Lock 52 Wickets Down, River Closes
WCI E-brief
12 September 2016
As of last Friday, 42 navigation pass wickets were down at Lock 52
on the Ohio River. The Corps attempted to raise 37 of the 42
wickets on Friday. Of the additional five wickets, the Corps
is aware that three are missing with one additional wicket on both
sides of the three that are missing and may be damaged and not
able to be raised. If the Corps is successful in raising the
additional 37 wickets, then they could install “needles” which
would cover the 4-inch gap between the wickets. Installation
of the needles amounts to an additional 25,000 cfs of water that
can be held back, or approximately the equivalent of 14 more
wickets.
The Corps thought they could hold the navigation pool, but there
were groundings reported on the Ohio with impacts also reported on
the Tennessee and Cumberland that began on Friday.
UMRA Webmaster's note:
Lock and Dam 52 is to be removed when the Olmsted L&D is
completed. This is one of the river projects which has been
underfunded and delayed by decades. Like the locks on the Mon
which are scheduled for eventual replacement, repairs at L&D
52 have been as minimal as possible.