Cargo bottleneck
New lock key to
keep river commerce flowing across the South
DAVE FLESSNER
CHATTANOOGA TIMES FREE PRESS
JULY 6, 2004
When the
Chickamauga Dam and Lock was built in 1940, President Franklin Roosevelt
heralded the $37.5 million project as "a new artery of commerce" for the
flood-prone Tennessee Valley.
But 64 years
later, Chattanooga’s river artery is clogged and in need of repair.
The
Chickamauga Lock is smaller than any of the downstream locks on the
Tennessee River and suffers from problems of "concrete growth" in its aging
chamber. Without repair, the link between the Chickamauga and Nickajack
Reservoirs could be severed, cutting off 318 miles of navigable river above
Chattanooga.
"If the
Chickamauga Lock is not soon replaced, we are facing the complete closure of
the existing lock and the loss of water-dependent industry in East
Tennessee," said Jan Jones, executive director of the Tennessee Valley River
Association. "We can’t let that happen."
Congress has
authorized a new and larger lock at the Chickamauga Dam and initiated design
work for the replacement lock. The Army Corps of Engineers, which operates
the lock, is beginning work this summer to relocate phone lines along Lake
Resort Drive and mussels from the riverbed to accommodate future
construction of a bigger lock through the Chickamauga Dam, project manager
Wayne Huddleston said.
The proposed
$315 million replacement lock would be three times bigger than the existing
lock and cost more than eight times as much as the entire Chickamauga Dam
and Lock cost to construct from 1936 to 1940 in noninflation-adjusted
dollars.
The project
would be the biggest construction project in Hamilton County since TVA built
the Sequoyah Nuclear Power Plant near Soddy-Daisy nearly 25 years ago.
U.S. Rep.
Zach Wamp, the Chattanooga Republican who has made the lock replacement his
top legislative priority, insists that Congress must maintain one of the
region’s biggest transportation assets.
"This serves
a vital national interest," he said earlier this year after top officials of
the Army Corps of Engineers toured the crumbling lock.
But a
government watchdog group last week called the proposed replacement lock a
pork barrel project that wastes taxpayer dollars. Citizens Against
Government Waste questioned the project because it wasn’t included in the
president’s proposed budget for fiscal 2005. The U.S. House of
Representatives has approved another $14 million for the project for fiscal
2005, but the U.S. Senate has yet to act on the proposal.
CONGRESS HOLDS KEY TO LOCK
With less
than 2 million tons of cargo shipped through the Chickamauga Lock last year,
the Chattanooga lock would be the smallest ever rebuilt by the Corps of
Engineers.
But the lock
also would be the biggest and busiest ever allowed to permanently shut down
if it is not replaced.
Rep. Wamp
and Rep. John Duncan, the Knoxville Republican who chairs a House
transportation subcommittee, said the lock is a critical to keeping commerce
flowing along the upper third of the 652-mile Tennessee River.
Olin Chlor
Alkali Products plant in Charleston, Tenn., receives and ships about 670
barges a year through the Chickamauga Lock, plant manager Jon Thorstenson
said. Company officials estimate such river transportation saves Olin $6
million to $10 million a year in shipping expenses.
"The lock is
critical for the livelihood of our facilities," Mr. Thorstenson said. "If it
was taken away, that would be a major competitive disadvantage for us."
Olin has
about 275 employees at its Charleston plant and supports an adjacent
300-employee plant owned by Arch Chemical Co.
Even the
threat of closing the lock may have already discouraged some river commerce,
Ms. Jones said.
"We’ve had
numerous calls in our office from representatives of industry that wanted to
locate a facility in the corridor between Chattanooga and Knoxville," she
said. "But if they need water transportation they just couldn’t risk
building a multimillion-dollar facility if the lock might close and cut off
barge traffic."
Ms. Jones
blamed much of the 30 percent drop in cargo shipments through the
Chickamauga Lock since 1997 on concerns about the future of the lock.
The lock is
unique in that it was built by the Tennessee Valley Authority but is now
controlled by the Army Corps of Engineers, which has a backlog of other
projects at more heavily used inland waterways.
An economic
analysis by the Corps found that a new lock at the Chickamauga Dam would
generate at least a $1.9 million annual economic gain from the additional
business spurred by a new lock compared with the costs of its construction.
"GROWING CONCRETE"
The
Chickamauga Lock is plagued by problems caused by a chemical reaction when
alkali in the cement reacts with carbonate materials in the rock used to
build the facility. A gel is formed that absorbs water and causes the cement
in the lock to expand. The lock has "grown" from 4 to 8 inches during its
lifetime, forcing repair crews to continually have to realign lock
equipment.
"The problem
is particularly bad here because of the rock that was used to build the
lock," Chickamauga Lockmaster Keith Holley said. "It’s been a problem almost
from the time the lock first opened."
Starting
July 27, the Corps will remove the water from the lock chamber for the first
time in five years for a three-week inspection and repair program.
Within the
next decade, the problem is expected to reach a point that the lock is no
longer safe to operate and will have to be replaced.
But rather
than replace the existing lock with a comparablysized chamber, Congress
authorized construction of a 110-by-600-foot lock. The timetable for
building the lock is dependent upon congressional funding each year, but Mr.
Huddleston said the current schedule calls for a new lock to open by 2011.
A bigger
lock can’t come too soon for Bill Dyer, a 68-year-old barge operator who has
worked on inland waterways since he was 13 years old. Mr. Dyer said when one
of its 15-barge tows approaches the Chickamauga Lock, the towboat must break
apart the barges and lock them through the Chickamauga Lock one at a time.
That can easily take 16 to 18 hours, he said.
"A new lock
would be eight times faster and a lot less demanding on our crew," he said.
"That shipping rates above Chattanooga are now twice as high as those below
the Chickamauga Dam is because of the small size of that lock."
Mr. Dyer
said a replacement lock is critical to providing both recreational and
commercial usage of the Tennessee River. Such river transportation helps
limit shipping costs and provides a cheaper alternative to trucking for bulk
items not needing quick delivery.
"Every barge
keeps another 60 trucks off the highway," Mr. Dyer said. "If we want to keep
traffic flowing on our highways, we need to make sure we maintain our inland
waterways." |