The channel is approximately 10 miles long and connects Raritan Bay on its south end with Newark Bay on the north. Along the New Jersey it is primarily lined with industrial sites, whereas on the Staten Island side, it is primarily lined with salt marshes.
A heavily used marine channel, it provides access for ocean-going container ships to Port Newark and to industrial facilities along the channel itself.
It also provides the primary marine access to the now-closed Fresh Kills Landfill on Staten Island.
The channel is dredged periodically to a depth between 35 and 37 feet and a width of 600 feet to maintain its functionality for commercial ship passage.
Because of the complex nature of the tides in New York Harbor near the mouth of the Hudson River, the hydrology of the Arthur Kill is still an open subject In particular, the net flow of the channel is not well established.
It is spanned by the Goethals Bridge and the Outerbridge Crossing, as well as by the vertical-lift railroad drawbridge in the United States.
It contains two small uninhabited islands, Pralls Island and the Isle of Meadows, both of which belong to the borough of Staten Island.