ASHLAND CITY, Tenn. (Sept. 6, 2012) The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Nashville District’s Cheatham Lock will be closed to all river traffic from 6 a.m., Oct. 16 through 6 p.m., Nov. 15, 2012 to permit major maintenance repairs to hydraulic and mechanical equipment damaged during the 2010 flood along with other routine maintenance.
“Our initial notice to navigation interests about the planned lock closure went out Jan 30, 2012 and was updated April 16, 2012 to give industry and shipping companies an opportunity to prepare for this lock closure,” said Travis Claud, project operations officer. “We give our commercial shippers as much notice as possible on all lock closures and attempt to inform recreational boaters through the news media,” he added.
Navigation notices are also posted at https://lrn.usace.afpims.mil/Missions/Operations/Navigation/NavigationNotices.aspx.”
The hydraulic units that were flooded in 2010 are on a temporary fix and could go out any time, according to Claud.
“The operating machinery and hydraulic cylinders that raise and lower the culvert valves will be relocated on top of the lock wall in an effort to get them above the frequent high water levels experienced at Cheatham and will also aid in normal maintenance,” Claud said.
“The entire project will cost approximately $3.5 million and will make the lock easier to maintain in the future,” Claud said.
Other work at Cheatham that is ongoing and will continue for some time, but does not require lock closure, includes replacing the chains that operate the spillway gates, construction of the new resource manager’s office and demolishing and rebuilding the Lock operations building.
The public can obtain news, updates and information from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Nashville District on the district’s website at www.lrn.usace.army.mil, on Facebook at
http://www.facebook.com/nashvillecorps and on Twitter at
http://www.twitter.com/nashvillecorps. The public can visit Cheatham Lake’s Facebook at
http://www.facebook.com/cheathamlake