| Cape May Canal | |
|---|---|
 Railroad swing bridge, one of three bridges across the canal | |
 The path of the canal | |
| Coordinates | 38°57′53″N 74°55′50″W / 38.9646°N 74.9305°W |
| Specifications | |
| Length | 3.3 miles (5.3 km) |
| History | |
| Original owner | United States Army Corps of Engineers |
| Date of first use | 1942 |
| Geography | |
| Start point | Cape May Harbor |
| End point | Delaware Bay |
 | |
The Cape May Canal is a 2.9-nautical-mile (3.3 mi; 5.4 km) waterway connecting Cape May Harbor to the Delaware Bay, at the southern tip of Cape May County, New Jersey.[1] There is a long history of unfulfilled plans for a canal across Cape May.[2] The canal was finally constructed by the United States Army Corps of Engineers during World War II to provide a protected route to avoid German U-boats operating off Cape May Point and to become part of the Intracoastal Waterway. The canal was dredged as a wartime emergency measure in 1942 and was the final link in a protected waterway intended to allow coastal shipping to travel along the coast with a greatly reduced risk of attack from German submarines.[3]
- ^ U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Philadelphia, PA. (2009). "Cape May Canal, New Jersey." Archived February 15, 2013, at the Wayback Machine Channel Statement. Length calculated from segments "Canal Entrance to Cape Island Creek" + "Cape Island Creek to Inner End of Ferry Basin."
- ^ Blasko, Mike (1975). A brief history of the Cape May Canal. Privately published. p. 13. available at the Cape May County Library - Villas Branch
- ^ "The Inland Waterway". The District: A History of the Philadelphia District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 1866-1971. Philadelphia, PA: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. 1974. p. 92. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-03-26. Retrieved October 28, 2012.