Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway
A steel truss bridge spans the waterway in golden evening light.

Four states, five waterways, one corridor. Our job: Move it Forward.

The Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway Development Authority is the four-state compact of Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Tennessee, created to champion the waterway and the Marine Highway M-65 corridor it anchors. The Corps of Engineers runs the locks; we make the case for everything the waterway can do.

The corridor's promotional engine.

Established by interstate compact and ratified by Congress in 1958, before the first shovel of construction, the Authority exists to make sure the waterway delivers on its promise.

Promote

Drive commerce, industrial development, and recreation along the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway and the full M-65 corridor: marketing, business development, and stakeholder engagement.

Inform

Serve as the central repository for corridor data and research, from the interactive infrastructure map to the economic impact studies that back every claim on this site.

Connect

Link shippers, site selectors, and communities with ports, economic development partners, and the local leaders who get deals done across 116 counties.

Convene

Bring the corridor together, most visibly at the annual Tenn-Tom Conference, where shippers, developers, ports, and policy partners chart the year ahead.

A federal marine highway, sponsored by TTWDA.

Marine Highway M-65 is a federally designated freight corridor of more than 1,300 miles: the Mobile, Tombigbee, and Black Warrior Rivers from the Port of Mobile to the Port of Birmingham, the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway, and the entire Tennessee River from Paducah, Kentucky to Knoxville, Tennessee, plus the commercial channels, ports, and harbors that serve them. TTWDA is the route's official sponsor, designated by the U.S. Department of Transportation's Maritime Administration.

Designated
2010, U.S. Marine Highway Program (MARAD)
Sponsor
Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway Development Authority
Connects
M-10 at Mobile · M-55 at Cairo, Illinois
Landside
Interstate 65 corridor
Reach
Five river systems · four states · 116 counties

Small staff. Big corridor.

Day to day, the Authority is run from Columbus, Mississippi: a three-person team working the full length of the waterway.

Mitch Mays

Mitch Mays

Administrator

Betsy Young

Betsy Young

Deputy Administrator

Hope Oakes

Hope Oakes

Office Manager

Reach the office

Office
P.O. Drawer 671 · Columbus, MS 39703
Visit
318 7th Street North, Columbus, MS

The people and the story behind the Authority.

The Authority Board

Meet the 24 members

The TTW Council

Join the waterway's champions

History of the Waterway

Two centuries in the making

Put the corridor to work for you.

Whether you ship, build, or explore, start with a conversation.

Contact TTWDA Join Us at the Conference

Mitch Mays

Administrator

Mitch Mays has led the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway Development Authority as Administrator since 2016, promoting commerce and investment along the Marine Highway M-65 corridor across Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Tennessee. He carries the corridor's case to Congress and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and serves as president of the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway Council, the Authority’s membership organization. Nationally, Mitch is second vice president of the National Waterways Conference and serves on the board of Inland Rivers, Ports & Terminals. Before joining the Authority, he spent more than 15 years recruiting industry in Alabama, most recently leading the Franklin County Development Authority. Mitch retired as a Master Sergeant after 20 years in the U.S. Air Force and Alabama Air National Guard. A graduate of the University of Oklahoma Economic Development Institute, Mitch also holds an MBA from William Carey University.

Betsy Young

Deputy Administrator

Betsy Young joined the Authority in 2025 as Deputy Administrator of Business Development, leading marketing and business development for the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway and the Marine Highway M-65 corridor. She brings more than two decades of experience in marketing and economic development. Her marketing work spans several industries, most notably at Burkhalter, a heavy lifting and transportation company serving marine and industrial markets. Most recently she was Vice President of Economic Development at the Golden Triangle Development LINK. She is a Certified Economic Developer (CEcD), a graduate of the University of Oklahoma Economic Development Institute, and holds a journalism degree from the University of Mississippi.

Hope Oakes

Office Manager

Hope Oakes has been the Authority's Office Manager since 2019. She oversees museum operations, manages finances for the Authority, the museum, and the TTW Council, and handles board meeting logistics and much of the conference planning. Outside the office, she is president of the Friends of the Columbus-Lowndes Public Library. She studied at Mississippi University for Women.