Corps of Engineers reminds public of Lock and Dam 7 closure

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, reminds the public that Lock and Dam 7, located near La Crescent, Minnesota, is closed for winter maintenance. The parking lot is also inaccessible to the public.

Ongoing construction along the lock’s lower guidewall involve the use of marine floating plants and equipment that regularly disturb the ice and water between the lower guidewall and the westward shore. While construction activities are underway, the public is not allowed to engage in ice/water activities in this area. Construction activities are scheduled to occur through March 2024.

These repairs include divers inspecting the foundations, or cribs, anchored into the riverbed which the guidewalls sit upon. The divers will then install forms around the cribbing and pump grout into them to help fill voids in the foundations that were constructed in the 1930s.

Guidewalls are long extensions of a lock wall, both upstream and downstream of the lock chamber. They help guide tows during a lockage and provide mooring facilities for tows too long to be accommodated in a single lockage.

The St. Paul District navigation program provides a safe, reliable, cost-effective and environmentally sustainable waterborne transportation system on the Upper Mississippi River for the movement of commercial goods and for national security needs. To do this, the district maintains a 9-foot navigation channel and 13 locks and dams from Minneapolis to Guttenberg, Iowa. Keeping this system open is vital to the nation’s economy.

Editor’s Note: Media members wanting to visit Lock and Dam 7 during the construction period should contact Liz Stoeckmann at 651-290-5201.

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