Weekly News Summary For April 4–10, 2005:
The official start to the navigation season began on March 28 when the mv. Theresa L. Wood, a tow operated by Marquette Transportation Company of Paducah, Ky., locked through at Lock and Dam 2 on the Upper Mississippi River in Hastings, Minn., while hauling a full 15-barge tow of grain.
Ed Williams, traffic manager for Upper River Services, said the mv. Magnolia, owned by Magnolia Marine Transport Company, Jackson, Miss., and its empty asphalt barges was the second tow to lock through.
“Magnolia and Marquette worked together on clearing a path through Lake Pepin,” Williams said. “The mv. Theresa L. Wood was the one who broke the path through Lake Pepin that allowed Magnolia to come through right behind it.”…
The Louisville Engineer District shut down the McAlpine lock and Corps personnel worked through the night on repairs after a cell of the cofferdam was split open when a tow hit it at about 8:45 p.m. March 30.
The mv. Mary Harter, owned by B&H Towing Inc. of Paducah, Ky., was upbound preparing to pass through the operational McAlpine lock when it struck the number 11 cell of the cofferdam that keeps river water out of the construction area for the new lock. As a safety precaution, the construction area was evacuated and work inside the cofferdam has been temporarily halted.
Repairs to patch the approximately 10- by 15-foot gash in the enclosed cell are expected to be completed by noon April 2. Since the operating lock had to be shut down so repairs could be made, the river closed to all traffic.
The repair involved welding steel bands one inch thick across the hole restoring integrity to the cell. Sheet metal will be welded to the bands, which will be used as a form. Concrete will then be poured into the void where fill was lost, to secure the original cell to the fabricated “patch.” This repair will hold for the remainder of the project construction….
Paducah River Heritage Museum officials and supporters joined other local marine industry executives in welcoming Kentucky Governor Ernie Fletcher to town March 24 when he arrived to present a check to aid the museum’s expansion and sign legislation to streamline tax collection on barge shipments along the state’s waterways.
The $878,850 check presentation and formal bill signing took place in the museum’s Founders Room overlooking the Ohio River and the city’s mural emblazoned floodwall, featuring scenes depicting Paducah’s rich river heritage. The Federal Transportation Enhancement Grant was in response to an application made by the museum last year.
Museum board chairman Kenneth A. Wheeler, a retired executive from Walker Boat Yard and Midland Enterprises, accepted the ceremonial check. Well-known as a champion for inland waterway projects, he is also chairman of the Greater Paducah Economic Development Council, and was on hand in that capacity to witness the formal signing of House Bill 350.
Fletcher said the P-21 Grant is designed to assist the museum in phase two of its expansion program and also aid in making the main entrance more accessible to large groups. He said the exhibit expansion will also allow museum visitors to observe the towboat operator simulator in operation at the Seamen’s Church Institute next door and learn why river transportation is a vital part of the state’s history….
Work has continued on the damaged miter gate leafs from the Mel Price Locks and Dam Auxiliary Chamber.
The gate was damaged on Sunday morning, October 3, 2004. The leafs were severely distorted when they were forced past the mitered (or correctly closed) position. The damaged leafs – each at approximately 220 tons, the size of the Statue of Liberty –were first lifted from the lock by the large crane Hercules from Rock Island and secured on a barge in a vertical position.
In early January, one of the largest mobile cranes on the inland waterway system (the Henry M. Shreve with a lifting capacity in certain positions of over 1 million lbs) was sent from the Ohio River Division Fleet located in Louisville to lower the gates to a horizontal position. This was necessary so they would fit under the bridges on their way to the St. Louis District Service Base, and to make access for repairs easier.
There they have been undergoing intensive analyses and have been subject to detailed discussions and planning for their repair.
Traditional methods of straightening leafs warped and bent as these two are have involved cutting out sections of bent steel and replacing them with new steel.
After intensive and lengthy consideration, St. Louis District engineers in consultation with nationwide experts in the repair of steel structures, decided to pursue a process that uses repeated precise applications of heat to specific locations to drive the gates shape back to a flat configuration….
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