The Ohio River was closed Monday following lock failures near Brookport, Illinois. The Waterways Council says more than 65 towboats laden with harvest season grain and other commodities were backed up “like a massive truck wreck along an interstate corridor.” The closure of Lock 53 follows a failure at nearby Lock 52.
The Waterways Councils says the failures highlight the critical, but aging, lock and dam system on U.S. inland waterways. In service since 1928, locks 52 and 53 on the Ohio River are to be replaced by the Olmsted Lock and Dam which was authorized in 1988, but will not open until next year. Once Olmsted is finished, Locks 52 and 53 will be removed.
Source: NAFB News Service