After more than a decade in storage, The US Army Corps of Engineers Nashville District announced that large concrete wall beams for the Chickamauga Lock replacement project are finally on the move.
The agency began transporting the first of twelve upstream approach wall beams by barge from Watts Bar Dam to the project site on Friday, August 29.
Each of the twelve beams is 120 feet (36.6 metres) long and weighs more than 463 tons.
They were originally fabricated under a 2010 contract and were completed in 2013, after which they were stored at the Tennessee Valley Authority's Watts Bar facility.
Three barges are rotating deliveries, transporting one to two beams per day in a process that is expected to continue through mid-September.
Bob Winters, the project manager, stated that the beams are a critical component of the upstream approach wall contract, which is now 68 per cent complete and is projected to be finished in early 2026.
The new lock, which measures 110 feet by 600 feet (33.5 metres by 183 metres), is a top priority according to USACE.
The agency remarked that it will be able to process nine jumbo barges in a single lockage, compared to just one in the existing lock, representing an 80 per cent increase in efficiency for the navigation industry.
