Corps of Engineers prepares for end of Upper Mississippi River navigation season

ST. PAUL, Minn. – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, is preparing for the end of the 2016 Upper Mississippi River navigation season.

The St. Paul District will close its navigation locks to all navigation Dec. 10. All vessels will need to be south of Lock and Dam 10, in Guttenberg, Iowa, by then to ensure they can pass through the Rock Island District locks prior to their scheduled winter maintenance. The Corps of Engineers, Rock Island District, is performing maintenance at Locks 15, 16 and 17 this winter and will close these locks Dec. 13. They are expected to reopen March 3, 2017.

Vessels near St. Paul, Minnesota, need to head downriver by the end of the week to ensure they can lock through the closing locks.

The Corps closed Lower St. Anthony Falls Lock and Dam and Lock and Dam 1, both in Minneapolis, to all navigation Nov. 26. Upper St. Anthony Falls Lock and Dam was permanently closed to all navigation June 10, 2015.  

The last tow of the 2015 navigation season was locked through Lock and Dam 2, near Hastings, Minnesota, Dec. 3. The first tow of the 2016 season to lock through Lock 2 was the Motor Vessel Ronald Wagonblast. 

The nearly 600 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, employees working at more than 40 sites in five upper-Midwest states serve the American public in the areas of environmental enhancement, navigation, flood damage reduction, water and wetlands regulation, recreation sites and disaster response. Through the St. Paul District Fiscal Year 2015 $100 million budget, nearly 1,600 non-Corps jobs were added to the regional economy as well as $155 million to the national economy. For more information, see www.mvp.usace.army.mil.

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