America's Biggest Highway Isn't a Highway

Twelve thousand miles of navigable water, 218 lock chambers, and a push-boat that moves the cargo of about a thousand trucks. This video is about the Mississippi River system as what it physically is: a freight highway. Where the tributaries come from, how the 1930s turned a shallow river into a staircase of locks, why nearly half of America's corn and soybean exports leave by barge to the Gulf, and what happens every autumn now when the river runs low. Every number on screen has a source. The river stage at Memphis is as of the date shown in the video and changes daily. CHAPTERS 0:00 America's biggest highway 0:16 Five rivers, one mouth 0:33 Forty percent of the country 0:47 One barge, 70 trucks 0:58 Fifteen barges, one boat 1:17 One gallon of fuel 1:30 The staircase: 29 locks 1:50 The Ohio: 20 more 2:03 The grain goes down 2:08 Half of the exports 2:19 The last 200 miles 2:36 449 million tons 2:45 It depends on rain 2:52 Memphis, 2022 to 2026 3:11 Low water as a tax 3:31 Twenty billion dollars 3:39 The river today 3:52 The shape of it 4:07 Not a highway #Mississippi #shipping #barge #geography #agriculture #infrastructure #data