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Repair Project Impacts Local Locks & Dams

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Jul 1, 2009 2:23 pm US/Eastern

Repair Project Impacts Local Locks & Dams

LINK: Army Corps of Engineers

Reporting
Jim Lokay
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) ― Work begins Monday on a major repair project that will affect two Ohio River locks and dams, and potentially cause significant backups for river traffic.

The Army Corps of Engineers will close the main chambers at the Emsworth and Dashields Locks shortly after midnight on July 6.

The Corps will concentrate on repairing emptying valves at Emsworth and the 150 ton chamber gates at Dashields seven miles downstream.

The closure, expected to take 19 days and finish on Thursday, July 24, will likely cause major delays for recreational and commercial traffic.

"Recreational boaters are looking at delays of a few hours to half a day," said spokesman Jeff Hawk. "It normally takes us two hours to lock a commercial vessel with 15 barges through the main chamber. When we're using the auxiliary chamber, it will take 15 hours.

The Corps will give priority to commercial vessels during the repair work.

At Emsworth, the work will happen at the same time as a $100 million public/private project to repair the dam itself.

Repair work at both Emsworth and Dashields has been postponed before, but with federal money available, the Corps says the time is right to do the work concurrently.

"This is a big undertaking," said Hawk. "This is critical work. This is work that needs to be done to keep these locks reliable."

LINK:  Army Corps of Engineers

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