Greenup Locks to undergo maintenance

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HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in the Huntington District will limit recreational boat lockages at the Greenup Locks and Dam on the Ohio River in Greenup, Ky. for maintenance.

The maintenance period is scheduled to take place from April 15 to Sept. 30, 2016.

The Corps of Engineers will replace the main lock chamber lower miter gates. During this time, Greenup Locks will only lock recreational craft at noon and 4 p.m. unless traffic patterns allow additional lockages, according to Bryan Maka, Public Affairs Officer for the Huntington District U. S. Army Corps of Engineers.

“It is the main chamber, and they will be replacing the lower miter gates. The uppers have already been replaced once before,” Maka said. “There are two miter gates in the lower chamber, and they weigh about 240 tons a piece, and the time that it takes to pass the main chamber is approximately 45 minutes. When they have to break up and go to the auxiliary chamber it takes about two hours.”

The main chamber extends the length of 1, 200 feet.

“The main chamber itself is 1,200 feet long, and 110 feet wide, so the two miter gates, when the tow goes into the chamber to lock, those two miter gates close to retain the water,” he said. “Those 240 ton gates have to gap that 110 feet wide, they seal together, hoist it, and go up and down like a little elevator, so to speak.The reason that it has to be closed during that time is the auxiliary chamber will be open. The auxiliary chamber is half the size. It is only 600 feet long, but it is 110 feet wide.”

“The passage time obviously will increase because they will have to link, and then go up to the next stage, and then re-link, and then pass on through, and the industry is aware of that and they have taken action to decrease that amount of time,” he said. “It is still going to take a little more time to get pass through the Greenup Locks. This is just limiting the certain time for recreational boat lockages, and obviously the passage of priority for any time is for commercial traffic.”

For more information or questions please contact the Public Affairs Office at 304-399-5353.

Reacreational lockages will be limited

By Portia Williams

[email protected]

Reach Portia Williams at 740-353-3101, ext. 1929, or on Twitter @PortiaWillPDT.

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