Prioritize Funding Over Short-Term Fixes
In just the past few years, the barge industry has had to contend with a number of unscheduled lock and dam closures, including those at Wilson Lock, Holt Lock and Demopolis Lock in Alabama.
It also faced what could have been a monthslong extended closure at Lockport Lock on the Illinois Waterway, had it not been for an innovative solution that applied a “Band-Aid,” a carbon reinforced polymer wrap, to cracked components. Now the Corps has scheduled a second closure at Lockport from March 31 to May 19 to replace the pintle sockets with newly fabricated ones.
The Corps consulted with industry on the closure schedule, as it usually does, and that’s all to the good. But there’s really no “good” time for an unscheduled lock closure, only a less bad time. Because the older locks on the Illinois Waterway don’t have alternative chambers, any closure of one lock means a temporary shutdown of the entire system.
Cline Jones, executive director of the Tennessee River Valley Association, which is planning its annual meeting for January 28, called the recent unscheduled closures “canaries in the coal mine.” He emphasized the need for Corps of Engineers operations and maintenance funding to complete regular inspections and perform maintenance on the country’s aging lock and dam infrastructure. He also spoke about the millions of dollars in the backlog of Congressionally authorized projects where construction has not yet begun and the lengthy turnaround times for completing projects like the Kentucky Lock Addition Project and the Chickamauga Lock Replacement Project. The need for continued funding, faster construction and avoiding potential budget snags are major issues TRVA expects presenters to address at the upcoming conference, Jones said.
Corps teams at Lockport have gone above and beyond in using a temporary repair. In doing so, the lock was kept open during the peak harvest season. But an innovative Band-Aid is still a Band-Aid.
Instead of a creative temporary repair, the Corps, the barge industry, American farmers and, therefore, American consumers, deserve a reliable, consistent and sustainable funding stream that would enable systematic, expeditious, scheduled replacement of aging locks and dams that have long outlived their design life.
