Rouge River, MI

Rouge River, Michigan rises in Oakland and Washtenaw Counties, Michigan. The river is 30 miles long, flows southeasterly through Wayne County, and joins the Detroit River at the westerly limit of the City of Detroit. The navigation channel is located on the lower 2 ½ miles of the river. The project was authorized by Rivers and Harbors Acts of August 8, 1917; August 30, 1935; July 3, 1958; and, October 23, 1962. The existing project provides for: (a) Main Channel – A channel 21 feet deep from that depth in the Detroit River through the Short-Cut Canal, 400 feet wide at the entrance, tapering to 200 feet in a distance of 2,000 feet; thence 200 feet wide to a turning basin 21 feet deep above the Dix Avenue Bridge; for additional deepening to 25 feet over a width of generally 150 feet in the channel from the Detroit River through the Short-Cut Canal to a point 200 feet down stream from the Jefferson Avenue Bridge, over modified limits generally 50 feet riverward of the existing channel lines, except that the deepening shall extend to the existing channel limit on the north side in the section upstream from the angle opposite the Old Channel; and for a turning area with a depth of 25 feet at the Junction of the Canal and Old Channel (not constructed). (b) Old Channel – A channel 25 feet deep from that depth in the Detroit River through the mouth of the Old Channel upstream for a distance of 1,300 feet with a width of 240 feet at the mouth, thence 18 feet deep and 100 feet wide for a distance of 1,425 feet; thence 17 feet deep and 100 feet wide to the Detroit, Toledo and Ironton Railroad Bridge, a distance of 1,550 feet, thence 21 feet deep and 100 feet wide to the junction of the Old Channel with the Short-Cut Canal and widened to 150 feet at two bends and flared at its junction with the Short-Cut Canal. The project serves numerous large commercial docks for handling various types of cargo.