NEAR KAHLOTUS, Wash. – Inland commercial navigation between Lewiston, Idaho, and Portland, Ore., resumed at 11 p.m. yesterday with the official reopening of the navigation lock at Lower Monumental Lock and Dam on the lower Snake River, near Kahlotus, Wash., U.S. Army Corps of Engineers officials announced.
The locks at The Dalles, John Day and Lower Monumental dams were closed Dec. 10, 2010, to enable Corps and contractor workers to replace their aging downstream lock gates during a planned extended outage coordinated with the inland navigation industry. These three locks and the other five locks along the Columbia-Snake River navigation system are now back in service, providing passage for commercial shippers and recreational boaters.
The reopening marked the end of the longest lock outage ever experienced on that navigation system. The towboat “Rebel,” pushing two barges – one loaded with shipping containers, the other with wood chips – was the first vessel to lock through Lower Monumental’s new gate at about 3 p.m.
Five other Corps of Engineers dams – Bonneville, near Cascade Locks, Ore.; McNary, near Umatilla, Ore.; Ice Harbor, near Burbank, Wash.; Little Goose, near Starbuck, Wash.; and Lower Granite, near Pomeroy, Wash. – took advantage of the available time without river traffic to accomplish additional maintenance work that normally could not be accomplished during the annual two-week winter maintenance outage. Outage periods for those locks ranged between 5 and 9 weeks with various closing and reopening dates.
“The downstream gate replacement has been a successful project for the navigation industry, taxpayers and the Corps,” said Walla Walla District Commander Lt. Col. David A. Caldwell. “This was a complex project and it went very well, thanks to the efforts, coordination and communication of our great staff, partners, and stakeholders.”
Caldwell added that improving the safety and reliability of the navigation system demonstrates the Corps’ commitment to being good stewards of taxpayer dollars.
“Repairs and maintenance performed during the extended lock outage will help keep the river transportation system open for years to come,” said Portland District Commander Col. Steven R. Miles. “Navigation is the least expensive means of transporting commodities like grain and wood products from inland areas to markets all over the Pacific Rim – that’s good for the American economy. It also consumes the least amount of fossil fuels per mile, which means less pollution than other modes of transport, and that’s better for the environment.”
For more information about the 2010-2011 Columbia-Snake Rivers Extended Navigation Lock Outage, visit the Corps’ joint-district Web page www.nwp.usace.army.mil/navigation/lockoutage.asp.
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NOTE TO MEDIA: To download photos or video of the lock gate replacement at Lower Monumental Dam to go www.facebook.com/WallaWallaUSACE -- B-roll video of the first vessel through the lock was posted today at www.youtube.com/wallawallausace. Photos and video of the lock gate replacement work and early lockages at John Day and The Dalles dams are available at www.flickr.com/portlandcorps and www.youtube.com/portlandcorps.