BURBANK, Wash. -- Ice Harbor Dam's navigation will reopen to provide limited operations for commercial vessel traffic Feb. 27 through March 1, from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Limiting the hours of operation will allow U.S. Army Corps of Engineers maintenance staff to monitor the function of system components under daylight conditions.
The lock was temporarily placed out of service on Feb. 23 to address mechanical alignment issues occurring in the downstream gate hoist machinery. Corps engineers and maintenance crews remedied some mechanical-binding issues, removed excessive ice buildup, repaired a broken grease line and lubricated all components. Additional maintenance on the machinery will occur during the scheduled annual lock maintenance outage which begins Saturday, March 2, at 6 a.m.
All locks in the inland navigation system will close to recreational and commercial river traffic on Saturday, March 2, at 6 a.m. Ice Harbor, McNary, John Day, The Dalles and Bonneville locks are scheduled to reopen at 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, March 17. Lower Monumental, Lower Granite and Little Goose locks are scheduled to return to service at 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, March 24. The additional days at these dams are necessary to perform non-routine work which will require more time to complete than the typical two-week-long routine maintenance outage. The non-routine work includes, but is not limited to, gate structural repairs, navigation lock concrete repair and equipment/machinery repair/replacement.
The Corps’ Portland and Walla Walla districts maintain the commercial navigation route from the Pacific Ocean 465 miles inland to Lewiston, Idaho. Public Notices and other navigation lock information for the Columbia-Snake rivers navigation system are available on the Walla Walla District website at www.nww.usace.army.mil/Missions/Navigation.aspx, and on Portland District’s website at www.nwp.usace.army.mil/Missions/Navigation.aspx.
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Release no. 19-018