Industrial Canal

Inner Harbor Navigation Canal Industrial Canal
The Industrial Canal from the river to the lake. The Mississippi is at lower left and Lake Pontchartrain is at top in the distance. View is to the northwest. Picture taken before August 29, 2005.
Location	New Orleans, Louisiana
Country	United States
Coordinates	30°00′56″N 90°01′45″W / 30.01567°N 90.02927°W / 30.01567; -90.02927
Specifications
Length	5.5 miles (8.9 km) (originally 5.3 mi or 8.5 km)
Lock length	640 feet (200 m)
Lock width	75 ft (23 m)
Maximum boat draft	30 feet (9.1 m)
Locks	1 (Industrial Canal Lock)
Total rise	20 feet (6.1 m)
Status	Open
History
Date of act	1914
Construction began	6 June 1918
Date of first use	5 May 1923
Geography
Start point	Lake Pontchartrain
End point	Lower Mississippi River
Connects to	Gulf Intracoastal Waterway

The Industrial Canal is a 5.5-mile (8.9 km) waterway in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. The waterway's proper name, as used by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and on NOAA nautical charts, is Inner Harbor Navigation Canal (IHNC). The more common "Industrial Canal" name is used locally, both by commercial mariners and by landside residents.^[1]

The canal connects the Mississippi River to Lake Pontchartrain. It separates New Orleans East from the rest of the city, and the Lower 9th Ward from the Upper 9th Ward. Approximately half of the waterway's course, from Industrial Lock to a point north of the Florida Avenue Bridge, is confluent with both the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway and the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet (MRGO).

The entirety of the canal passes through the 9th Ward of the city. Along the riverfront, the canal constitutes the boundary of the Upper 9th Ward on the upriver side of the canal and the Lower 9th Ward neighborhood on the downriver side. Near the lake, it is generally considered to be the eastern boundary of the Gentilly neighborhood and the western boundary of New Orleans East.