Chick Lock

Find a Project

Search

Nickajack Navigation Lock

Nashville District
Published Jan. 11, 2024
Nickajack Navigation Lock aerial view, thin land strip in the upper left

Nickajack Navigation Lock

Nickajack Lock is located 35 miles west of Chattanooga, Tennessee near the city of Jasper.

The lock is at river mile 424.7.  It is 46.3 miles below Chickamauga Lock and 75.3 miles above Guntersville Lock.

Lock History
 

Construction began on the 600 foot-long Nickajack Auxiliary Lock  in March of 1964.  TVA completed it for operation in December 1967.  The foundation for an 800-foot-long main lock was also laid, but it remains incomplete.  This lock will not be completed until the amount of traffic exceeds the capacity of the current auxiliary lock.

More About Nickajack Lock and Dam
 

Nickajack was not the first Dam on this stretch of the river.  Built by private interests in 1913, Hales Bar Dam was an engineering milestone.  At the time, it was the world's highest single-lift lock.  It marked the first use of caissons in dam construction to penetrate rock and was one of the first instances of pressure grouting a dam foundation.  Hales Bar had problems though.  Its foundation leaked.  Several contractors went bankrupt while attempting to excavate and construct the facility.  Even then, the leakage was never fully corrected.  Eventually, it was decided that creating a new project was more economical than maintaining Hales Bar. 
 
Nickajack helped eliminate the area's navigation problems, but it also caused the older Hales Bar Dam to be flooded.

(Go to the Tennessee Valley Authority Nickajack Reservoir web page for more information about this project)


Chick Lock

Through deeds, not words, we are BUILDING STRONG®