Tombigbee, << tom BIHG bee, >> River rises in northeastern Mississippi and flows southeastward into western Alabama. In southwestern Alabama, the Tombigbee and Alabama rivers meet and form the Mobile River. The Mobile River flows into Mobile Bay at the deepwater port of Mobile. The bay is an inlet of the Gulf of Mexico. The Tombigbee is about 400 miles (640 kilometers) long and the Mobile is about 45 miles (72 kilometers) long (see Mobile River ).
The Black Warrior River is the Tombigbee’s chief tributary. It provides a water route from the Tombigbee to the Birmingham area in north-central Alabama.
The Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway connects the Tombigbee and Tennessee rivers. Construction of the waterway involved building a canal from the east fork of the source of the Tombigbee north to the Tennessee River. It also involved deepening and widening the Tombigbee from its source southward to Demopolis, Ala., and constructing 10 locks and dams along the rivers. The 234-mile (377-kilometer) Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway was completed in 1985. Often called the Tenn-Tom Waterway, it ranks among the world’s largest navigational projects.
