Project Description and Background
Opened in 1933, Lockport Lock & Dam is 35 miles downstream of T.J O’Brien Lock & Dam. The facility is a unit of the Inland Waterway Navigation System and is one of eight such facilities between Chicago and Versailles, Illinois. The lock is 110 feet wide by 600 feet long. Maximum vertical lift is 42.0 feet; the average lift is 39 feet. It averages 22.5 minutes to fill the lock chamber and 15 minutes to empty.
The Lockport Dam consists of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (MWRD) lock, powerhouse and associated controlling works. The MWRD, through Congressional action, transferred the maintenance responsibilities of the substructures and support structures to the Corps in the early 1980s for the roughly forty-five-foot-high embankment, controlling works, powerhouse substructures, and all pool retention structures. The Corps controls the lock; however, has no ownership of the controlling works. A major rehabilitation of the lock was completed in 2017 at a cost of $150,280,294.
Current Status
Available funds will be used for routine lock operations and maintenance, water management, dam safety monitoring, and environmental compliance.
Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) funding in the amount of $5,000,000 will be used for construction and engineering oversight of the upper vertical lift gate and emergency lift gate replacement contract. This funding will also be used to start plans and specifications for the installation of the gates.
Project Authorization
Rivers and Harbors Acts of 1927 & 1930