Lock 5a closed until further notice

Lock 5A is closed until further notice. Towboat accident.

No details provided.

Atleast we can count on it wasnt you driving it .. Right ?

lets see thats the one just above the Winona bridge, hope all are safee and goes well.

No BK was the navigator.

Any details yet?

FDR

I think we’ll have to wait for the media to pick it up.

Hopefully doesn’t affect to much of the river(fishing)

It’s amazing what a person can find on the internet and what we can’t.

C. Michael Reeves was the last tow through 5a. Heading to St Louis.

I can’t seem to find any media coverage.

Since the accident was to the lock gates or chamber, it won’t effect the water going through the dam. (I’m guessing here) so it shouldn’t effect the level or flow of the river.

In fact, the only thing it should affect is tow traffic and recreational craft wanting to change pools.

In other words. No barge traffic until it’s fixed.

C. Michael Reeves

All look the same don’t they?

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

ST. PAUL DISTRICT
News Release

May 17, 2013
MVP-PA-2013-065
Contacts:
Patrick Moes: 651-290-5202, 651-366-7539 [email protected]
George Stringham: 651-290-5201, 651-262-6804, [email protected]

Corps’ Fountain City, Wis., Lock and Dam reopens following tow accident

ST. PAUL, Minn. – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, is reopening its Lock and Dam 5A on the Mississippi River, near Fountain City, Wis., today, May 17, after a temporary closure due to a tow hitting one of the miter gates during a lockage May 16.

The C. Michael Reeves, a towboat owned by the Marquette Transportation Company, was navigating downriver when it hit the lock gate yesterday at approximately 12:30 p.m. The accident caused significant damage to the upstream, right descending gate.

Corps engineers assessed the damage and determined the lock can remain open with some restrictions until the gate is replaced. The Corps advises all boaters near the lock to use caution and listen carefully to the lock operators’ instructions when locking a boat through the lock.

The replacement gate is being shipped from the Corps’ Rock Island District, and it should arrive sometime next week. The lock will be closed to all navigation traffic when the gate is replaced.

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.

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Ouch. I wonder how much that gate and repair will cost the C. Michael Reeves’ owner