POMEROY, Wash. – Lower Monumental Lock and Dam’s navigation lock service reopened to recreational vessels at 8 a.m. Friday, July 1. The navigation lock had been closed since June 22 to recreational vessels after loose concrete was discovered on the wall at an existing repair site inside the lock. Loose concrete has been removed and a debris shield put in place.
Lower Monumental’s navigation lock, located at Snake River mile 41.6, is part of the federal inland channel system that provides navigation from the mouth of the Columbia River near Astoria, Ore., to port facilities on rivers in Lewiston-Clarkston. The lock went into service on April, 15, 1969. The entire lock chamber is 86 feet wide by 650 feet long by about 130 feet deep. When in operation, vessels on top of the water surface level are lifted\lowered about 100 feet. In 2010, traffic through Lower Monumental’s navigation lock consisted of 2,559,600 tons of grains, petroleum products, fertilizer, wood products and miscellaneous cargo.
Public Notices and other navigation lock information are available on the Walla Walla District Web site at http://www.nww.usace.army.mil/html/OFFICES/OP/T/NAVDATA/default.asp.
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Release no. 11-104