Chickamauga, Kentucky, Wilson Projects Detailed At Conference
Updates on infrastructure projects, industry priorities and proposed legislation were part of the Tennessee River Valley Association and Tennessee-Cumberland Waterways Council’s annual meeting September 30-October 1 in Franklin, Tenn.
Col. Robert Green, commander of the Nashville Engineer District, said the district learned lessons from emergency closures after structural failures earlier this year at Holt Lock on the Black Warrior River and Demopolis Lock on the Tombigbee, both in the neighboring Mobile Engineer District. The Nashville District has inspected its own facilities, which are of a similar age. Green noted that projects on the Tennessee River and Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterways have an average age of 70 years.
“There is a ton of work to try to maintain these projects,” he said.
Brian Mangrum, chief of the district’s technical support branch, said that at Demopolis the miter gate sill failed due to loading caused by the vertically framed miter gates and concrete placed without rebar reinforcement. The Nashville District has only two locks with vertically framed miter gates, at Cheatham Lock and in the auxiliary chamber at Pickwick Lock. After a review of the drawings at both projects, “Both locks have proper reinforcement within the sill to prevent failure like at Demopolis,” Mangrum said.
Kentucky Lock Addition
Construction on the Kentucky Lock Addition Project is on schedule with a projected operational date of July 2029, Green said. He added that the Corps is also looking for any way possible to expedite remaining construction.
“We understand the critical importance of getting this project done,” he said.
Construction is scheduled to be complete in September 2030.
Green noted that the project is approaching a million and a half manhours without a lost time safety accident and that 450 people are in the “pit” excavated for the lock chamber on any given day. The Kentucky Congressional delegation has requested a $418 million earmark that would allow the Corps to move forward with the remaining work needed to make the project operational, Green said. The operational contract is scheduled for award in Fiscal Year 2025.
Robert Winters, project manager, said that eight contracts have been completed, with one, the downstream monolith contract, ongoing. The downstream monolith contract is scheduled to be complete in June 2027 at a cost of $380 million.
Concrete production at the site is 33 percent complete, Winters said. Off-site miter gate construction is 71.8 percent complete, he said. The total project has now reached the 50 percent mark for completion.
Winters said the project will reach a milestone near the end of October, when one of the lock monoliths is expected to be topped out. The remaining project scope includes approach walls, electrical and maintenance buildings, bridges and utilities and final site development.
The Corps now requires total project estimate costs to be completed every two years, Winters said, and an updated estimate is expected to be released in the next month to two months. The 2022 estimated total project cost estimate was $1,561,000,000.
Chickamauga Lock Replacement
The Chickamauga Lock Replacement Project received the largest congressional earmark for 2024 of $236 million, thanks to Tennessee lawmakers, Green said. He added that litigation over delays associated with the project has been settled out of court, clearing the way for continued progress.
Two contracts are ongoing at the project, which seeks to replace the existing lock because of a chemical reaction that leads to concrete growth that continues to degrade the lock, potentially cutting off 318 navigable river miles.
The new, 110- by 600-foot lock will pass nine barges per lockage as opposed to the existing 60- by 360-foot lock, which passes one barge per lockage. The new lock is expected to reduce commercial transit times by 80 percent, according to information the Corps provided in a slide at the conference.
Green said the lock chamber completion contract, awarded in 2017, is scheduled to wrap up in November 2026 and that, because of the earmark, the Corps expects the award of one remaining contract in fiscal year 2025 for decommissioning of the old lock, allowing the Corps to meet the lock operational goal of November 2027. The completion date is scheduled for December 2029. The next cost certification on the project is due to come out in March. The October 2022 price estimate was $954 million.
Joe Cotton, project manager, noted that the upstream approach wall contract was awarded for $68.8 million in September and is fully ramped up with expected completion next summer. Multiple contractors are sharing the space until January 2026, which means tight sequencing and contractor coordination is required, he said. This is further constrained by having limited laydown areas.
More than 95 percent of concrete placements have been completed, Cotton said.
“We are here to close out this project,” he said.
Cotton also noted that miter gates will soon begin being delivered to the site, with the first four pieces for upstream miter gates coming first and then 10 more for the downstream gates. Four-hour outages are expected as the gates are placed.
Wilson Guidewall
Nikki Berger, navigation program supervisor for the Tennessee Valley Authority, presented information about the progress toward a temporary solution to replace a guidewall at Wilson Locks and Dam, Tennessee River Mile 259.4, saying the project was on schedule.
A floating guidewall sank in 2021 when remnants of Hurricane Ida passed through the region. The temporary replacement plan involves connecting three ocean-going spud barges together and spudding them down into the riverbottom using a total of 12 120-foot spuds.
Construction on the first spud barge is complete, with delivery expected in the coming days, Berger said. The second spud barge is expected to arrive around the end of the year and the third and final one next spring. Lights and handrails will then be added before all three are placed at the same time next fall.
The barges will not be attached to the wall but will instead have a gangway out to them, Berger said.
“We continue to seek funding sources for a permanent solution,” Berger said. “The funding is not in our business plan.”
WRDA 2024
Deb Calhoun, senior vice president of Waterways Council Inc., said the inland waterways advocacy organization’s priorities for 2024 included seeing that projects originally believed funded to completion under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) would remain 100 percent federally funded as well as securing Fiscal Year 2025 Energy and Water Development appropriations for the full amount supportable by annual diesel fuel tax receipts deposited into the Inland Waterways Trust Fund.
WCI also collaborated with the Corps to develop an updated Capital Investment Strategy, which is currently under review.
In looking at proposals for the Water Resources Development Act of 2024, the Senate passed its version unanimously August 1, including WCI’s request to fund IIJA-funded projects at 100 percent from the general treasury as well as to permanently change the cost share on major rehabilitation and new construction projects from 65 percent federal and 35 percent from the Inland Waterways Trust Fund to a 75/25 split.
Calhoun pointed out that a 75/25 split would allow for $460 million in appropriations, an increase of $131 million above the 65/35 split.
The House passed its version of WRDA July 22 with a vote of 359-13. Despite more than 50 members (31 Republicans and 19 Democrats) submitting WCI’s request to the committee, the House did not include any inland waterways provisions, Calhoun said.
Congress is now in recess until after the November presidential election, although negotiations on the final bill continue, she said.
The continuing resolution under which Congress has funded the federal government expires December 20. Since the president’s Fiscal Year 2025 budget included no funding for inland waterways construction projects, no funding will be provided for any ongoing inland project under this rule.
“Work will continue on the inland waterways during that time, but no new contracts will be let,” Calhoun said.
Scheduled, Planned Maintenance
Mangrum looked ahead at upcoming infrastructure maintenance and dredging projects that are already on the Nashville Engineer District’s schedule for 2025 and beyond.
Wheeler Lock will be closed for feeder breaker replacements intermittently from September 3 to December 31 (tentative). Barkley Lock is scheduled for a miter gate strut arm replacement December 2-19 that will require a full closure. However, that work could be delayed so that the Regional Repairs Fleet can conduct emergency repairs at Wilson Lock.
In 2025, Cheatham Lock is scheduled for river valve repairs and gate strut replacement from March 10 to May 29 with intermittent closures. Wall armor repairs at Kentucky Lock are scheduled from June 13 to August 4 with a full closure. Miter gate repairs are scheduled at the main chamber of Pickwick Lock from August 18 to November 10, requiring a full closure of the main chamber.
Dredging work for 2025 is scheduled at Tennessee River Mile 155 (Beech Creek) from July to November and at Tennessee River Mile 631 and 643 (Post Oak and Looney Islands) from July to November.
Mangrum said he did not anticipate the 2025 work to be pushed out farther by the likely delay of the work being completed at Barkley Lock, although that could change.
A work schedule has already been requested for 2026 as well, but all fiscal year 2026 closures are tentative pending the receipt of the presidential budget and schedule approval.
The planned work includes a closure of the auxiliary lock at Pickwick from February 23, 2026, to June 11, 2026, for downstream bulkhead slot cutting. Upstream bulkhead slot repairs at Wilson Lock’s main chamber are set for between June 16, 2026, and August 20, 2026, with a full closure. Lower gate repairs at Barkley are scheduled for August 31, 2026, to October 22, 2026, requiring a full closure. Finally, dredging is to take place at Cumberland River Mile 104 (Cumberland City) at a future 2026 date to be determined.
Additional Presentations
Dan Pallme, assistant chief of passenger transportation, rail and freight for the Tennessee Department of Transportation, spoke about a study completed a few months ago titled “More Effective Use of Tennessee Waterways to Account for Competing Uses and Address Freight Congestion.”
He is hopeful that information gleaned about the economic impact of the inland waterways in Tennessee will help establish a statewide port council to bring port communities together and coordinate infrastructure investment. Next steps would include obtaining a state funding allocation by the legislature to investigate specific requirements and develop an investment plan. The study is online at https://sites.google.com/view/iws-v1-1?usp=sharing.
Lt. Cmdr. Ryan Mullikin, supervisor of U.S. Coast Guard Marine Safety Detachment, Nashville, overviewed the MSD’s roles and responsibilities.
Tennessee River Valley Executive Director Cline Jones presented a plaque to retiring TRVA board member and past president Hal Greer of the Florence Port Authority and welcomed new board member Gina Walker from the port authority. He also presented a plaque to outgoing board president Rick Terry of Alliance Sand & Aggregates, who is retiring.
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Featured photo caption:
Tennessee River Valley Association executive director Cline Jones (right) presents a plaque to retiring board member and past president Hal Greer in appreciation for his years of service. (Photos by Shelley Byrne)
