From today’s Pioneer Press.
Mississippi River / Three locks closing early for repairs
The first, No. 3, will be shut down Saturday
BY JOHN BREWER
Pioneer Press
Article Last Updated: 11/28/2007 11:41:04 PM CST
It might not be iced over, but much of the Mississippi River will be unreachable to boaters starting this weekend.
Three of the 13 lock and dam systems in the river’s St. Paul District are slated to close starting Saturday.
That means Twin Cities boaters looking to make a final run past Red Wing will need to get moving before then.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers decided this year to shut down locks near Red Wing, Fountain City, Wis., and Guttenberg, Iowa, early for needed maintenance. The agency usually waits until the river starts icing to close them.
The time was right to shut down, a Corps engineer said. Industrial traffic has pretty much ended for the season, and most experienced pleasure boaters have taken out their watercraft.
But that doesn’t mean a final trip is out of the question.
“Whoever is the last one through will get through,” said Leon Mucha, a civil engineer based in Fountain City.
The Corps-controlled dams stretch from the Twin Cities to St. Louis and help maintain a 9-foot-deep channel by creating a series of “pools” on the upper Mississippi. The locks let watercraft – from grain-hauling barges to speedboats – move up and down between the pools.
Lock and Dam 3, north of Red Wing, will be closed Saturday through March 15 so it can be drained for repair work.
Lock and Dam 5A, near Fountain City, will close Monday through March 1 for maintenance. Lock and Dam 10 in Guttenberg closes Dec. 8 for repairs. It will reopen March 1.
The lock and dam systems farther downstream usually stay open year-round.
Boaters can expect the riverway to reopen for navigation in mid- to late March. The average date is March 20, but last year, the locks didn’t take traffic until March 30.
John Brewer can be reached at 651-228-2093 or [email protected].