Vicksburg District Updates Red River Lock Repairs

Repair work continues at Lindy C. Boggs Lock and Dam, also known as Lock 1, on the Red River near Marksville, La., after a crack in the miter gate anchorage on the lower land-side gate was discovered on September 28.

The Vicksburg Engineer District has overseen the successful removal of concrete around the anchorage and welding work needed to repair the cracks. However, work continues to address alignment issues at the lower miter gate.

District officials brought in divers to check for debris or other obstructions that might have been causing the alignment issue. Those divers, who were on site the morning of November 2, found nothing problematic. Corps officials instead identified a number of metal rods on the land-side anchorage system that will have to be fabricated and replaced in order to make the lower gate plumb again and allow a proper miter. David Jenkins, deputy chief of the Vicksburg District’s operations division, said the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) is fabricating the rods. Corps officials said they hope to have an estimate for when the new rods will be on site by around the first of the week. Once the rods are in hand, the adjustment process could take three or four days.

In the meantime, the lock remains closed to navigation in an effort to avoid any further stress and damage to the anchorages.

“We’re moving wide open as fast as we can to get out of the way and back to 24-hour operations,” Jenkins said.

The Corps and the Red River Valley Association plan to host a conference call November 6 to provide an update