Ice Melt Aids Mississippi Navigation
Ice melt and rising water levels on the Illinois and upper-Mississippi rivers improved barge movement but traffic was backed up near Alton, Illinois, after the Melvin Price lock reopened, officials said Thursday. The Melvin Price auxiliary lock on the upper-Mississippi River near Alton began locking tows at 7 p.m. on Wednesday after closing the lock on Monday to flush ice from the dam. "They're not finished flushing ice but they are locking because most of the heavy ice has passed," said Charles Camillo, U.S. Army Corps of Engineer spokesman. As of Thursday morning, 16 south-bound tows and three north-bound tows were waiting to pass through the Melvin Price auxiliary lock, Camillo said.
Sunken Vessel Backs Up Mississippi Traffic
The Mississippi River near the Kentucky-Tennessee border reopened to southbound barge traffic early Thursday (Feb. 17) after the motor vessel Navigator sank Tuesday night and backed up barge traffic, the U.S. Coast Guard said. About 20 southbound tows were awaiting passage when the river was reopened at 8:15 a.m. CST (1415 GMT) Thursday, said Lt. Cmdr. Bruce Fisher, the Coast Guard's chief of port operations in Memphis. "At this point it will take about a day and a half to move that line of vessels," said Fisher. There should be no delay for northbound barges. The river was reopened to northbound traffic Wednesday afternoon and the tows that were awaiting passage had cleared the area by Wednesday night, Fisher said.
