Olmsted Ribbon-Cutting Set For August 29

The Louisville Engineer District announced that the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Olmsted Locks and Dam Project will be held August 29 at the project site.

The $2.7 billion project on the lower Ohio River is expected to open sometime this summer. The locks have been completed for years, but the 2,500-foot-long dam has produced numerous challenges for the Corps. The dam is currently more than 93 percent complete, and the remaining construction to prepare for the official opening is in the works, the district said.

Even though the new lock and dam will go into use this summer, the project won’t be complete until the old locks and dams 52 and 53—which Olmsted will replace—are removed and cleanup work is finished on land. That is expected to be wrapped up by about 2020, the Corps said.

The Olmsted Locks and Dam Project is located at Mile 964.6 on the Ohio River, about 17 miles upstream from where the Ohio meets the Mississippi River. The project—which has been in the works for three decades—is the largest inland waterways civil works project in U.S. history.