The whole course of the Tikhvinka River is a part of the Tikhvinskaya water system, one of the waterways constructed in the early 19th century to connect the basins of the Volga and the Neva Rivers. The waterway runs from the Syas upstream the Tikhvinka. Lake Yelgino is connected by the Tikhvin Canal, with the upper course of the Volchina River. The waterway then follows downstream the Gorun River, the Chagodoshcha River, and the Mologa River. Currently, it is not used for any commercial navigation. Most of the locks built on the Tikhvinka decayed and are not in use.