River Locks
“Few people realize the shape our locks and dams are in."
Mike Toohey
President, Waterways Council
An update:
On a recent winter morning, Randy Holt piloted the boat Bill Berry as it pushed a group of barges nearly as long as two football fields steadily down the Tennessee River to the Kentucky Lock and Dam here. But then Mr. Holt had to wait several hours at what has become a major choke point as boats moved one at a time through the narrow, cracked, 70-year-old lock.
and......
Largely out of sight of most Americans, the locks are crumbling. There are 192 locks on 12,000 miles of river across the country; most were built in the 1930s and have long outlived their life expectancy.
and......
Transportation advocates say the funding is vastly insufficient to deal with the construction backlogs of locks and dams. The Corps of Engineers, which maintains most of the system, says it will take $13 billion through 2020 just to fix the decaying locks. Without the money, Corps officials say it will take until 2090 to complete all the projects.
2090!!
There will be a catastrophe before then, folks. Pretty much any of these locks could give way any day.
And that makes a big mess even messier.
Out for now......
Matt
