Montgomery Locks Construction
Lenna Hawkins, deputy district engineer for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Pittsburgh District, gives a presentation on the benefits of navigation locks to the regional and national economy to state partners at Montgomery Locks and Dam on the Ohio River in Monaca, Pennsylvania, Aug. 3, 2022. State senators, representatives, local government officials, and trade and navigation industry partners toured the facility during an open house. The Pittsburgh District hosted the tour to give presentations on how locks benefit the regional and national economy and to highlight the upcoming, multi-year construction project planned to expand one of the locks at the facility. The work at Montgomery is in the preconstruction phase. The phase helps prepare the worksite for the main construction project. Montgomery is part of the Upper Ohio Navigation Project, which has received $857.7 million in dedicated funding through the 2022 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The project will include replacing the facility’s 360-foot auxiliary chamber with a wider and longer 600-foot chamber that can fit up to nine barges at once. The district expects to begin work on the new lock construction in 2024, which will last at least eight years to complete. (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Pittsburgh District photo by Michel Sauret)