Update on New Cumberland

Today I had an email conversation with Jeff Hawk, public affairs officer for the Pittsburgh District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, about the situation at New Cumberland. He's had a busy day fielding questions from media and others, as you can imagine.

Here's the update he provided on the current situation:

"Crews are working right now to isolate the source of the failure. They are capping lines and then testing them. We are working to re-open on Saturday, if all goes well. That's the temp fix. The long-term fix will be months away if we receive emergency funding. We have submitted a funding request up to HQ USACE. There is a queue of tows, about 10, awaiting passage, many hauling coal. "

Then I asked about the permanent outage in the auxiliary lock. People have spent all year talking about the possibility of a major failure at Emsworth and Montgomery, which are a couple of decades older than New Cumberland. New Cumberland, along with Greenup, was one of the first all-new locks and dams to be built in the 1950s. His reply:

"The auxiliary chamber is closed due to the condition of lock miter gates. The gates have severe structural cracks that prevent the gates from being operated in a safe manner. The cracks are so extensive and severe that the gates cannot be economically repaired and must be replaced. Funds are not currently available to fabricate new gates and replace the deteriorated gates. The service design life for a navigation project is 50 years. These gates were likely placed in the late 1950s. The request for emergency funds will not include funds for the auxiliary chamber."

Hawk said photos of the situation at New Cumberland will be posted on the Pittsburgh District's Flickr page.