District Digest News Stories

300-ton Chickamauga Lock approach wall beams being assembled at Watts Bar

Nashville District Public Affairs
Published Jan. 31, 2013
Mike Arles, quality assurance representative on the Chickamauga Lock Replacement Project checks one of the pre-cast concrete sections of an approach wall beam Jan. 31, 2013 at Watts Bar Dam, Decatur, Tenn. The beams are being assembled and stored at Watts Bar for placement in the Chickamauga Lock Replacement Project when required for construction. (USACE photo by Fred Tucker)

Mike Arles, quality assurance representative on the Chickamauga Lock Replacement Project checks one of the pre-cast concrete sections of an approach wall beam Jan. 31, 2013 at Watts Bar Dam, Decatur, Tenn. The beams are being assembled and stored at Watts Bar for placement in the Chickamauga Lock Replacement Project when required for construction. (USACE photo by Fred Tucker)

Mike Arles, quality assurance representative on the Chickamauga Lock Replacement Project checks steel cables that will be post-tensioned to 441-tons pressure connecting three sections of an approach wall beam at Watts Bar Dam, Decatur, Tenn., Jan. 31, 2013. The beams are being assembled and stored at Watts Bar for placement in the Chickamauga Lock Replacement Project when required for construction. (USACE photo by Fred Tucker)

Mike Arles, quality assurance representative on the Chickamauga Lock Replacement Project checks steel cables that will be post-tensioned to 441-tons pressure connecting three sections of an approach wall beam at Watts Bar Dam, Decatur, Tenn., Jan. 31, 2013. The beams are being assembled and stored at Watts Bar for placement in the Chickamauga Lock Replacement Project when required for construction. (USACE photo by Fred Tucker)

Approach Wall Beam sections pass through Chickamauga Lock, Chattanooga, Tenn., Jan. 16, 2013 en route to Watts Bar Dam where they will be assembled and stored for placement in the Chickamauga Lock Replacement Project when required for construction. (USACE photo by Matt Emmons)

Approach Wall Beam sections pass through Chickamauga Lock, Chattanooga, Tenn., Jan. 16, 2013 en route to Watts Bar Dam where they will be assembled and stored for placement in the Chickamauga Lock Replacement Project when required for construction. (USACE photo by Matt Emmons)

Jamie G. James, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Nashville District project manager for the Chickamauga Lock Replacement Project, receives a progress update Jan. 31, 2013 from project engineer Jason L. Foust on assembling 300-ton lock approach wall beams at Watt Bar Dam, Decatur, Tenn. The beams are being assembled and stored at Watts Bar for placement in the Chickamauga Lock Replacement Project when required for construction. (USACE photo by Fred Tucker)

Jamie G. James, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Nashville District project manager for the Chickamauga Lock Replacement Project, receives a progress update Jan. 31, 2013 from project engineer Jason L. Foust on assembling 300-ton lock approach wall beams at Watt Bar Dam, Decatur, Tenn. The beams are being assembled and stored at Watts Bar for placement in the Chickamauga Lock Replacement Project when required for construction. (USACE photo by Fred Tucker)

This 300-ton, 10-foot-by-10-foot by 113-foot lock approach wall beam was fabricated in Melbourne, Ky., moved 412 miles down the Ohio River and then 530 miles up the Tennessee River to Watts Bar Dam for assembly. Forty-two of these beams will be stored at Watts Bar for placement in the Chickamauga Lock Replacement Project when required for construction.  (USACE photo by Fred Tucker)

This 300-ton, 10-foot-by-10-foot by 113-foot lock approach wall beam was fabricated in Melbourne, Ky., moved 412 miles down the Ohio River and then 530 miles up the Tennessee River to Watts Bar Dam for assembly. Forty-two of these beams will be stored at Watts Bar for placement in the Chickamauga Lock Replacement Project when required for construction. (USACE photo by Fred Tucker)

SPRING CITY, Tenn., (Jan. 31, 2013) – Precast concrete sections for 42 lock approach wall beams destined for the Chickamauga Lock Replacement Project were recently delivered by barge to Watts Bar where they will be assembled.

A total of 126 precast concrete sections fabricated in Melbourne, Ky., made their way in mid January on the Ohio River and up the Tennessee River.  The sections will form each wall beam weighing 300 tons and altogether the heavy delivery weighs 12,600 tons. 

“This is an excellent example of the value of our navigable inland waterways in transporting heavy, bulky cargo,” said Jamie G. James, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Nashville District project manager.

Assembled, the 300-ton, 10-by-10-foot beams are in two lengths: approximately 95 feet and 113 feet, with three sections joined together with steel cables post-tensioned to 441-tons pressure, according to Michael Arles, quality assurance representative.

Groundbreaking for the Chickamauga Lock Replacement project was in 2005 and a $16 million road and bridge relocation contract was completed in 2007.

Previous contracts are substantially complete for the construction of the Chickamauga Cofferdam and for miter gates, culvert valves and culvert bulk heads, which were fabricated in Birmingham and now stored at Muscle Shoals, Ala.

“When assembly of the approach wall beams is complete, they will be stored at Watts Bar and the Chickamauga Lock Replacement Project will be placed in a mothball status until funding becomes available to continue construction,” said Jason L. Foust, project engineer.

The next contract will begin construction of a new 110-by-600-foot lock to replace the 70-plus-year-old 60-by-360-foot lock that has a concrete aggregate problem that creates structural concerns and will require closing the lock at some point.

It is estimated the project could be completed in five years with full funding, but it is not in the fiscal 2013 budget, according to James.

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