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Almost 30 years later, Olmsted Lock and Dam projected to open in 2018

After nearly three decades of construction delays and funding hiccups, the much-anticipated $3 billion Olmsted Lock and Dam project on the Ohio River is now estimated to open in the fall of 2018 or sooner, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Considered the nation’s most expensive and largest civil works project ever undertaken, the two new 1,200-foot locks and 2,500-foot dam across the river at Olmsted, Ill., will be fully functional next year. But the project won’t be completed until 2022 after the old locks 52 and 53 are removed from the river and cleanup work is finished on land.

The Corps says the new locks are complete, the dam is more than 80% done, and the remaining construction to prepare the project for an October 2018 opening will be finished by the end of this year.

The opening date could occur as much as four months earlier, however, depending on river conditions and approvals to speed up some construction steps.

“We are aggressively trying to advance that milestone to much closer to the start of the 2018 low water locking season, which historically occurs around the June timeframe,” Michael Braden, chief of the Olmsted Division in the Corps’ Louisville District, told WorkBoat.

Details

  • Olmsted Lock & Dam, New Dam Rd, La Center, KY 42056, USA
  • Olmsted Lock and Dam