Passage · 150 mi
The Gulf Intracoastal Waterway from the Caloosahatchee River to the Anclote River
Florida's west-coast waterway, from the Okeechobee junction up to Tarpon Springs: the depth it was built for, the bridges, and where the dredged channel ends.
The route, mile by mile
Schematic: the stops sit at their mile figures, the line is straight.
- Caloosahatchee RiverMile 0 · zero of this section, at the Okeechobee Waterway junction
- Boca Grande CausewayMile 34.3 · swing, 22 ft closed
- Venice Avenue bridgeMile 56.6 · bascule, 30 ft closed
- Blackburn Point Road bridgeMile 63.1 · swing, 9 ft closed
- Ringling Causeway, SarasotaMile 73.6 · fixed, 65 ft
- Sunshine Skyway, main spanMile 99 · fixed, 180 ft
- Sunshine Skyway, northern spanMile 110.5 · fixed, 65 ft near Maximo Point
- Pinellas BaywayMile 113 · fixed, 65 ft, Structure E
- Belleair CausewayMile 131.8 · fixed, 75 ft
- ClearwaterMile 135.9 · city pier and municipal marina
- DunedinMile 139
- Dunedin CausewayMile 141.9 · bascule, 24 ft closed
- Anclote RiverMile 150 · the dredged channel of this section ends
- Bridge
- Place with a guide page
What the sources say
- Nine feet, and what that means The federal project provides for a channel 9 feet deep and 100 feet wide. The Coast Pilot adds that although effort is made to maintain the project depth, the channels may shoal several feet in places between maintenance dredgings, and that controlling depths come from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
- Where the miles are counted from This first section of the waterway is zeroed at 26°30.6'N., 82°01.1'W., near the mouth of the Caloosahatchee River at its junction with the Okeechobee Waterway, and the figures are statute miles.
- How a clearance in the Coast Pilot is meant Vertical clearances of bridges and overhead cables are in feet above mean high water unless otherwise stated, and clearances of drawbridges are for the closed position — the open clearance is given as well only for vertical-lift bridges. The structure table for this stretch repeats the mean-high-water footnote.
- Drawbridge schedules The drawbridges on this stretch are referred to 33 CFR 117.1 to 117.59 and 117.287, or to 33 CFR 117.1 to 117.49, bridge by bridge in the Coast Pilot's structure table.
- Calling before a shipping channel The Coast Guard asks vessels to make a SECURITE call on VHF-FM channel 13 before crossing deep-draft shipping channels, particularly during periods of restricted visibility, after collisions and close-quarters situations at the intersections.
- Bridgetender channels on this coast Where the Coast Pilot knows a bridgetender's channel on this stretch it names it: channel 9 at the Treasure Island Causeway, the 78th Avenue bridge and the Dunedin Causeway, each with its call sign. It is not one channel for every bridge.
Depth the waterway was built for
Federal project, Caloosahatchee River to Anclote River
9 ft deep
100 ft wide
Project depth is what the channel was built for, not what it carries today. Controlling depths are published in the Local Notice to Mariners – use official charts and current notices.
Stops along the way
Caloosahatchee Riverzero of this section, at the Okeechobee Waterway junction
Clearwatercity pier and municipal marina
Dunedin
Anclote Riverthe dredged channel of this section ends
Sources & checks
- NOAA Coast Pilot 5, ch. 12 (2026) · 18 Oct 2026
- NOAA Coast Pilot 5, ch. 1 (2026) · 18 Oct 2026
Written by buoya editorial from the sources above. Every figure was checked against its source on 21 Oct 2026. Found something wrong? Report a correction.