This report brings together data and description of demographic, economic development, and public sectors which identify current conditions in the area of the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System for the years 1971-1974. The project includes the navigation channel extending from the Mississippi River to Catoosa, Oklahoma and the three major upstream lakes which were originally authorized in the navigation plan, costing over $1.2 billion. The primary impact area described in the report includes 28 countries bordering the waterway and the three upstream lakes.

This report presents estimates of the economic development impacts due to savings in delivered costs of commodities transported on the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System. The multiple-region variable input/output model is used to generate the estimates of project impacts. This economic model presents a national view of development impacts from this transportation system. From $50 million transport savings in 1978 the model estimates that 454 additional jobs were created in the 26 waterway counties in Oklahoma and Arkansas, 337 additional jobs were created in the rest of Oklahoma and Arkansas and 1,929 jobs were created in the rest of the U.S. These results make a potentially important contribution to the understanding of the way that transportation projects influence economic development. Far more jobs are created in those areas which receive the savings in delivered costs. This model has been used to generate estimates of the development impacts due to the flood control, hydropower, and recreation features of the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System. Keywords: Multiregional variable input-output model; Regional technical coefficients; Trade coefficients; Equilibrium price impact; Industrial impact; Economic impact; Inland waterways.