Photo By Emily Helton | Motor vessel Walter E. Blessey Jr. was the first vessel through Lockport Lock after...... read more read more
Lockport Lock reopened Friday, April 4th, after undergoing a temporary closure for construction and repairs. The lock had been closed since January 28th for maintenance repairs and upper gate lift replacement. It was expected to reopen at the end of March, but severe cracking was found on the lower miter gates. Temporary repairs were made while parts are being manufactured for the permanent replacement.
Last week, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Maintenance Fleet team made significant progress as they completed the shimming of the gates to ensure a secure and smooth fit in the lock slot.
Additionally, the vertical seals were installed on the gate slots, a key component in preventing leaks and ensuring proper function.
The final step of the project: removing the bulkheads. Once this task was completed, Lockport Lock was back in full operation, ready to resume normal functions for commercial and recreational vessels. The first motor vessel through was the Walter E. Blessey Jr. as it headed towards New Orleans.
With the temporary gate repairs now in place, measures have been implemented to protect the integrity of the structure as the lock resumes its operations. To minimize any contact with the repaired gates, restrictions will be enforced through the lock chamber. These include width restrictions and slight adjustments to how vessels are moored inside the chamber.
“We’re putting these precautions in place to ensure the gates remain intact and functional. Based on our data, we expect that these measures will impact only about 10% of the tows that transit the facility,” explained Michael Walsh, Chief of the Waterways Project Office from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Chicago District. The primary goal of these restrictions is to mitigate any risk to the most vulnerable of the two gates, which is the focus of the current temporary repairs.
USACE is looking ahead to another scheduled closure in the fall or winter moths to finalize permanent repairs once the new components are ready.
“The design phase for the new components is scheduled to be completed this month,” says Walsh. “After that, we’ll send the design to our partner agencies for fabrication quotes and timelines, which will give us a clearer picture of when the permanent repairs will take place.”
Despite the challenges that arose during the project, the construction team was able to overcome them quickly and minimize the effects on traffic through the lock.
“In general, we had a very successful project,” Walsh says. “The cracking we saw on the pintle castings was unfortunate, but not entirely unexpected given the age and condition of the infrastructure. Fortunately, our team was able to come together to develop a strong temporary repair plan, allowing the lock to reopen as scheduled while we wait for the new fabricated parts. The original goal of the project – to install new vertical lift gates – was executed very successfully.”
| Date Taken: | 04.07.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 04.07.2025 11:48 |
| Story ID: | 494730 |
| Location: | LOCKPORT, ILLINOIS, US |
| Web Views: | 149 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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