When a barge passes through a navigation lock along the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System, few people think about the massive steel gates that quietly make the process possible. Behind those gates is a team of engineers and technical specialists from across the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, including experts from the Walla Walla District, using advanced digital modeling tools to design the next generation of infrastructure that keeps commerce moving along the nation’s inland waterways. Recently, the team’s work was recognized in the agency’s 2025 national awards program. Engineers and technicians supporting the project received the Computer-Aided Design/ Building Information Modeling Team Award of Excellence for their innovative design work supporting the navigation system. Personnel from the Walla Walla, Philadelphia, Mobile, Louisville, Little Rock, Tulsa and Rock Island districts collaborated to design replacement miter gates for 18 locks and dams on the navigation system.

The Jackson Levees are shown, Aug. 21, 2025, just below the Teton Range where more than 10,000 residents, along with homes, businesses, emergency facilities and farmland, are protected annually due to ongoing efforts from the Walla Walla District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Walla Walla District's Dworshak Dam, is shown where a flooded turbine bay, future location of the dam's fourth generating unit, is assessed during the first flooding of the bay in 50 years. This flooding was part of initial design work to test draft tube bulkheads and assess how the space could be converted into an operating hydropower unit.

On July 10, 2025, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Walla Walla District, celebrated the 3,200-feet-long Lower Granite Lock and Dam’s 50 years of service to the Pacific Northwest along with the generations of people who made it possible. Lower Granite Lock and Dam, located on the Snake River in southeastern Washington, includes a dam, navigation lock, powerhouse, fish ladder, and associated facilities. The project provides hydropower, navigation, flood risk management, fish and wildlife habitat, recreation, and incidental irrigation. The dam spans approximately 3,200 feet and has an effective height of 100 feet. It is a concrete gravity structure with an earthfill right abutment embankment.

The Walla Walla District constructs, operates, maintains, and secures multipurpose infrastructure to energize the economy, reduce flood risk, and serve as stewards of water resources for the Snake River Basin and the Nation.