ST. PAUL, Minn. – The first up-bound tow boat and barges for the opening of 2012 navigation season made it to St. Paul, Minn., yesterday evening, March 17.
The MV Deana Ann, a tow operated by Marquette Transportation Company, Inc., Paducah, Ky., locked through the Army Corps’ Lock and Dam 3 in Red Wing, Minn., yesterday around 10:15 a.m., and Lock and Dam 2 in Hastings, Minn., in the afternoon around 3:30 p.m. The tow was pushing seven barges. The tow was temporarily blocked below Lock and Dam 2 by the Hastings railroad bridge, because the bridge was without power.
The average opening date of the navigation season for the last 30 years has been March 20. Last year, the MV John M. Rivers, a tow operated by Ingram Marine Group of Nashville, Tenn., locked through Lock and Dam 3 March 31.
The earliest date for the opening of the navigation season was March 4, in 1984, 2000 and 2001; the latest date was April 7, 1978.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, serves the American public in the areas of environmental enhancement, navigation, flood damage reduction, water and wetlands regulation, recreation sites and disaster response. It contributes around $175 million to the five-state district economy. The 700 employees work at more than 40 sites in five upper-Midwest states. For more information, see www.mvp.usace.army.mil.
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Release no. 12-031