Location
Mississippi River & Illinois Waterway Locks and Dams
Description
The Major Rehabilitation and Major Maintenance Program for the Locks and Dams on the Mississippi River and Illinois Waterway has been ongoing since 1975. Major rehabilitation consists of reliability or efficiency improvements.
Reliability improvements are considered when they significantly extend the physical life of a component, have direct consequences to navigation and ecosystem, and can be economically justified by benefit-to-cost analysis. The region focuses on this method of major rehabilitation.
Efficiency improvements are considered if they enhance the operational efficiency of the component.
Major maintenance is categorized as major repairs or improvements that don't qualify for major rehabilitation and must be funded out of the regular O&M Budget.
The remainder of the regular O&M Budget dollars are used for baseline (routine) operation and maintenance.
Through use of new Asset Management tools, O&M funding is being targeted from a more corporate posture to the structures with the highest risk and probability of failure in alignment with impact costs to navigation. Through this focused funding model, local funding is increasing within Rock Island District due to the overall need and risk of Lock and Dam Structures. These funds support component life extensions and focus on reliability vice significant facility life extensions.
Although targeted funding for component replacement increases near term reliability, facility life extensions are critical for system long term durability.
MAJOR MAINTENANCE OF MISSISSIPPI RIVER AND ILLINOIS WATERWAY LOCKS AND DAMS
L&D Components not justified for Major Rehabilitation and consequence of not doing work:
Lock Miter Gates: Miter gate failure would cause closure of locks to all navigation and shipments.
Auxiliary Miter Gates: Continued deterioration and potential loss of pools for navigation and ecosystem sustainability.
Lock and Dam Electrical Systems: Electrical failures cause temporary power outages to lock and dam operating machinery. Such failures would impact lock operation as well as pool regulation for navigation and ecosystem sustainability.
Repair Dam Roller and Tainter Gates: Deterioration of gate structures is occurring with possible failure and inability to regulate pool for navigation and ecosystem management.
Lock and Dam Concrete: Concrete supports and protects lock and dam operating machinery and gates. Concrete is deteriorating exponentially. Concrete failures are now more frequent creating a greater probability of damage to miter gates by transiting tows. Increasing potential for inability to manage pools for navigation and ecosystem sustainability.
Status
Operations and Maintenance and Major Rehabilitation Programs are unable to adequately fund maintenance activities to ensure the navigation system operates at an acceptable level of performance. The Mississippi Valley Division created a Product Delivery Team in early 2006 to address this problem regionally for the entire Mississippi River and Illinois Waterway Locks and Dams systems. Prior to creating the regional PDT, the amount of maintenance being deferred was increasing for some locks and dams in some districts while other districts were awarding contract improvements annually. The regional approach improved this inequity. The PDT meets regularly, at least quarterly or more often as necessary.
MVR is focused and committed to component replacement, which provides site and system reliability. The Mississippi Valley Division Regional Backlog of Maintenance for navigation is valued at over $1 billion (FY 19 value). Rock Island District's portion is nearly 40% of this amount. Some of the highest ranking Rock Island District maintenance projects include the following:
• Illinois Waterway LaGrange L/D Major Rehabilitation and Major Maintenance Illinois Waterway O'Brien L/D Major Rehabilitation/Major Maintenance
• Mississippi River L/D 18 Major Rehabilitation/Major Maintenance
• Systemic Miter Gate Replacement at Multiple L/D Sites on the Mississippi River and the Illinois Waterway
• Systemic Dam Concrete/Steel Repairs at Multiple L/D Sites on the Mississippi River and the Illinois Waterway
Additional Information
Authority
OM - Operations and Maintenance River and Harbor Act of 1930
Summarized Project Costs
| Estimated Federal Cost |
N/A |
| Estimated Non-Federal Cost |
N/A |
| Estimated Total Project Cost |
N/A |
| Allocations Prior to FY 2020 |
N/A |
| FY 2020 Allocations |
N/A |
| FY 2020 Total Capability |
N/A |
Major Work Item Current Year
FY 2020: Funds are being used to operate and maintain existing Lock and Dam infrastructure as well as focus on critical backlog of maintenance items, some of which are listed below:
• Repair L/D 15 Guide Wall (ongoing)
• Repair L/D 13 Overflow Spillway (ongoing)
• Repair L/D 15 Service Bridge (ongoing)
• Repair Dock Wall at Mississippi River Service Base
• Repair Mississippi River Wing Dams (ongoing)
• Install newly procured Lock Gates (Miter and Lift) at LD’s 12, 15, 15A, and 19 (ongoing)
• Repair Peoria L/D Wicket Dam
• Continue Major Rehabilitation and Maintenance work at LaGrange L/D
• Install bulkhead recesses at Dresden Island L/D
• Replace sills and anchorages to receive new miter gates at Marseilles L/D and Starved Rock L/D
• Replace miter gate machinery operating cylinders and repair bubbler systems at Peoria L/D
• Repair damages at multiple sites from the historic 2019 flooding
• Perform dredging to restore the 9-foot Navigation channel following the historic 2019 flooding