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For nearly two weeks, the John C. Stennis Lock and Dam has been closed as crews carry out inspections and repairs on the underwater infrastructure.
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Navigation Manager Roger Wilson told The Dispatch operations are temporarily paused for a routine maintenance closure that is scheduled to last for 30 days.
What maintenance is being done? How will the closure affect traffic at the lock? Are repairs from the 2021 barge collision still ongoing?
‘No later than the 4th’
Wilson said the closure is part of a routine dewatering process, which allows access to parts of the lock that are usually submerged.
“We typically have one about every 10 years,” he said. “We go in and inspect components that we typically can’t see when the water is in the chamber, and then we make repairs if we find any (issues).”
Wilson said the repairs done during the process usually involve replacing older components with new ones, like upgrading grease lines or installing new anodes to prevent corrosion on submerged metal.
So far, he said the repairs done during the closure have been standard.
“We haven’t found anything that’s going to make us go longer,” Wilson said. “We should open no later than the 4th (of October). It could be several days sooner, but right now, we’re not expecting it to be any longer.”
How does this affect traffic?
Wilson said his office meets with the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway Development Authority and the Alabama Development Authority to determine when a closure will least affect traffic at the lock and dam.
“We basically let them know in advance that we’re planning on having a scheduled outage for this particular lock for this timeframe, and we get the users to let us know what is the best time,” he said.
While there really isn’t a “best time,” Wilson said, waterway users give input on when the closure will cause the least disruption and suggest potential dates for consideration.
“The users really kind of dictate when we shut down, so they’re all well aware of what’s going on,” he said.
Users are also well aware of when the lock is closing. Wilson said the lock usually sees a surge in traffic just before closing as boats try to get through the area. Once everything opens back up, he said there may be a build-up of boats waiting to use the lock.
“They build up on the back end, and when we open back up, we may see a backlog of traffic,” he said. “But right now, we’re not expecting any more traffic.”
Is everything fixed from the 2021 barge collision?
In June 2021, a barge broke away from its moorings in high water and struck the spillway, damaging one of the gates that controls the amount of water allowed through the dam and an apron upstream of the spillway, which is a concrete structure that helps prevent erosion around the dam.
Wilson said repairs from the accident are finished except for replacing the massive gate, which measures 60 feet wide and 26 feet tall.
“There’s not any (ongoing) repairs underwater,” he said. “We’re going to replace that gate that was damaged. They had some delays in it, and right now we’re tracking to install that gate next July.”
Once the gate arrives, Wilson said it should take one to two weeks to have it installed, but that shouldn’t affect operations at the lock.
“Installing that spillway gate won’t affect traffic,” he said. “We’ll be operating as normal.”
McRae is a general assignment and education reporter for The Dispatch.
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