Stay between red and black buoys. They mark the river's navigable channel.

On a down river approach, a dam is difficult to see. Be dam conscious and know your location on the river with regard to each dam and lock. Keep a sharp lookout for the Danger Dam signs and the white and orange pillar buoys which mark the dam. Be aware the buoys are not in the river year round and they can move off-station due to river flows. All water immediately above and below each dam are danger areas. It is recommended that boaters refer to Navigation Charts which provide valuable information on the location of the dams and other structures in the river.

Personal watercraft of the 'sit down' variety are allowed to lock through, but must enter and depart according to the lock operator's instructions. The craft must remain stable. The operator must wear a Coast Guard-approved PFD, known as a personal floatation device, at all times and remain seated when the craft is not in motion. The 'stand up' variety of watercraft must be tied-off to an approved vessel during approach, lockage and departure with the operator remaining on-board the approved vessel until clear of the lock approach wall.

When approaching a lock, wait for the lock operator to signal that you may enter. Craft going downstream should stay in the clear 400 feet upstream from the end of the guide wall until the signal to enter is received. This is particularly true if large craft are about to leave the lock and are headed in your direction.

Vessels desiring lockage shall on approaching the lock give the following signal at a distance of not more than one mile from the lock: one long blast of the whistle followed by one short blast. (Whistles for the convenience of small craft operators are located at the ends of the guide walls at some of the locks.)

Traffic signal lights guide you at all navigation locks on the Ohio and Kanawha rivers. They look like automobile traffic lights.

The lock operator may, in addition to the traffic lights, signal you with an air horn.

Carry aboard at least 50 feet of mooring line to be used during lockages to tie crafts safely to the lock wall. Crafts without a proper mooring line may not be locked. Do not tie up to ladders or recessed mooring pins along the wall. Follow the instructions of the lock operator as to the mooring location.

Make sure there is a mooring ring or similar device on the boat to which a mooring line can be tied.

Small boats with only one person aboard may use one long line securely fastened at one end of the boat with a bight of the line around the mooring post on the lock wall and the free end of the line around a cleat at the other end of the boat. This will allow the person at the free end of the line to pay out or take in mooring as the water level changes.

Stand by to pay out or take in mooring line as the water level in the lock rises or falls.

Larger boats should use two separate mooring lines leading from bow to stern to separate mooring posts on the lock wall. This will require a person at each end of the boat to pay out or take in mooring lines as the water level changes.

In locks with floating mooring bitts, place the mooring line around the mooring post on the floating mooring bitt. It will not be necessary for the lock operator to handle the craft line.

Use fenders to save damage to boats and to lockwalls. Old rope makes good fenders.

Passengers should remain seated during lockage.

Always wear a PFD (life jacket) when it is necessary to handle lines on deck or in rough weather.

Lock operators have been given the same authority over your boat in the lock as traffic policemen have over cars at intersections. For everyone's safety, obey their instructions.

Wait for the lock operator's signal to leave the lock. Travel at a reduced speed on entering and leaving the lock.

Keep away from the stern of passing tows. The stern waves are apt to capsize small craft.

Avoid passing across the head or line of travel of tows. Tows cannot be maneuvered to change course quickly.

Keep away from the head of barges moored along the shore. Small craft may be carried under the barges by the undertow.

Be Safe Near Locks and Dams

Warning To Pleasure Boaters and Anglers Who Navigate On The Ohio River:

At Ohio River lock and dam structures, there are RESTRICTED AREAS, which have been established in an effort to keep boats out of the most dangerous areas near these structures. Please stay out of these areas, they can be deadly.

Most fatalities at dams result from fishing boats coming too close to the downstream side of the dam gates. Powerful reverse currents in these areas can pull boats into the dam structure where they are capsized and smashed against the structure. Another dangerous area, below the dam, is at the lock chamber discharges, located along the river wall. When the chambers are emptied, sudden turbulent discharges can capsize a boat. Above the dams, the water may look calm, but the current of the water flowing underneath the dam gates can create a strong undertow capable of pulling a boat down, and through the dam.

Remember: Stay out of restricted areas, and always wear a life vest, or other approved personal flotation device.

SHARE THE WATER SAFELY

The leading causes of boating accidents are capsizing, falls overboard, and collisions. Be safe while boating. Keep your distance from other boats.

Alcohol is believed to be a factor in more than 50 percent of fatal boating accidents. Alcohol induces fatigue, and affects coordination and balance. In combination with motion and engine noise of the boat plus the effects of the sun, wind, and glare, alcohol can be deadly for anyone on the water.

Life jackets prevent serious injury or death, both will only work when worn properly

Each dam on a navigable river has at least one lock chamber to enable river traffic to go safely from one pool level to the next. Locks provide navigation access through the dam complex, by which vessels are lifted or lowered from one pool to the next. The lock chamber is essentially a concrete box fixed into the riverbed with two matching gates at each end that close at an angle directed upstream against the river flow. The gates can open or close only when the water level is the same on both sides. One set opens to let the watercraft enter and then closes to allow the water level in the chamber to be raised or lowered depending on the direction of travel. The other set of gates then opens to let the boat leave.

The filling and emptying of the lock chamber is done by valves which control the flow of water through large, deep culverts in the lock walls.  No pumping is necessary as the water flows through the culverts and into and out of the lock chamber entirely by gravity. The lock chamber never empties completely, but drops only as far as the pool level of the river downstream of the lock.

Navigation structures are necessary to make inland waterways viable, year-round transportation corridors. Prior to the construction of the locks and dams in the region, some river depths were less than 12 inches at times during the year and would not support commercial or pleasure boat traffic.

The natural river beds are long, uneven downhill slopes with shallow areas and deep pools. Without The dams which the Corps has constructed create an “aquatic staircase” in the river and prevent the river from draining in dry weather, so navigation can go on year-round.  Each step on the slope of the riverbed is a pool of water extending miles upstream, maintaining sufficient depth for boats and barges. The normal flow of the river runs through these pools and the excess flows over the dam into the next pool and on down the river. However, these dams do not provide flood protection.

The entire width of the river is not used for navigation, but there is a channel in which the water is maintained at a nine foot depth for commercial vessels.  Congress mandated that the channel should be at least nine feet deep.

The rivers of America have been used for centuries as part of a transportation network — literally water highways — carrying goods and commodities vital to the Nation’s economic well being.

The Ohio River Basin comprises a large geographic area of the United States east of the Mississippi River - 204,000 square miles and containing nearly 25 million people. It reaches northeast into New York, west to Illinois, and south through the drainage area of the Tennessee River in Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. Through the heart of this vast area, the 981 mile-long Ohio River carries the largest volume of water of any of the Mississippi River tributaries. The Ohio is formed by the juncture of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and empties into the Mississippi at Cairo, Illinois.

The U.S. Congress recognized the importance of the inland waterways when, in 1824, it authorized the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to undertake its first Civil Works mission — the removal of snags and other obstructions to navigation on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. In addition, the Ohio’s flow was improved by the construction of wing dams or dikes to concentrate flow into the main channel. In spite of these efforts, safe navigation was still sporadic and seasonal. In dry months the water was so shallow in places that was fordable only by people and horse-drawn wagons. River men and shippers came to rely on two “rises” or “tides.” The fall rise occurred in late October or November, and the spring rise between February and April. Navigation improvements were needed that would provide safe, year round, dependable means of moving vessels on the river.

After the Civil War, the movement of coal downriver from Pittsburgh increased greatly and the size of coal tows grew in length as powerful steam towboats pushed more and more wooden barges. To accommodate the burgeoning coal trade, the Corps studied means of providing a dependable navigation depth on the Ohio. Following an international investigation of navigation projects, engineer officers concluded that the Ohio could best be improved by constructing a series of locks and dams to create slack water pools.

The first complete lock and dam project built by the Corps of Engineers on the Ohio was at Davis Island, a few miles below Pittsburgh. This lock and dam opened to traffic in 1885. The project proved its worth, and in 1910 Congress passed the Rivers and Harbors Act. This Act authorized construction of a river length system of locks and dams which would provide a nine-foot navigation depth. When completed in 1929, the “canalization” project consisted of 51 movable dams with wooden wickets and a lock chamber measuring 600 feet by 110 feet. At low water stage, the dams were raised to pool water thus requiring lockage. At high water the wickets were lowered, allowing vessels to avoid the locks through “open river” navigation. The canalization project proved successful for many years, moving millions of tons of goods and contributing nobly to the American war effort in World War II.

In the 1940s, the transition from steam to diesel-powered towboats enabled tows longer than the 600 foot locks to move on the river, requiring “double locking” when the string of barges had to be locked through in two maneuvers. This was a hazardous and time consuming operation causing traffic delays resulting in increased costs to the towing industry.

In the 1950s, the Corps undertook the Ohio River Navigation Modernization Program to replace the obsolete system of wicket dams and small locks. Each of the new 18 high-lift concrete and steel dams replaced at least two of the old structures. Each dam consisted of two locks, one 600 feet by 110 feet, the other 1200 feet by 110 feet. Use of the 1200-foot chamber allows the towboat and up to 15 barges to transit the lock in one maneuver. At Smithland Locks and Dam there were twin 1200-foot chambers built creating the only such navigation project in the world at the time. The locks and dams on the Ohio serve a navigation purpose only; they do not provide flood control.

The Corps of Engineers’ role in providing a safe navigation infrastructure on the Ohio River is a mission without end. Locks and Dams 52 and 53 on the lower river were the last of the old wicket dams and were replaced by the Olmsted Locks and Dam project, which became operational in 2018.  In addition, studies are underway to determine the best method to enhance lock operations at other Ohio River projects.