News Release
| Release Number: | 03-163 |
| Dated: | 9/17/2003 |
| Contact: | Matt Rabe, 503-808-4510 |
Two 12-hour closures are essential for additional upcoming repairs Portland, Ore. - River traffic on the Columbia River will be temporarily stalled due to repair work the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers must complete at the John Day navigation lock.
The lock will be closed to all river traffic between 6:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 23, and Wednesday, Sept. 24. The locks will re-open to commercial river traffic each evening at 5 p.m.
Recreational river traffic will be impacted the most, as no recreational crafts will be passed through the locks during the two-day closure. The winter lockage schedule for recreational boats provides for upstream lockages at 8 a.m., 11 a.m. and 3 p.m., with downstream lockages at 8:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m.
The lock must be closed to allow divers to perform underwater repairs to the upstream bulkhead slot of the north conduit. These repairs are required for the installation of a new bulkhead that will enable dewatering of the bulkhead slot for scheduled future repair work of the area downstream of the bulkhead.
Divers discovered the need for these repairs during an inspection on Sept. 9.
The future repairs - scheduled for March to July of next year - will focus on sealing cracks in the concrete walls of the navigation lock.
The closure was coordinated with Columbia River commercial shipping interests, including tow boaters and cruise lines.
The John Day Dam spans the Columbia River from Washington to Oregon about 25 miles east of The Dalles, Ore., 215 miles upstream from the Pacific Ocean. More than 10 million tons of cargo - consisting of agricultural, petroleum, construction and manufactured products - move through the Columbia-Snake river locks each year.