Missions
Maritime Mobility
- Aids to Navigation
- Icebreaking Services
- Vessel Traffic Service/Waterways Management
- Bridge Administration
- Rules of the Road
Our Mobility goal charges us with the facilitation of the movement of people
and goods on the U.S. waterways. Prior to establishing the Revenue Marine
in 1790, Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton sought ways to protect
the vital cargoes carried by the American merchant marine--the foundation
of the colonial economy--and collect the taxes generated by those cargoes.
As a preventive measure, he proposed the creation of a federal agency (the
Revenue Cutter Service) to protect American shipping from the wide range
of coastal hazards, including rocks and shoals, threatening ships at sea.
In 1789 the Lighthouse Service--another of the several predecessors of today’s
Coast Guard--was created by Congress. The Lighthouse Service was responsible
for the establishment and maintenance of maritime aids to navigation. Today,
the U.S. Marine Transportation System consists of a complex mix of waterways,
ports, and intermodal landside connections, which collectively allow the
nation’s various modes and types of transportation to move people
and goods to, from, and on the water.
As the nation's lead agency for waterways management, port safety and security, and vessel safety inspection and certification, the Coast Guard maintains a continuous and clear focus not only on the prevention of marine accidents but also on the response measures needed to cope with manmade and natural disasters. The Coast Guard also is responsible for maintaining and patrolling the safe and efficient navigable waterways system needed to support domestic commerce, facilitate international trade, and ensure the continued availability of the military sealift fleet required for national defense. Domestic icebreakers that keep shipping lanes open for commercial traffic in winter and the Vessel Traffic Services system that coordinates the safe and efficient movement of commercial vessels through congested harbors are two examples of how the Coast Guard maintains the waterways.
The
Coast Guard maintains the "signposts" and "traffic signals"--more
than 50,000 federal aids to navigation, including buoys, lighthouses, day
beacons, and radio-navigation signals--on the nation’s waterways.
These navigation aids provide a critical component of the overall navigational
picture needed by all mariners. The Coast Guard's maritime Differential
Global Positioning System network is fully operational and provides boaters
and mariners the most accurate electronic maritime navigation system available.
Like plowing snow-covered roads, Coast Guard domestic icebreakers keep shipping
lanes open as much as is reasonably possible for commercial traffic in winter.
In congested harbors, the Coast Guard coordinates the safe and efficient
movement of commercial vessels through its Vessel Traffic Services system.The
Coast Guard is also responsible for approximately 18,000 highway and railroad
bridges that span navigable waterways throughout the country. The Coast
Guard issues permits for bridge construction, orders obstructive bridges
to be removed, and oversees drawbridge operations.