5 Sep 2025

Dredged Material Management Plan: Pool 2—Minnesota

The purpose of the Pool 2 Dredged Material Management Plan is to prepare a coordinated long-term plan for managing dredged material in Pool 2. This plan was initiated due to increases in dredging volumes throughout Pool 2. This plan was initiated due to increases in dredging volumes throughout Pool 2.

5 Sep 2025

Dredged Material Management Plan: Pool 9—Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers operates and maintains the Upper Mississippi River 9-Foot Channel Navigation Project, and one method used to maintain the 9-foot channel is dredging river soils or “material.” The purpose of the Pool 9 Dredged Material Management Plan is to prepare a coordinated long-term plan for managing dredged material in Pool 9. This plan was initiated due to needs for dredged material management at upland placement sites, especially in the upstream reach of the pool.

5 Sep 2025

Navigation and Ecosystem Sustainability Program: Upper Mississippi River System

The Navigation and Ecosystem Sustainability Program (NESP) seeks to provide a safe, reliable, cost-effective and environment-sustainable waterborne navigation system by implementing switchboats at five locks and constructing mooring cells and seven new 1,200-foot locks. NESP will restore the aquatic and terrestrial habitat to a more natural condition on more than 100,000 acres throughout the system through a wide variety of ecosystem projects.

5 Sep 2025

Navigation: Auxiliary Lock Work at Mississippi River Locks and Dams 3‒10

Locks and Dams 3 through 10 have auxiliary chambers. Each auxiliary chamber has only a single set of miter gates that could pass shallow draft navigation traffic if the lock chamber was out of operation and the upstream and downstream pools were equalized. At each site, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers only installed one set of miter gates. An auxiliary lock chamber was never authorized by Congress, which would have included a second set of miter gates. Since installation, the auxiliary emergency gates have never been used, and the gate operating machinery was never installed.

5 Sep 2025

Navigation: Minnesota River Navigation Project, Minnesota

The St. Paul District is responsible for maintaining the 9-foot navigation channel on the Minnesota River from its mouth in St. Paul, Minnesota, to river mile 14.7 in Savage, Minnesota, and the 4-foot channel depth from river miles 14.7 to 25.6 in Shakopee, Minnesota. Annual channel maintenance actions are required to maintain the congressionally authorized 9-foot channel depth. These channel maintenance activities consist of dredging, snag removal, and close monitoring of channel conditions.

5 Sep 2025

Navigation: Mississippi River End Cells

The Lock Guide Walls-Distress Repair Recommendations project for Locks and Dams 2 through 10 has been ongoing since the mid-1990s. The purpose of the end cell projects is to extend the longevity of each site and to reduce operability issues and required maintenance

8 Sep 2025

Navigation: Mississippi River Lock and Dam 7 Outdraft

In 2017, a hydraulic study was launched to identify potential causes of the increased outdraft at Lock and Dam 7 and to investigate and implement measures to alleviate the condition. The purpose of this work is to identify and implement solutions to improve navigation conditions by mitigating the increasingly dangerous outdraft condition within the upper approach to Lock and Dam 7.

5 Sep 2025

Navigation: Mississippi River Locks and Dams 2–10, Embankment Rehabilitation Adjacent to Structures

This embankment rehabilitation project addresses restoring embankments to meet current design standards. Overtopping protection adjacent to concrete structures is the priority for design and construction efforts; no increase in the height of the embankments is planned.

5 Sep 2025

Navigation: Mississippi River Locks and Dams 2–10, Miter Gate Replacements

Locks and Dams 2 through 10 have used the same miter gates since their construction in the 1930s. Over time, the gates have been damaged and distressed, leading to serviceability and safety issues. This project will replace the gates and upgrade the anchorage systems, increasing navigational longevity and operational readiness while decreasing repair costs and downtime due to maintenance or failure.

5 Sep 2025

Navigation: Mississippi River Locks and Dams 2–10, Nonstructural Embankment Repairs

A draft Problem Appraisal Report completed in 2017 found that complete riprap overlay of the embankments to rehabilitate rock degradation was not economically justified but that there are other opportunities to improve scour resilience while improving the ecosystem. Some options include creating upstream berms, creating islands to reduce wave fetch, and providing submergible segments with crest superiority at some dams.

5 Sep 2025

Navigation: Routine Dam Gate Maintenance

Maintenance of dam spillway gates are required to avoid degradation and eventual replacement. Cost analyses show it is economically favorable to maintain these gates rather than replace them. There are also reliability and safety concerns with allowing the gates to degrade to the point that they must be replaced.

5 Sep 2025

Operation and Maintenance: Fountain City Service Base Building 9 Replacement, Wisconsin

The Fountain City Service Base Building 9 Replacement Project is a two-phase project to improve the functionality and workshop area of the service base. 

5 Sep 2025

Upper Mississippi River 9-Foot Channel Navigation Project: Locks and Dams

The St. Paul District is responsible for maintaining 244 miles of the Upper Mississippi River 9-foot channel navigation system. The navigation project within the St. Paul District includes 13 locks and dams that are operated and maintained by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

5 Sep 2025

Upper Mississippi River 9-Foot Channel Navigation Project: Maintenance

The St. Paul District is responsible for maintaining 244 miles of the Upper Mississippi River 9-Foot Channel Navigation Project for inland navigation.