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New commander tours vital lock and dam system

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This graphic from the Iowa Department of Transportation shows the comparison between shipping products by barge, railroad and truck.

This graphic from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers shows the amounts of various commodities that locked through Lock and Dam 10 at Guttenberg in 2018.

 

By Ted Pennekamp

 

Col. Karl D. Jansen officially became the new commander of the St. Paul District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers during a ceremony on July 10.

Jansen, along with other corps personnel, began a tour of the St. Paul District’s lock and dam system on July 29. They were scheduled to be at Lock and Dam 10 in Guttenberg, Iowa the morning of Wednesday, July 31. Jansen is the district’s 66th commander and district engineer.

This spring and summer, the Mississippi River crested above flood stage three times in Pool 10 and the river has been quite high during most of this period. Jansen and other corps personnel said the lock and dam system was not built to control floods, but was built in order to help maintain the 9-foot navigation channel.

It was noted that the corps does what it can to be proactive to help alleviate the situation. There was a lowering of the reservoirs near the Mississippi River headwaters in anticipation of heavy rains this spring, for example.

“That is an action we take every year, typically in late fall before they (the reservoirs) start to freeze,” said George Stringham, public affairs specialist with the Corps of Engineers. “These really aren’t draw downs, we are just increasing our releases to make space for the rain the basin receives.”

Maintaining the navigation channel may be harder than most people realize and dredging often occurs, even during seasons of extended high water, because of massive amounts of silt moving into some areas.

“We are currently dredging at four locations in the St. Paul District,” said Stringham. “We also have Dredge Goetz, our hydraulic dredge, and our government mechanical dredge working in the Rock Island District to keep their channel open.”

Stringham also noted the Mississippi River was above flood stage for 53 consecutive days this year at Lock and Dam 10 in Guttenberg without any channel closures. By comparison, the same area witnessed 15 consecutive days above flood stage during the 2014 navigation season, which caused several channel closures. 

The corps also does non-navigation dredging, but not this year. “Next year, as part of the Upper Mississippi River Restoration Program, we may have some at Conway Lake, a backwater area near Lansing, Iowa, or McGregor Lake,” said Stringham.

Lock and Dam 9 and other locks and dams have had various repairs in the last few years. Lock and Dam 9 had repairs to its miter gates a couple of years ago, and the “cribs” under the lock guide walls had concrete pumped in to stabilize the guide walls this past winter. Maintenance of these locks and dams, most of which were built in the 1930s with an anticipated life of 50 years, continues to be a concern.

“In summary, there is a concern about the age of the locks, but we’re also fortunate to have a three to four-month period in the winter to get a lot of preventive work done,” said Stringham. “Our sister districts south of us don’t have that luxury. That said, we’re on a 20-year cycle to do major maintenance at each lock. We’ve sandblasted and repainted the miter gates as much as we can and in the coming years, we’ll start replacing them as well. One of the larger concerns is that we continue to receive funding to continue to do maintenance.”

Some have suggested that the locks be expanded to 1,200 feet long, instead of the current 600 feet, so that 15-barge tows don’t have to split in order to lock through. That is not being considered for the 13 locks of the St. Paul District, however, said Stringham. 

The lock and dam system of the Upper Mississippi River is vital to the nation’s economy with great amounts of products being shipped to and from St. Louis, New Orleans, and to worldwide destinations each year.

Without barge traffic, the Midwest’s roads would take a huge beating from the increased truck traffic, and the railroads would be under a heavy burden as well.

Stringham said it is largely grains such as corn and soybeans, cement and concrete, petrochemicals, aggregate, fertilizer, salt (road treatment), scrap metal, other metals, potash, manufactured goods, some coal and specialty loads being transported via barge tows in the St. Paul District. An example of specialty loads would be wind turbine blades that are being shipped by barge to Winona, Minn., where they are offloaded to trucks and trucked to wind farms under construction.

According to the Iowa Department of Transportation, one 15-barge tow can carry 26,250 tons, or 874,995 bushels, or 23,325,000 gallons. One 108-car train can carry 11,880 tons, or 432,000 bushels, or 3,657,960 gallons. One large semi can carry 25 tons, or 910 bushels, or 7,865 gallons. A 15-barge tow is about the equivalent of six locomotives and 216 rail cars, or 1,050 semis.

At Lock and Dam 10 alone, 15,789,300 tons of commodities locked through in 2018.

Joe Schroetter, a project manager with the Corps of Engineers, said if just one lock was closed for a day, $40,000 would be lost. The figures go up exponentially, Schroetter said. For a week, it would be $1.75 million. For a month, $25 million, and for a year, more than $300 million. These costs would be borne by industry, and in turn would trickle through the nation’s economy.

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