Okeechobee Waterway

The Okeechobee Waterway is a man-made waterway stretching across Florida from Fort Myers on the west coast to Stuart on the east coast of Florida. The waterway runs through Lake Okeechobee and consists of the Caloosahatchee River to the west of the lake and the St. Lucie Canal east of the lake.

A map of the Okeechobee Waterway can be found here: http://www.saj.usace.army.mil/Portals/44/docs/Operations/owwmap%20revised%20hyperlinks.pdf

History

It was built/finished in 1937 to provide a water route across Florida, allowing boats to pass east–west across the state rather than traveling the long route around the southern end of the state.

Management

Lake Okeechobee and the Okeechobee Waterway Project is part of the complex water management system known as the Central and Southern Florida Flood Control Project. The projects cover 16,000 square miles starting just south of Orlando and extending southward through the Kissimmee River Basin to the Everglades National Park to Florida Bay.