The US Coast Guard maintains a number of aids to navigation to assist vessels entering and leaving ports, both great ports like New York and Philadelphia, and minor ports like Shark River and Montauk. At sea, these aids take the form of buoys that mark out channels and shipping lanes. The chart about also marks major ocean-side lighthouses and a few others. All of these are still extant and may be visited except Shinnecock, which was torn down.
Shipping lanes are like divided highways at sea. Inbound and outbound lanes are separated by a wide "Separation Zone, " which may or may not be depicted on the charts in this website, depending on the scale. Ships "drive on the right" just like cars in civilized countries. At the inbound end where all the lanes converge into the harbor channel, things get messy, and I didn't try to depict it. Likewise, the outer ends of the lanes are not exact either.
