Why doesn't DC have a port?

[DCforever]

Originally Posted by hatterasjack

I'll go along with Fundman on the cost to keep the Potomac navigable, but I think the automobile started it. First came the auto, then in the 20s better roads, then better and bigger trucks. All this decreased the need for passenger and freight traffic on the Potomac. When I was a kid I remember seeing a large passenger ship of the Old Bay Line tied up in DC. It was not running at that time but used to run to Norfolk and up to Baltimore. All that need died as our highway system developed. I also remember seeing navy ships tied up at the Navy Yard on the Anacostia; not carriers or battleships but maybe up to destroyer escort. Back in colonial times Georgetown was an independent port city as well as Alexandria. So unlike Stockton, Ca. there is now no longer a demand for navigable water to DC.

You can still see a destroyer tied up at the Navy Yard in SE. Not militarily useful, but there.

[InDC]

Bridges are a big part of it.

Even fairly modest sailboats, say in the 40' range, require the Wilson Bridge to be lifted. This stops all traffic on the east coast using I-95, and the bridge authority consequently limits the times and frequency of those openings.

Closer to DC, 14th St. Bridge and Memorial bridge have fixed spans and are fairly low. That is why you never see a sailboat docked in Georgetown and why those tacky dinner cruise ships are so flat.

S. Capital St. Bridge used to be a draw bridge but I think it is broken. Slated for replacement during the Williams administration but not sure status today.

[DCforever]

Originally Posted by InDC

Bridges are a big part of it.

Even fairly modest sailboats, say in the 40' range, require the Wilson Bridge to be lifted. This stops all traffic on the east coast using I-95, and the bridge authority consequently limits the times and frequency of those openings.

Closer to DC, 14th St. Bridge and Memorial bridge have fixed spans and are fairly low. That is why you never see a sailboat docked in Georgetown and why those tacky dinner cruise ships are so flat.

S. Capital St. Bridge used to be a draw bridge but I think it is broken. Slated for replacement during the Williams administration but not sure status today.

The Wilson Bridge has a vertical clearance of about 70 feet. That will accommodate the vast majority of sailboats on the Bay including all the 40 footers I know. You are right that the 14th street bridges are barriers to sailboats, but the deep channel is so narrow that there's little reason to travel that far upriver.

[juniperbleu]

Pretty much what everyone has said: high cost and low demand.

At one time Fredericksburg was a big port, too, but the Rappahannock got shallower and the boats went to other ports. DC would be a similar story, and after time other types of "industry" (services, government) were more profitable and overshadowed any port activity. Eventually automobiles and highways made it less and less necessary for water-going vessels, and due to lack of necessity they built the bridges lower (why build a high bridge if no one needs the extra space to go under it?).

By the way, technically DC does have a "port" according to Customs & Border Patrol (two if you define "DC" as the Washington DC District)

[DCforever]

DC and Alexandria were "ports" before there were major railroads and highways. They were never major ports, but water was about the only transportation method that would bring in even modest amounts of freight back then. There's no need for DC to be a major port today, so it isn't.

[11KAP]

maybe because it's not strategic to have
too many extra boats in the way in case
of a naval emergency.

[bornindc]

Bladensburg was a major port in the 1700s as there was a tobacco inspection facility there. Good luck getting anything bigger than a canoe up there now because of all the silt.

DC doesn't need a port with Norfolk/Hampton Roads and Baltimore (and even Annapolis or Alexandria for private craft) so close. That would be an unbelievable waste of money. DC's "industry" has no need for it.

[ViennaSausages]

There are plenty of ports already - Philadelphia, Baltimore, Norfolk. All navigable by direct access, all with major existing infrastructure. There is no place to put a port and no real need when several exist already.

[geoking66]

Remember also that DC didn't really grow until after the Civil War; by that point, it was established that it wasn't much of a port city. Baltimore had that job already.