USACE Details Mississippi Lock And Dam Closures

Several locks and dams on the upper Mississippi River will be closed to all navigation from January to early March for maintenance and repairs, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said. Bill Gretten, chief of the lock and dam section of the Corps' Mississippi River Project, said maintenance is normally done in the winter when parts of the river are frozen and vessels are unable to navigate through the ice. Although the weather has been moderate so far this year, water temperatures have been around 33 degrees Fahrenheit, one degree above freezing. "If we get a couple of nights of cold weather, the river will be covered with ice," Gretten said. The Corps has issued several notices of the impending shutdowns, allowing the barge industry to coordinate shipments ahead of the lock closures. "We coordinate with the industry before we even issue them," said Michael Kruckeberg, U.S. Army Corps engineer with the Rivers Project Office, St Louis District. The following locks are or will be closed. Upper Mississippi River, St. Paul, Minn., District - Lock and Dam 1, Minneapolis, closed from now to March 19, 2000 - Lock and Dam 5A, Fountain City, Wis. Dec. 13-March 1, 2000 Upper Mississippi River, Rock Island District: - Lock and Dam 21, Quincy, Ill., Jan. 1-Feb. 29, 2000 - Lock and Dam 22, Hannibal, Mo., Jan. 1-Feb. 16, 2000 Upper Mississippi River, St. Louis District, three locks north of St. Louis. - Locks 27, Granite City, Ill. Main chamber, Jan 4-Jan 13, 2000. Auxiliary chamber to be open to barge traffic. - Lock and Dam 25, Winfield, Mo., Jan. 3-Feb. 29. Closure times 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. CST Monday through Friday. - Lock and Dam 24, Clarksville, Mo., mid-February for about eight days.