The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Louisville District’s Cannelton Locks and Dam Miter Gate Replacement project kicked off in July and is in full swing. Due to scheduled maintenance and repairs, the 1,200-foot primary chamber at the facility on the Ohio River in Cannelton, Ind., is closed through Nov. 11, 2022, to allow replacement of the miter gates.
The temporary closure will allow the Regional Rivers Repair Fleet’s heavy capacity fleet to replace the miter gates and related equipment on each end of the primary chamber to increase reliability and efficiency on the inland waterways system.
In addition to replacing all four gates in the main chamber, the $48.5 million project also entails replacement of the pintle bases, embedded wall quoins and gate machinery rehabilitation.
“We are excited for the project to be underway,” said Josh Saylor, Louisville District Operations Division project manager. “We have dewatered the chamber, removed the old miter gates, and now we’re preparing for installation of the new gates in September.”
The old miter gates, weighing approximately 300 tons each, were removed at the end of July marking a milestone in the five-month endeavor.
This undertaking is very similar to the project the Louisville District completed at McAlpine Locks and Dam in Louisville, Kentucky, in 2020.
“The team is working very hard to continue with the success we had at the McAlpine gate replacement two years ago,” said Saylor. “The crew has a lot of people that were part of that project and the experience gained from back then is helping now in big ways.”
So far, the project is running smoothly and is on schedule, according to Saylor.
Currently, Cannelton Locks and Dams moves more than 54 million tons of commodities through its facility annually. The project is scheduled to be complete in November 2022.