Photo By Kelcy Hanson | Virtual rendering of projected control shelter at the new lock located at the Soo Complex.... read more read more
The Inland Navigation Design Center (INDC), which is the U.S. Army Corps of Engineer’s national mandatory center of expertise for inland navigation projects, supported a wide variety of critical infrastructure projects in fiscal year 2020. Major project efforts included assisting with the LaGrange Major Rehabilitation project, designing a new lock for the Soo Complex, reestablishing the design process for elements of the Navigation Ecosystem Sustainability Project (NESP), and working new lock designs for the Upper Ohio, Emsworth Dashields and Montgomery locks. The INDC was also responsible for the engineering portion of major rehabilitation studies for the Winfield and David D. Terry lock and dam facilities.
The overall mission of the INDC is to provide engineering, design, analysis and review services for studies, new locks, new navigation dams, major rehabilitation of existing inland navigation locks and dams, as well as significant inland navigation lock and dam operations and maintenance projects. It promotes quality and consistency in design through commonality of components and technical competency.
The engineering skills and technical expertise of the INDC team, made up of 12 employees, located in six Districts across the Mississippi Valley and Great Lakes and Ohio River divisions, is critical to designing and renovating inland navigation lock and dam structures across the country and abroad. During the past year, while many USACE employees had to learning to work in the virtual world, the INDC was already comfortable with distanced teamwork but that didn’t mean they didn’t face challenges.
“The use of virtual teams is part of the INDC’s business process and worked well. These teams were in place before the pandemic hit however, COVID-19 travel restrictions really put a strain on our lead engineers to keep everyone on the same path and to complete all the required consistency reviews“ said Fred Joers, Director of INDC.
One of the INDC’s biggest highlights for the year was watching the LaGrange Major Rehabilitation project as it progressed throughout the summer.
“It was great to finally see the LaGrange Lock rehabilitation completed as it has been a long time since the rehabilitation report was approved and funding was available for the construction,” said Joers. “It was a huge achievement by the Rock Island District team to finish the work on schedule, open the lock on time, and limit our impacts to the navigation industry.”
As with any project, there are lessons to be learned and LaGrange was no different.
“There was some unexpected deterioration found on the self-lubricating pintle bushing on the miter gate,” said Joers. “We are now working with the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center and USACE Headquarters to develop better guidance and standardization for pintle bushings.”
Aside from LaGrange, another main accomplishment in fiscal year 2020 was the design of the new lock at the Soo Complex. This design has taken major steps towards providing standardization of navigation design by implementing as many possible components of the existing Poe locks in the new lock design. This not only helps the shipping industry and the operation staff, it also helps save project construction funds. Currently, 100 percent of the design has been created virtually, by the INDC team.
In fiscal year 2021, the INDC is looking forward to finishing up design of the new lock at the Soo Complex and working on several other capital improvement MEGA projects including three new locks on the Upper Ohio River, the Brandon Road Interbasin Project and the Brazos River Project. Other significant efforts include support to NESP, six major rehabilitation reports, assisting Mobile District with lock projects in Brazil, and continuing to follow the Chief of Engineers’ direction to drive for commonality of components (standardization) in the inland navigation system.
| Date Taken: | 04.23.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 04.23.2021 15:02 |
| Story ID: | 394602 |
| Location: | ROCK ISLAND ARSENAL, ILLINOIS, US |
| Web Views: | 252 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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Army Corps of Engineers
