LOWER SNAKE RIVER, Washington – Lower Monumental and Lower Granite dam's navigation locks returned to service at 2:30 p.m., today, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers officials in the Walla Walla District announced.
Some work on the tainter valves at both locations, that could not be accomplished during the recent extended lock outage, will continue. Lockage times may be up to 20 minutes longer than usual until that work is completed. Additionally, divers will continue making underwater timber-bumper repairs on Lower Monumental’s floating guidewall upstream of the lock. Work progress has been affected by high river flow conditions and poor diving visibility. Divers will be vacated from the guidewall area during tug/tow operations.
The Corps of Engineers is nearing the scheduled end of an extended navigation lock maintenance outage, which began December 12, 2016. The coordinated 14-week-long closure has affected all eight Corps navigation locks on the Columbia and Snake rivers, during which time critical, non-routine repairs and maintenance, plus routine maintenance and scheduled improvements are being completed.
As previously announced, Bonneville Dam reopened its navigation lock on Feb. 9, as scheduled; McNary reopened its lock late-Friday; John Day reopened late-Saturday; and The Dalles returned its lock to service at 1 p.m. today. Little Goose and Ice Harbor dam's navigation locks, on Washington's Snake River, cannot be returned to service by March 20 because of on-site work complications. Ice Harbor is tentatively scheduled to return their lock to service at 11:59 p.m. on March 23. Little Goose is currently estimated to reopen their lock at 11:59 p.m. on April 2.
The Corps continues to communicate and coordinate with Columbia-Snake River Navigation System users and stakeholders.
For more information about the 2016-2017 Columbia-Snake Rivers Extended Navigation Lock Outage, visit the Corps’ webpage http://www.nww.usace.army.mil/Missions/Navigation/FY17LockOutage.aspx.
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Release no. 17-034