The official party returns the ribbon-cutting scissors after a ceremony at the John P. Murtha Locks and Dam on the Monongahela River in Monessen, Pennsylvania, Aug. 28, 2024. The official party cuts the ribbon on the new navigation chamber at the John P. Murtha Locks and Dam on the Monongahela River in Monessen, Pennsylvania, Aug. 28, 2024. The group included Chelsea Jones, river ranger for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Pittsburgh District; Kirk McWilliams, the area engineer for the Pittsburgh District; Austin Davis, the Pennsylvania lieutenant governor; John Murtha Jr., the son of the late congressman John P. Murtha; Col. Nicholas Melin, commander of the Pittsburgh District; Conor Lamb, the chair of the Port of Pittsburgh Commission; Alan Nogy, the chief of navigation for the Pittsburgh District; and Keith Millstine, the facility’s lockmaster. The ceremony celebrated the renaming of Monongahela River Locks and Dam 4 in honor of the late Congressman John P. Murtha, who also served in the Marine Corps in Vietnam. The ceremony highlighted 20 years of construction for a modernized chamber measuring 720 feet long by 84 feet wide, which replaces an older, smaller chamber. The construction also included a control tower with state-of-the-art systems and the potential to remote-control other facilities in the future. The new chamber expands the facility’s capacity to support commercial navigation throughout the region and the nation. (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Pittsburgh District photo by Michel Sauret)