Montgomery Lock and Dam Reopens After Crash, Set to Close Again
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
15 December 2015
By Aaron Aupperlee
The Montgomery Lock and Dam will close again this weekend as the
Army Corps of Engineers continues to make repairs because a tow
boat struck one of the lock's gates.
The Army Corps of Engineers will shut down the lock from Saturday
morning through Sunday afternoon, causing Ohio River traffic near
Shippingport to halt again.
The lock reopened Tuesday, nearly 48 hours after Sunday's
accident.
A tow boat pushing a load of coal up river ran into a gate of the
large lock chamber about 3:30 p.m. Neither the Coast Guard nor the
Army Corps of Engineers has released the name of the tow boat.
Details about how the crash occurred and how much damage it caused
have not been released.
The Army Corps of Engineers reopened the lock at 12:30 p.m.
Tuesday.
“Nothing we can do about it,” said Rick Chandler, a boat
dispatcher for Amherst Madison, a Charleston, W.Va., barge
company. “It's one of those grin-and-bear-it (situations). You
can't jump it. We're just going to have to wait it out.”
Amherst Madison's William R. Barr, a tow boat
pushing six loads of coal up river and eight empty barges, arrived
at the lock Tuesday morning and waited hours to pass through.
Eight boats, including the William R. Barr, were
waiting to pass through the locks Tuesday. It could take a boat up
to three hours to pass through the lock, which is capable of
raising or lowering boats and barges 17.5 feet.
The lock will operate at slower speeds with several restrictions
requiring boats to move slower, use fenders and lines, and limit
the number of barges moving through the chamber.
About 300 boats pass through the 80-year-old lock system each
month, according to the Army Corps of Engineers. A smaller,
56-by-360-foot lock was closed for repairs when the larger,
110-by-600-foot lock closed because of the crash.
Aaron Aupperlee is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. Reach him
at 412-320-7986 or aaupperlee@tribweb.com.
Read more: http://triblive.com/news/adminpage/9634124-74/lock-boat-tow#ixzz3uT7ndpJJ