Transportation
U.S. Gulf/River: Transit operations were affected by icy conditions on the Illinois River last week. The ice was flowing, however, and temperatures were expected to remain slightly above freezing for the short-term. Shippers switched to rake barges while the cold conditions persist. The Chicago-area T.J. O’Brien Lock is closed for repairs through March 8.
Upper Mississippi River Lock 27’s main chamber closed to daytime transit beginning Jan. 29 and will reopen Feb. 15. Shippers expected “major delays” through the length of the project, though wait times were steady at around one hour leading up to the shutdown.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers continued to wait for river levels at Cape Girardeau, Mo., to descend to the 10-foot mark, at which time rock removal at Thebes, Ill., will resume for the season. The gauge last week was holding at 12.2 feet.
Northbound traffic through the Ohio River’s Lock 52 was impeded on Jan. 28, but boats heading south were unaffected. Waits of about an hour were reported at R.C. Byrd Lock, and the auxiliary chamber at Belleville Lock will be closed to daylight traffic on Feb. 9-27. The main chamber will remain open for use.
Officials announced closure dates for the Tennessee River’s Wilson Lock main chamber from Feb. 23-27. The chamber will also be offline March 16-20 and May 5-June 11. Dive inspections are projected to delay traffic at Pickwick Lock until approximately 4:00 p.m. on Feb. 3.
The main chamber at Winfield Lock on the Kanawha River will be shuttered Feb. 25 through April 30, during which time shippers warned of significant transit delays. The Monongahela River’s Braddock Lock and Dam main chamber remained closed due to equipment failure, with minor delays reported. Ice hampered operations on the Allegheny River last week.
On the lower Mississippi River, weir dike construction at Mile 634 will halt daytime navigation through April 1. Significant delays are predicted, though a lack of construction materials conspired to stop work on Jan. 28. Chamber repairs forced intermittent daytime delays through Jan. 29 at Old River Lock.
Gulf-area shippers reported waits at Industrial Lock (12-18 hours), Calcasieu Lock (three hours), Harvey Lock (one hour), and Port Allen Lock (one hour). Daytime transit through Calcasieu will be limited through Feb. 28, and navigation beneath the Galveston Railroad Bridge will be unavailable between 7:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m. on Feb. 2-3.
A six-week dewatering and repair project at Bayou Sorrel Lock was pushed back to July, and alternate route planning was underway for Industrial Lock’s complete closure, which is set to run Aug. 1 through Nov. 30.