Fair
Landing, Arkansas, Nov. 12, 2014 – Northbound commerce
with as many as 49 barges moved through the restricted portion of the river at
Fair Landing during daylight hours. This helps speed the clearing of the daily
queue and reduces the wait time for southbound vessels. Work is also proceeding
well in the narrowest reach of the restricted area and the Corps expects
normal, unrestricted one-way traffic to resume after Monday, November 17, when
the mat sinking unit completes its work in the narrow section and moves to a
wider section of Fair Landing.
The Mississippi Valley Division’s mat sinking
unit resumed operations at 6:00 a.m. today after the queue of 18 tows was
cleared at 2:30 a.m. Maj. Gen. Michael Wehr, commander of the Mississippi
Valley Division, stated “We are working closely with the Coast Guard and the
towboat captains to clear the traffic queue as quickly as we can each night.”
“As we continue our conversations with
navigation industry leaders and the Coast Guard, we’ll assess performance of
the traffic queue management system and review operational results,” Wehr
added. And based on discussions held
Nov. 11, the group agreed that the mat sinking unit should not work and allow
scheduled crew rest Nov. 15-16.
Vessel restrictions were imposed during
daylight hours along a narrow reach of the river at Fair Landing to allow for
crucial repairs to the river banks damaged during the 2011 flood. The bank
protection work must be done when river levels permit (typically between August
and December), as it can’t be performed during high river stages, which
typically occur during the rest of the year.
Maj. Gen. Michael Wehr added, “Channel
stabilization and protection of the river banks are critical not only to our flood
control and flood risk management mission, but also to our navigation mission –
the revetment process ensures alignment of the navigation channel. The large bank
scours caused during the 2011 flood in the Fair Landing area could threaten
navigation channel stability and the mainline levee system during a high water
event.”
The repair work and future repairs will stabilize
the navigation channel and allow for two-way traffic to pass. Currently, the
narrow bend along this reach of river passes one-way traffic under normal
conditions. Since restrictions were implemented, approximately 131 tows, pushing
a total of 2,237 barges, have safely traveled past Fair Landing.