MKARNS Deepening Progressing Despite Funding Challenges

The opening of the new Panama Canal locks in 2016 paved the way—or cleared a channel—for bigger ships with deeper drafts to call on U.S. ports. In turn, the new locks set off an arms race of sorts, with coastal and deepwater ports on the East Coast and Gulf Coast deepening their channels to 50 feet and beyond to attract larger ships.

Inland waterways have been getting in on the action as well, with the Mobile Engineer District in the initial stages of a study to assess the feasibility of deepening the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway and the Black Warrior-Tombigbee Waterway to 12 feet. Just last year, the Vicksburg Engineer District signed a cost share agreement with the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development and the Red River Waterway Commission to study deepening the J. Bennett Johnston Waterway to 12 feet. That waterway is designated as the Red River from where it meets the Mississippi River north of Baton Rouge, La., to Shreveport, La.

But long before the Corps began studying deepening those waterways, Congress authorized the deepening of the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System (MKARNS) to 12 feet as part of the 2004 Water Resources Development Act. That authorization was for the entire 445 miles of the waterway, which extends from the confluence of the Mississippi and White rivers (just upriver from Rosedale, Miss., on the Arkansas side of the Mississippi River) to the head of navigation at Catoosa, Okla.

Jonathan Gillip, project manager with the Little Rock Engineer District for the deepening project, was careful to frame establishing a 12-foot channel on the MKARNS with the correct terminology.

“It’s important to note this is a deepening project, not just a dredging project,” Gillip said.

Dredging alone to deepen the channel would require ongoing maintenance dredging—at great cost. Instead, the plan for the MKARNS calls for installing a series of training dikes to, essentially, narrow the channel at strategic points and cause the river to scour and deepen itself.

Assuming efficient funding, the deepening project would take about 10 years and involve a phased approach to construction. The first phase would involve design and construction in pools five, eight and 10. Phase 2 would tackle pools two, 12 and 16. Phase 3 would include design and construction in pools seven and nine. The fourth phase would tackle pools three and 15. The final phase would involve adaptive maintenance and monitoring. Construction will also involve expanding or adding dredge disposal areas along the system. Gillip said Phase 3 will also involve assessing and modifying the 18 locks on the system. The sills will accommodate a 12-foot channel, but the Corps will have to look at the lock walls themselves.

“We want to make sure those lock walls can stand that increased impact pressure,” he said.

The majority of the waterway in Arkansas is already at 12 feet or deeper.

The Little Rock District is in the midst of Phase 1 of the project, but Gillip admitted the deepening faces some hurdles.

“A major challenge the project is facing right now is funding,” he said.

The MKARNS deepening project was initially forecast to cost around $158 million, but with inflation and labor issues, that cost estimate has ballooned to more than $1 billion. The project received around $90 million in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and an additional $10 million earmark in 2023. Last year, just under $83 million of that was reprogrammed for the Three Rivers Project near the southern end of the MKARNS, although Three Rivers ultimately received that funding from elsewhere.. Gillip said the Little Rock District is hoping to recapture those funds for the MKARNS deepening project. A further challenge for the project is the fact that it would likely have to be cost shared with the Inland Waterways Trust Fund, and yet it thus far doesn’t appear on the Corps’ Capital Investment Strategy for cost-shared projects.

“With the high number of navigation projects across the country, funding is a challenge,” Gillip said.

When asked if the murky funding situation affects the progress of the project, Gillip replied in the affirmative.

“There is uncertainty in the funding, and that creates uncertainty in the project timeline and for the project personnel day to day,” he said.

The funding on hand, though, is enough to do the design work for the first two phases. If project personnel works ahead on the design work, there’s a chance construction can move more quickly once funding is in place. In the meantime, Gillip said it’s important to communicate the project’s benefits, which will include more efficient movement of cargoes, improved channel maintenance and, as cargo shifts from other modes of transportation to the river, less roadway congestion.

The MKARNS deepening isn’t the only navigation or infrastructure project the Little Rock District is working on. The district is modifying locks on the system in order to accept 110-foot stop logs rather than two shorter stop logs with a center post. The district is also making tow haulage improvements to speed up transits. At Three Rivers, which is funded to completion, the district is wrapping up the first phase of construction, with the start of Phase 2 imminent.

Completing the Three Rivers Project, which will prevent the White and Arkansas rivers from merging, is integral to preserving navigation on the MKARNS.