MONACA, Pa. -- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Pittsburgh District has awarded a nearly $770 million contract through President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to construct a new 110-foot by 600-foot lock chamber at Montgomery Locks and Dam in Monaca, Pennsylvania. Per President Biden’s Executive Order 14063 on Project Labor Agreements for Federal Construction Projects, the project also has a Project Labor Agreement in place, providing for union labor.
Montgomery Locks is a critical element of national supply chains, enabling the transport of 12 million tons of goods annually on barges into and out of the Port of Pittsburgh. The locks are now nearly a century old and are at an increased risk of failure that would severely disrupt these supply chains. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law invested more than $1 billion to the Upper Ohio Navigation Project to include modernizing Montgomery Locks, which helps get goods to shelves reliably. The project is the largest Bipartisan Infrastructure Law-funded project in Pennsylvania and will support more than 13,000 jobs during construction.
The district awarded the construction contract to the Trumbull-Brayman Construction Corporation, Joint Venture of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The contract begins the construction of the new lock chamber. The work involves removing the 56-foot by 360-foot auxiliary lock chamber and constructing a new 110-foot by 600-foot primary lock chamber.
“Completing the new lock chamber’s plan marks a significant achievement for the district’s team,” said Col. Nicholas Melin, commander of the Army Corps of Engineers Pittsburgh District. “This project is vital to ensuring safe and reliable navigation on the upper Ohio River. With the contract awarded, we are ready to advance this critical infrastructure for the region and the nation.”
The Corps of Engineers expects work deconstructing the auxiliary lock chamber to begin in spring of 2025, and construction of the new primary lock chamber to start afterward. River vessels will continue using the existing primary lock chamber until the new lock chamber is complete.
“This award marks a major milestone for the project and is the culmination of years of planning and engineering,” said Chris Dening, project manager, Pittsburgh District. “Once complete, the new lock chamber at Montgomery will support reliable river navigation for years to come.”
The work is part of the Upper Ohio Navigation project, which includes constructing new primary lock chambers at the Emsworth, Dashields and Montgomery locks and dams in Emsworth, Moon Township, and Monaca, Pennsylvania.
The Corps of Engineers built Emsworth, Dashields, and Montgomery locks and dams in the mid-1930s, and now they have reached the end of their operational lifespan and are experiencing structural aging. The navigation industry needs larger chambers for modern commercial barges. The Corps of Engineers expects the lock chamber contract to support more than 13,000 jobs during construction. The Upper Ohio Navigation project, in total, expects to support more than 28,000 jobs during construction and 5,300 jobs annually after completion.
Maintenance activities on these smaller locks can cause navigational bottlenecks if the locks are closed to perform the work. The economic impact of a one-year closure at Montgomery Locks and Dam would cost the U.S. economy nearly $180 million. The roughly 12 million tons of cargo would require over 100,000 railcars or 400,000 trucks to compensate for the closure. New, larger chambers will provide reliable, efficient, and sustainable navigation on the upper Ohio River.
Pittsburgh District’s 26,000 square miles include parts of western Pennsylvania, northern West Virginia, eastern Ohio, western Maryland, and southwestern New York. Our jurisdiction has more than 328 miles of navigable waterways, 23 navigation locks and dams, 16 multi-purpose reservoirs, 42 local flood-protection projects, and other projects to protect and enhance the Nation’s water resources, infrastructure, and environment.
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