NEWS RELEASE
ST. PAUL DISTRICT
May 21, 2013
MVP-PA-2013-066
Patrick Moes: 651-290-5202, 651-366-7539 [email protected]
George Stringham: 651-290-5201, 651-262-6804, [email protected]
Mississippi River Lock and Dam 5A closed May 23 to replace damaged gate
ST. PAUL, Minn. – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, will close Lock and Dam 5A on the Mississippi River, near Fountain City, Wis., Thursday, May 23, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. to replace an upstream miter gate that was severely damaged last week after being struck by a barge.
The replacement gate was shipped from the Corps’ Rock Island District and arrives today. The lock will be closed to all commercial and recreation traffic during the replacement.
Corps engineers assessed the damage and determined the lock can remain open with some restrictions until the gate is replaced. Prior to the scheduled, 12-hour closure, the Corps advises all boaters near the lock to use caution and listen carefully to the lock operators’ instructions and to be prepared for delays as preparations are made for the gate replacement.
The C. Michael Reeves, a towboat owned by the Marquette Transportation Company, was navigating downriver when it hit the lock gate May 16 at approximately 12:30 p.m. The accident caused significant damage to the upstream, right descending gate. There were no injuries as a result of this accident and the barges did not contain any hazardous materials.
The nearly 700 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, employees working at more than 40 sites in five upper-Midwest states serve the American public in the areas of environmental enhancement, navigation, flood damage reduction, water and wetlands regulation, recreation sites and disaster response. Through the Corps’ Fiscal Year 2011 $175 million budget, nearly 2,800 non-Corps jobs were added to the regional economy as well as $271 million to the national economy. For more information, see http://www.mvp.usace.army.mil.
Alternative river access points for recreational boaters (maps courtesy of the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge):
– Pool 5A (upstream of Lock and Dam 5A): http://www.fws.gov/uploadedFiles/Pool5A.pdf
– Pool 6 (downstream of Lock and Dam 5A): http://www.fws.gov/uploadedFiles/Pool6.pdf
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