Boats go through lock for first time in four months
Published 12:54 pm Friday, May 17, 2024
- This photo shows the first barge going through the Demopolis lock and dam around 5:30 p.m. Thursday, which was four months to the day after it was closed due to severe damage. | Photo Courtesy of Mike Cork
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Boats were seen going through the Demopolis lock and dam on the Black Warrior River on Thursday.
Photos submitted by Mike Cork showed a barge going through the lock around 5:30 p.m. Thursday afternoon through the newly repaired lock and dam. He believes this was the first time he’s seen boats going through the access port. It was four months to the day when it was shut down on January 16 due to severe damage to the lock and dam.
“That’s the first barge that I’ve seen going through there since it was damaged,” Cork said. “Maybe there have been some small boats, but nothing like yesterday.”
Cork said the tugboat that was used to tow the barge was named “Heloise.” He said he’s seen workers from the Army Corps of Engineers working on the lock to repair it since February.
On Feb. 3, the corps of engineers sent vessels and crews to the lock to repair it. According to a press release, the vessels included the Black Warrior-Tombigbee Project Office’s Marine Vessel Lawson, with its crane barge, the Choctawhatchee; M/V Tenn-Tom, with its new Liebherr crane; and M/V General Irwin, with a Manitowoc crane. Cranes and crews were also sent to assist in beginning to rebuild the Demopolis Lock. They believed concrete construction would begin as early as March.
The corps of engineers will be planning a media event next week to update the status of the dam and lock repairs.
The Liebherr Crane from the Tennessee-Tombigbee Project Management Office moves the stoplog picking beam into place at the Demopolis Lock, Demopolis, Alabama, Feb. 5, 2024. The Tenn-Tom Project Office and other partners have assisted the Demopolis Lock in repairing it since it was severely damaged during a breach on Jan. 16. (U.S. Army photo by Chuck Walker)
The Marine Vessel Lawson drives up the confluence of the Black Warrior and Tombigbee Rivers toward the Demopolis Lock, Demopolis, Alabama, Feb. 3, 2024. The Lawson and M/V Tenn-Tom were bringing floating barges and cranes to assist in repairing the Demopolis Lock, which was severely damaged on Jan. 16 and has been inoperable ever since. (U.S. Army photo by Chuck Walker)
Vessels, floating barges, and cranes sit in the lock chamber of the Demopolis Lock, Demopolis, Alabama, Feb. 3, 2024. The Mobile District moved the vessels, barges, and cranes to the Demopolis Lock to assist in repairing the lock, which was damaged on Jan. 16 and has been inoperable ever since. (U.S. Army photo by Chuck Walker)
The lock chamber of the Demopolis Lock shows the large concrete portion of the upper sill that fell away on Feb. 3, 2024, Demopolis, Alabama. The Lock was breached on Jan. 16 when the sizeable concrete portion of the upper sill fell away; it has been inoperable until the sill can be repaired and fixed. (U.S. Army photo by Chuck Walker)
