The First Coast Guard District has completed a Northern New York Bight Port Access Route Study (NNYBPARS) to evaluate the adequacy of existing vessel routing measures and determine whether additional ones are necessary for port approaches to New York and New Jersey and international and domestic transit areas in the district’s area of responsibility.
A new layer in the Data Explorer displays a network of shipping safety fairways leading to and from the port area and an anchorage area off the coast of Long Island that were proposed in the final report. The layer is visible in the Marine Transportation category of map layers, under Proposed Areas and Studies. The NNYBPARS final report is available for viewing and downloading on the Federal Register and the Coast Guard Navigation Center website.
Screenshot of the interactive map of Northern New York Bight Port Access Route Study (NNYBPARS) Final Recommendations.
Portal users can also find more information about other active and completed Port Access Route Studies (PARS) Areas on the Coast Guard Proposed Actions page, which is listed under Current Issues in the Portal’s navigation menu. For each active, draft, or completed study, users can find links to interactive maps, draft or completed documents, and links to the Federal Register.
All interactive maps of PARS areas can be found in the Data Explorer in the Marine Transportation category under Proposed Areas and Studies. Once layers are added to the map, click any of the areas for pop-ups containing links to their Federal Register notices and documentation. It is recommended that Portal users also activate the Traffic Lane layer in the Marine Transportation > Navigation category or use the Nautical Chart basemap to view connections between the PARS proposals and existing traffic lanes, fairways, separation zones, and precautionary areas.
Screenshot of the Data Explorer map displaying the Chart basemap and four map layers: (1) NNYBPARS Final Recommendations, (2) Port Access Route Studies (PARS) Areas, (3) USCG MA RI PARS Study Areas, and (4) Traffic Lane.
In 2019, the Coast Guard initiated a series of port access route studies (PARS) focused on major ports along the Atlantic Coast. These new studies supplement and build on the Atlantic Coast Port Access Route Study (ACPARS) completed in 2017. The studies have gathered a wide range of data and stakeholder input on future maritime commerce trends, Coast Guard missions, potential conflicts with offshore wind projects, port infrastructure changes, and many other factors to evaluate the adequacy of existing routing measures and determine whether additional ones are necessary to safely accommodate vessel traffic. The reports recommend new shipping lanes designed to connect the ports to a broader network of fairways proposed by the ACPARS that extend from New England to Florida.
