Project Status
September 2004. A Dedication Ceremony was held at Montgomery Point Lock and Dam on July 16th. The Montgomery Point Dedication Ceremony was open to the public with activities which begain at 10:00 a.m. with a Memorandum of Understanding signing between the Corps of Engineers and the Nature Conservancy. The Lock and Dam dedication ceremony followed at 11:00 a.m. and concluded at 12:00.  Lunch was provided and tours of the facility were conducted. The U.S.S. Razorback submarine was at Montgomery Point Lock & Dam for public viewing before and after the dedication ceremony.

August 9, 2005. The crest gates testing at Montgomery Point Lock and Dam is complete. The crest gate dam is in operation and the navigation pass is closed. All vessels are required to pass through the lock. Vessels may contact Montgomery Point Lock and Dam on Channels 16 and 14 for further information.

December 2005. Work in FY06 will include acquisition of necessary operating equipment, construction of wharf and dock facilities, and administrative close out tasks associated with the $262 million dollar project.

Project Pictures

Why do we need another lock and dam?
Construction of the lock and dam is in response to a chronic low water problem in the White River Entrance Channel of the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System. There currently are no dams on the lower White River, which links navigation from the Mississippi River to the main stem of the Arkansas River.

When Mississippi River levels get low, the White River stage drops correspondingly. Because of changes in the Mississippi, the stage has, at times, fallen lower than the designers of the McClellan-Kerr System ever thought it would. This has caused repeated navigation restrictions, and has prompted the need for extensive dredging.

The lock and dam will eliminate the recurrent navigation restrictions and will reduce dredging needs by more than 90 percent. This is an environmental plus for the pristine area. The dam will have gates that normally remain on the channel bottom. During low Mississippi levels, the gates will be raised to form a navigable pool in the lower White, and traffic will use the lock.

What makes Montgomery Point so unique?
Montgomery Point is unique because of its gate design. They are bottom-hinged, torque-tube gates. Here's how the gates will work. When the Mississippi River stages are equal to or greater than elevation 115, the gates will be in a lowered position, allowing vessels to pass over them instead of locking through.

As Mississippi River stages fall below elevation 115, the 13-foot high gates will be raised to maintain minimum navigable depths behind the dam. When the gates are in the raised position, vessels will have to use the lock chamber to enter or leave the system.

Olmsted Lock and Dam, currently under construction on the Ohio River in Illinois, also uses hinged gates that can lay flat on the riverbed to allow traffic to pass over them. But Olmsted uses wicket gates that have to be raised and lowered using a barge-mounted crane.

The design for Montgomery Point makes positioning the gates less labor-intensive for the lock operations crews, because any gate changes can be done with the push of a button. The design alsohas most of the operating equipment housed in the gallery to keep it dry, which cuts down on damage due to weathering.

A new dewatering structure also had to be developed so that repair and maintenance work could be done on the gates.

Another noteworthy design feature is that the entire lock and dam, except the control tower, is completely below the top banks of the channel. During very high water conditions, the entire dam would be submerged, except for the control tower. Because of it's location, the project is designed to withstand large fluctuations in the water surface elevation. The water surface at the site has fluctuated from 104 to 172.

The new design features already have caught the attention of an Arkansas engineering organization. n 1995 the design team earned the Project of the Year Award from the Arkansas Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers for the Montgomery Point Feature Design Memorandum.

The Montgomery Point project was chosen for the award based upon the significance of the project, the uniqueness of the design, innovative civil engineering techniques and the project's contribution to the public good.

Project History

Little Rock District makes customers part of the team
Groundbreaking held for Montgomery Point
Teamwork made Montgomery Point design work