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.