Water Resource News: Arkansas Basin Development Association Volume 12 Number 2

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Water Resources News Newsletter of the Arkansas Basin Development Association, Inc. Volume 92 Number 2 Summer 2009 MONTGOMERY POINT LOCK & DAM CONSTRUCTION PASSES HALFWAY MARK Construction of Montgomery Point Lock and Dam has passed the halfway point, and it is beginning to take shape in the southeast corner of the state of Arkansas. Workers are busy placing steel reinforced concrete as the lock and dam rises from the drained riverbed. "The structure is finally taking shape," said Ron Carman, Montgomery Point project manager for the Army Corps of Engineers' Little Rock District. The $242 million project, one of the largest construction jobs underway in the state, is 54 percent complete, Carman said. However, he pointed out that being past the halfway point cost -wise doesn't mean thathalf the lock and dam has been built. A great deal of preparation had to take place over the course of nearly two years before the first batch of concrete was ever mixed. For example, a temporary bypass channel was excavated so shipping would be uninterrupted during construction. Also, a temporary, horseshoe- shaped cofferdam was built across the White River so the riverbed could be drained where the lock and dam is being built. Several components had to be fabricated elsewhere and brought to the site. Placement of concrete actually began last summer, so it has only been recently that the lock and dam has begun taking shape. The job site is a half mile up the White River from its confluence with the Mississippi in southeast Arkansas in what is known as the White River Entrance Channel. This channel links the McClellan-Ken Arkansas River Navigation System with the Mississippi River. Towboats coming from the Mississippi must navigate the first 10 miles of the White River before passing through a man -made canal and entering the Arkansas River. Because there is no lock and dam on the White River Entrance Channel, when Mississippi River stages drop, water drains from the entrance channel and its stage drops accordingly. As the entrance channel gets shallower and narrower, it becomes difficult for tows to navigate. Montgomery Point Lock and Dam is under construction to solve this recurring low water problem. If adequate funding is received, the lock and dam is scheduled for completion in Fiscal Year 2003. The 445 -mile McClellan -Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System links ports in Oklahoma and Arkansas to the Mississippi River and to the ports of the world. The Corps' Little Rock District operates the Arkansas portion of the system, which consists of 308 miles of channel, 12 locks and dams (Montgomery Point will make 13) and two federal hydropower plants. Tulsa District operates the Oklahoma portion. Both districts work closely together in managing, operating and maintaining the McClellan -Kerr System. For more information about the Montgomery Point Lock and Dam project, visit the Corps' Little Rock District Internet site at: h=: / /www.swl.usace.army.mil/ and click on "Montgomery Point."