Update & Nav Warning: Upper Mississippi Rock Removal
The Big River Coalition provides the following update on progress made by the contractors on the ongoing “Rock Removal” (pinnacle rock) project being conducted on the Upper Mississippi River (UMR) in the vicinity of Thebes, IL., as well as navigational warnings issued.
The contractor has completed work at locations C-105 and C-106. Surveys are being preformed at locations: C-107, C-108, C-109 to verify that the contracted amount of material has been removed before declaring these sites are complete.
The contractor was working at location C-100 (Approximately Mile 44.6 UMR) this morning before breaking a hydraulic fitting and stopping the removal operations to conduct repairs. The Coast Guard began moving traffic in one direction once the equipment was moved out of the channel and later opened the channel to normal transits. The contractor will not have repairs done in time to resume at 0630 as scheduled so the Coast Guard will keep traffic moving until the removal equipment is on scene.
The Coast Guard established a Regulated Navigation Area from Mile 0.0 UMR to Mile 109.9 UMR in order to promote safe vessel transits around this project. The full channel closures began yesterday (Monday, February 3, 2014) and are scheduled from 0630 hours to 1830 hours, Monday through Saturday. The contractor estimated 9 days to complete this location without breakdowns or substantial difficulties associated with river stages, ice flows or heavy snows.
The following is reproduced from the related Broadcast Notice to Mariners:
“Vessels will be prohibited from transiting between Mile 45.0 and 46.0 from approximately 6:30 a.m. until 6:30 p.m. daily. Vessels with AIS must have AIS turned on and transmitting. When stopping to await passage through Thebes, contact the Sector Ohio Valley Command Center at 502-779-5424 or 502-779-5449 to be placed in queue. For additional information during the anticipated closure hours, contact the UTV Keith Jacobson on VHF-FM Ch. 16 or by phone at 573-238-5725. The Coast Guard will contact vessels in the queue to facilitate passage through the Thebes area when the river reopens to vessel traffic. All mariners are urged to transit this area with caution.”
