WVDOT Facts - Ports

Home: About WVDOT: WVDOT Facts: Ports

Public Port Authority

Navigable Streams
420 miles of rivers are open to commercial navigation.

Rivers located in West Virginia include sections of the

Ohio
Kanawha
Monongahela
Big Sandy
Little Kanawha

River Freight
River transportation is very important for movement of bulk commodities. Coal makes up 60% of the total shipments on the Ohio River. Stone and gravel are second, at 15% of the total. Petroleum and petroleum products are third and chemicals are fourth.

Freight shipments on the Ohio River are growing rapidly, at the rate of about 8% annually.

A $5 billion federal government investment program has modernized the locks on the Ohio River and its tributaries and turned it into what may be possibly the most efficient inland waterway for shipping cargo.

Public Port Definition
An intermodal transfer point for the movement of passengers or goods that combines the strengths of highway, rail, water and/or air transportation. Public ports typically handle a wide variety of commodities for a diverse group of customers.

New public riverport projects are located in:

Huntington
Parkersburg
Weirton
Morgantown

A public port reconnaissance study is under way for the Kanawha River at Buffalo in Putnam County.

Employment Opportunities | Media Contacts | Organizational Structure
Secretary of Transportation | WVDOT Facts



	West Virginia Department of Transportation Division of Highways Public Affairs Division Building 5, Room A-137 • 1900 Kanawha Boulevard, East • Charleston, WV 25305-0430 Phone: (304) 558-0103 • Fax: (304) 558-9131 General information and/or questions, please email tlively@dot.state.wv.us