If you make the trek this week across the Big Dam Bridge between North Little Rock and Little Rock, the view of Murray Lock will be a little different. Normally you might catch a glimpse of a barge locking through the 110-foot-wide by 600-foot-long concrete lock chamber. This week the Army Corps of Engineers has suspended navigation traffic to give Murray Lock some much needed maintenance attention to ensure the infrastructure is reliable for years to come. The Corps intended to dewater the lock to conduct routine maintenance and identify any major maintenance issues that need to be addressed
If you make the trek this week across the Big Dam Bridge between North Little Rock and Little Rock, the view of Murray Lock will be a little different. Normally you might catch a glimpse of a barge locking through the 110-foot-wide by 600-foot-long concrete lock chamber. This week the Army Corps of Engineers has suspended navigation traffic to give Murray Lock some much needed maintenance attention to ensure the infrastructure is reliable for years to come. The Corps intended to dewater the lock to conduct routine maintenance and identify any major maintenance issues that need to be addressed in the future. During an initial inspection it was discovered that a key piece of the 46-year-old structure’s dewatering system has corroded over the years and the dewatering was put on hold for safety reasons. The Corps is continuing on with the six day closure to facilitate several maintenance repairs and above water inspections. The Corps’ engineers are developing a plan to replace the corroded components or devise another method to dewater the lock in the future. Corps Project Manager Ashley Zink said “While this is a setback, it’s exactly the type of maintenance issues we are trying to identify while the lock is closed. It’s better to identify issues now then to find out in an emergency situation or even worse experience a failure during a future dewatering.” Because of financial constraints the Corps only dewaters the lock about every 10 years or when a major maintenance issue is identified. The public is invited to view the work from the Big Dam Bridge. Currently the Big Red Crane Barge and Motor Vessel Shorty Baird, a duo with a long history of navigation maintenance work on America’s inland waterways and a key component in the cleanup following Hurricane Katrina, is stationed in the lock chamber. For more information about the Corps of Engineers and the navigation mission you can visit the Little Rock District website at
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Keywords: arkansas, corps, district, engineers, lock, mkarns, murray, river, rock
