Zea Addresses America’s Watershed Initiative
Tracy Zea was candid when he spoke to members of America’s Watershed Initiative about the issue of aging locks and dams.
“This is a problem,” Zea said, speaking as the guest speaker for the organization’s June 12 webinar. “This is what keeps my membership up at night.”
Zea, president and CEO of Waterways Council Inc., a Washington, D.C.-based group that advocates for a modern, efficient and well-maintained inland waterways transportation system, pointed out that 83 of the country’s locks are 80 years old or more. Only three locks are under 10 years old.
Zea first highlighted the 464.1 million tons of cargo moved on the inland waterways during calendar year 2023, the last full year for which data is available. Petroleum products accounted for 115.2 million tons that year, he said, with other major sectors being coal, aggregates, grain and chemicals.
In some markets, barge transportation is increasingly important, Zea said, who offered Nashville, Tenn., as an example. In 2014, less than 2 percent of petroleum moved to Nashville by barge, but as of 2024 it is more than 60 percent. Pipeline capacity is maxed out, Zea noted, and it can be difficult to add more pipelines.
Zea then shared a chart with planned outages and unscheduled closures of locks and dams. As the nation has invested in regular lock maintenance, the number and duration of unscheduled closures has gone down. Still, unplanned closures have an impact.
“That was disruption to the system,” he said. “That had economic consequences for the nation.”
With support from WCI and its partners, more than an additional $5 billion has gone toward funding lock and dam infrastructure of late, which could lead to three to five additional locks coming online in the next 10 years, Zea said. That sum includes about $2.2 billion from appropriations and $3.1 billion from the most recent infrastructure package.
Projects funded through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (also called the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law) have included $300 million for the Three Rivers project along the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System (MKARNS), which is due to be completed this year.
Additionally, $807 million was provided for Lock and Dam 25, which is the first navigation project in the Navigation and Ecosystem Sustainability Program (NESP). Construction is expected to start there in 2029.
Funding also was provided to complete the major rehabilitation of T.J. O’Brien Lock and Dam in Chicago, $41 million for the Lower Mon Project, $465 million for the Kentucky Lock Addition Project on the Tennessee River and $960 million in funding for the new construction start for Montgomery Lock and Dam, which is due to come online in 2032 or 2033. Montgomery Lock is part of the Upper Ohio River Navigation Project.
Additionally, IIJA provided money to complete the Arkansas River Navigation Study, designed to determine the impact of deepening the waterway to 12 feet.
“But we have a major problem that we’re facing, and pretty much every construction project in America is facing it right now,” Zea said. “Cost overruns are absolutely killing these projects and the efficiency of the construction schedule.”
He pointed to Kentucky Lock and Dam as one example. Initially believed to be funded to completion in the IIJA, the project now needs another $1.2 to $1.5 billion, Zea said. He also displayed a chart that indicated the initial authorized cost and planned completion dates for major projects and how those costs have ballooned as completion dates have been extended, due in part to inefficient funding mechanisms.
“Thirty-six years to construct an inland lock project is unacceptable,” Zea said, once again pointing to the Kentucky Lock Addition Project, which is now projected as being at 297 percent of its initial authorized cost and is expected to grow to 400 to 500 percent of its authorized cost when completed.
“No one could run a business with those kinds of cost overruns,” Zea said.
Another example he gave was Olmsted Lock and Dam, which took 26 years to build and cost 275 percent of the initial authorized cost.
The question is how to make the construction process more efficient, Zea said, adding that WCI is working closely with other agencies, including the Corps of Engineers, Congress and the Trump administration. He also noted that the Corps just had its first meeting with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which has a goal of cutting $2 trillion across the federal government.
“We believe that DOGE could potentially be a good thing for the Corps of Engineers,” Zea said.
Additionally, Zea said, “We think early contractor involvement in these construction projects could significantly help.”
Other ideas to improve efficiency on lock and dam construction projects include continuing contract authority, incentive-based contracting, integrated design and construction and the ability to provide outyear funding, which would let Congress know what’s coming so that members can better plan and structure bills.
One key point is amending Executive Order 12322, signed by President Ronald Reagan on September 17, 1981, Zea said. That order was intended to ensure federal agency proposals aligned with policies and procedures of the presidential administration. However, over time, its interpretation has expanded to include nearly all Corps information and data, including outyear capabilities, testimony and workplans, Zea said.
In practice, he said a lengthy Office of Management and Budget (OMB) review as required by the executive order can have long-term impacts on project schedules, acquisition strategies and project execution, effectively blocking early contractor involvement.
“At WCI, we see the top priority to create efficiencies at the Corps of Engineers is amending this executive order in a way so that the Corps can use the tools that can help drive efficiency,” Zea said.
Eventually, Zea said, he believes it is possible to amend government policies, procedures and funding mechanisms so that lock construction projects take no more than eight years to build.
