Repairs Help Ensure McAlpine Lock Chamber Reliability

Maintenance work inside one of McAlpine Locks and Dam’s 1,200-foot chambers is scheduled to be complete May 5, ending a closure meant to extend its reliability.

The north chamber, at Ohio River Mile 606.8, closed March 30 to complete the work on miter gate machinery for that chamber’s lower end, which included new bushings, pins for the sector gear, the strut arm and all the rollers, said Gary Birge, the Louisville Engineer District’s operations manager for the mid-Ohio River locks and dams. All the work is taking place above the water, so the chamber did not have to be dewatered.

The Corps had originally expected the project to be complete by April 30, but the closure was extended until May 5 to allow additional machining of parts, Birge said. The light capacity fleet from the Nashville Engineer District has been completing the work after completing maintenance at the other end of the chamber in 2023. A budget package for the rehabilitation of the miter gate machinery at the lower end of the north chamber was submitted in fiscal year 2024 to begin planning the work.

“It’s all about reliability, making that whole chamber more reliable,” Birge said.

Crews also completed work in the past couple of weeks that has been underway since October to repair the wall of the Portland Canal at the facility, which was damaged when a boat hit it in high water, Birge said.

McAlpine’s two lock chambers are of far different ages. The south chamber was opened to tow traffic in 2009, but the north chamber has been in service since May 1960.

While the closure completes the immediate work at McAlpine, two additional projects are expected in the coming years. Engineers are designing two new culvert valves, which fill and empty the chamber. Those are scheduled to be completed and delivered in Fiscal Year 2028. Design is also underway for major repairs to tainter gate 1, which has been out of service since several barges broke away from a tow and became pinned against the dam in March 2023. That incident also caused damage to a mooring cell.

Additional work is also taking place around the district. The heavy capacity fleet completed similar work in mid-April at Markland Locks and Dam, Ohio River Mile 531.5. Additionally, the fleet completed repairs to the emergency gate there at the same time, Birge said.

Electrical upgrades are taking place at several facilities, with work at Newburgh Locks and Dam, Ohio River Mile 776.1, and John T. Myers Locks and Dam, Mile 846, already completed and work at Smithland Locks and Dam, Mile 918.5, underway.

Featured photo caption: Clint Rawls, a Great Lakes and Ohio River Division light fleet mechanic, watches closely as miter gate machinery is disassembled at the lower river wall of McAlpine Locks and Dam’s north chamber. (Photo by Zach Willis/Louisville Engineer District)