Targeting broken locks and dams

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate unanimously passed the Water Resources Development Act of 2024 on Aug. 1.

The Senate’s version of the bill, supported by Illinois Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth, includes provisions for lock and dam improvement along the Mississippi and Illinois rivers.

The Senate WRDA 2024 bill, Section 109, permanently adjusted the inland waterways cost-share for construction and major rehabilitation projects to 75% general revenues and 25% Inland Waterways Trust Fund, from 65% and 35%, respectively.

The House of Representatives passed its WRDA legislation on July 22 by a 359-13 margin, but the bill did not include any inland waterways provision.

The Senate’s WRDA version would authorize 13 new or modified construction projects, as well as pushing the Army Corps of Engineers to expedite current projects.

In addition, the legislation authorizes 83 different feasibility studies on other potential water infrastructure projects.

The House version authorizes 161 new feasibility studies for locally proposed projects and 12 projects that have been reviewed by the Corps.

It also makes Corps reforms that empower the non-federal project sponsors, increases project transparency and improve project delivery.

Now, the Senate Environmental and Public Works Committee and the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee will begin the conference process to resolve differences between the two bills.

Lock 25

The Senate bill provides 100% full federal funding for projects funded in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

The funding will allow for continued improvements to be made on Lock and Dam 25 on the Mississippi River between Calhoun County in western Illinois and Lincoln County in eastern Missouri.

Groundbreaking for the Lock and Dam 25 project was in May 2023. The proposed project includes construction of a new 1,200-foot, pile founded, lock located in the auxiliary miter gate bay and construction of an upstream, ported guard wall totaling 1,200 feet and a 650-foot downstream approach wall.

The existing 600-foot Lock 25 remains in place and will become auxiliary lock chamber to be used primarily by recreation traffic. The project also includes associated channel work, relocations and site-specific environmental mitigation.

The majority of the Upper Mississippi River locks were designed and constructed in the 1930s and the lock chambers are 600-foot long.

The 600-foot lock chambers cause significant average delays to navigation because of double lockages required for tows larger than 600 feet. The new 1,200-foot lock will significantly reduce delays and increase safety.

Exports

Illinois is the largest corn exporting state in the nation with over 50% of its corn transported outside the state, and those significant international sales are built on the network of the river system.

River transportation provides the lowest cost, greenest, most efficient means to transport corn from Illinois to our global customers, but the locks and dams that empower the industry are broken.

Lock and dam improvements are critical to grain exports in Illinois, according to the Illinois Corn Growers Association.

“Over time, we’ve done analysis on the cost of inefficiencies on a per-lock basis. Those costs change, but it’s about a penny to a penny and a half per bushel per lock,” said Jim Tarmann, ICGA managing director.

“By the time we upgrade all seven locks, farmers are gaining about 8 to 10 cents per bushel of efficiency to the system and they should see at least a penny per bushel in gained efficiency when the new 1,200-foot Lock 25 at Winfield is operational.”

“The U.S. inland waterways system is crucial to the operations of NGFA-member companies and the agricultural supply chain, with barges transporting about half of all grains to export grain elevators,” according to the National Grain and Feed Association.

“Efficient inland locks and dams and modern ports are vital to maintaining America’s competitive infrastructure advantage.”