fresh water only ports in the world. New Orleans is nothing like our region but it shows you how someplace so different in so many ways is key to your region's continued growth and development. :)

Don't forget the Arkansas River as well. :D

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Then again being from a river city, I have no complaints, I would guess that the vast majority of the traffic that comes southbound to New Orleans and Baton Rouge is from the Ohio branch vs. the Missouri or upper Mississippi.

I believe you're right about that. The Port of New Orleans is vital to the Midwest in that it handles the majority of the regions grain exports. And it seems like most of the traffic coming through New Orleans headed downriver comes from the Ohio branch. Though what has always been interesting and fun for me is to see where the barges headed upriver are from. That large green barge in the above pictures was from somewhere in Japan, and the long and low red barge was from somewhere in Africa. I also believe I saw a barge from Taiwan, and many other countries within the 10 or 15 minutes I was on the riverfront taking pictures. I've always thought the heavy international traffic headed through the Port of N.O. is pretty cool. :D

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Really? What would you consider them to be?

I don't know what I'd call them. But all the barges I always saw on the Arkansas River were so much lower to the water. They certainly weren't anything you'd expect to see last very long out on the ocean. I guess it's more like a tugboat pushing a bunch of containers. That's what we always called barges up here.

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I don't know what I'd call them. But all the barges I always saw on the Arkansas River were so much lower to the water. They certainly weren't anything you'd expect to see last very long out on the ocean. I guess it's more like a tugboat pushing a bunch of containers. That's what we always called barges up here.

Oh ok, I gotcha. You really don't see many of those compared to the larger barges in New Orleans. Most of the barges coming from other countries, especially those from far away, are huge. You really only see the the tugboats pushing a line of containers when they are coming from a nearby port up the river.

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Oh ok, I gotcha. You really don't see many of those compared to the larger barges in New Orleans. Most of the barges coming from other countries, especially those from far away, are huge. You really only see the the tugboats pushing a line of containers when they are coming from a nearby port up the river.

Yeah I guess I just consider all the other ships that you mentioned oceanic vessels and never thought of them as barges. But maybe that's just because I've spent my life inland away from the ocean. :D

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Yeah I guess I just consider all the other ships that you mentioned oceanic vessels and never thought of them as barges. But maybe that's just because I've spent my life inland away from the ocean. :D

Yea, I guess it all comes down to what you're used to seeing. I've been seeing those large vessels my whole life, and along with everyone around here, have always called them barges. While it might be the exact opposite for you.

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I think that the Port of Baton Rouge has mostly barge traffic, or so it seems. When I lived there, it seemed that barges were by far the most prevalent.

A little useless trivia... The old Mississippi River bridge in Baton Rouge was put thre by Huey Long. He had it built low in height to insure that Baton Rouge and New Orleans would be home to all ocean-going freight. Only barges past that point.

He used this same tactic to build Tiger Stadium. The state legislature wouldn't support the construction of a new stadium, so he got funding for dorms. Then, he had them constructed in a circle, and put bleachers on them. The guy certainly had a sense of humor.

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I think that the Port of Baton Rouge has mostly barge traffic, or so it seems. When I lived there, it seemed that barges were by far the most prevalent.

A little useless trivia... The old Mississippi River bridge in Baton Rouge was put thre by Huey Long. He had it built low in height to insure that Baton Rouge and New Orleans would be home to all ocean-going freight. Only barges past that point.

He used this same tactic to build Tiger Stadium. The state legislature wouldn't support the construction of a new stadium, so he got funding for dorms. Then, he had them constructed in a circle, and put bleachers on them. The guy certainly had a sense of humor.

Huey Long put Baton Rouge on the map with the construction of our 34-story state capitol building. Today people criticize the economics of building tall, but in the 1930s New York was probably the only city in the country where those "economics" were in place. Long was just a born showman. I always liked the stadium story and its a testament to Huey Long's fame that the same story is without fail retold at every LSU home football game.

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He used this same tactic to build Tiger Stadium. The state legislature wouldn't support the construction of a new stadium, so he got funding for dorms. Then, he had them constructed in a circle, and put bleachers on them. The guy certainly had a sense of humor.

I've always thought that was hilarious. :lol:

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Well guys, after looking into it a bit, as well as spotting a few things, I am not pretty sure that there in fact is not a law against private traffic on the Mississippi.

I also spotted this on Wednesday:

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