A motion-activated video camera documented the passage of commercial tows through the Electric Dispersal Barrier System (EDBS) on the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal at Romeoville, Illinois, over the period October 1, 2017, to September 30, 2018. Videos were manually screened and analyzed to extract tow characteristics including: date and time of video recording, number and configuration of barges, loading of barges (loaded, unloaded, or mixed), direction of travel, and bow type (rake or box). Only commercial vessels were logged and no identifying data about the tow vessels were maintained. All videos triggered by recreational vessels or other objects were permanently removed from the database during analysis. Any periods of missing data due to instrument malfunction are documented in the metadata.