Infrastructure Report

Unlocking the power of the river

Coalition pushes for lock expansion

By Nancy Jorgensen

Gerry Niemeyer, a corn grower from Auburn, Ill., has a mission. He wants to see 1,200-foot locks added to seven existing lock facilities along the Mississippi and the Illinois rivers to accommodate today’s large barge tows. And he’s disappointed that the stimulus package won’t help his cause.

“I’ve been hauling grain to the river for years now, and it’s given me the opportunity to look at these locks,” said Niemeyer. “As it stands now, workers must break up the 15-barge tows that are common today so they can squeeze into 600-foot locks. This takes extra time. We move one billion bushels of grain down this waterway each year, and that time adds up to a lot of money.”

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers built locks in the 1930s to help move traffic up and down the Mississippi River system. “The system has worked for all these years,” Niemeyer said. “But if you had a Model T Ford built in the 30s, would you take it on the superhighway through St. Louis?”

Niemeyer is the resident expert on locks for the National Corn Growers Association, where he serves on the board of directors. He reported that about 60 percent of all U.S. grain exports, or $8.5 billion in grain, moves down the Mississippi and Illinois riverway system, contributing significantly to the U.S. balance of trade. Corn makes up about one-third of all shipments, and with ever-expanding corn yield, barge efficiency has become even more critical.

Coalition takes the lead

Grain growers aren’t the only shippers promoting lock maintenance and expansion. Paul Rohde is vice president of the Midwest area for the Waterways Council. His association’s members include agribusiness as well as other carriers from coal to cement, and interests ranging from labor to energy. Rohde, who keeps an eye on the river system from his St. Louis office, says that the American Society of Civil Engineers gives the system a D, the society’s lowest grade.

“Our locks and dams are well beyond their designed lifetimes,” Rohde said. “There’s a growing uncertainty about their ability to perform, and capacity is a huge issue. Funding for rehabilitation and maintenance work has been inadequate. We continue to milk this cow, but we’re forgetting to feed her.”

Bill Dunn, MFA Inc.’s director of transportation, also supports lock expansion. While MFA loads considerable amounts of grain directly from its elevators onto rail cars and trucks headed for Kansas City area terminals and other destinations, the co-op also hauls grain to St. Louis, where much of it ends up on barges headed for Gulf of Mexico ports. From there, most grain is loaded onto ships for export.

“Bigger locks equate to less cost for river users,” Dunn said. He speaks from experience. The virtual elimination of commercial barge traffic along the Missouri River a few years ago forced MFA and other shippers to move more grain by rail and truck. Mississippi lock expansions would affect more than grain traffic—MFA also operates two barge terminals along the Mississippi, where it brings in fertilizer to sell through MFA’s Agri Services Centers, as well as independent dealers.

Whether they move cargo up or down river, most towboats today push 15 barges in units three barges wide and five long, all cabled together. The units measure 1,150 feet long, but the seven existing locks targeted for expansion each span just 600 feet. (According to Rohde, all but three of the 38 locks on the Mississippi and Illinois rivers are 600 feet long.) Barge workers spend at least an extra hour-and-a-half to break tows up into two sections before they can squeeze into the 600-foot locks. It’s costly, and it can be dangerous when workers fall into locks as they loosen and reconnect cables. New 1,200-foot locks would streamline each stop to 20 minutes.

Stimulus leaves project high and dry

Expansion proponents argue for larger locks to be added to existing locks 20, 21, 22, 24 and 25 along the Mississippi, and to LaGrange and Peoria locks along the Illinois River. Congress authorized the expansions through a veto override vote in 2007, but never appropriated funds.

“We were all excited when we heard the new stimulus package allowed $4.6 billion for upgrades,” Niemeyer said. But on a recent trip to Washington, D.C., his group was disappointed to learn that the stimulus isn’t available for the lock expansions because some remain in planning stages, largely due to limited design funds over the past few years.

Of the $4.6 billion included for locks and dams in the stimulus, $2 billion will go toward operations and maintenance, and the rest for construction of other needs. “The operations and maintenance funding will go a long way toward easing the backlog,” said Rohde of the Waterways Council. But he’s unhappy that the stimulus doesn’t include the seven lock expansions.

Adding the seven locks will cost more than $2 billion—not that much in the big scheme of things. But some $61 billion in shovel-ready stimulus projects stand ahead of them.

At least one congressional leader, Sen. Kit Bond (R-Mo.), argues for expansion and improvements. “One of these days, the baling wire, chewing gum and duct tape that are holding these locks together is not going to be enough,” he said in a recent radio show.

Niemeyer admits that the Corn Growers’ message wasn’t all that well received until they formed coalitions with other river interests, including farm groups such as the soybean growers and Farm Bureau. The carpenters’ union that would build the locks joined in. Eventually, the Nature Conservancy and the Audubon Society took part, since the new lock designs may protect the environment. Finally, Congress began to pay attention.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers estimates that more than 26 million tons of goods passed through Mississippi Lock 20, for example, in 2007.

But now, there’s a new wrinkle. “How much money will be available after the stimulus, bank bailouts and other appropriations?” Niemeyer asked.

Barges keep it green

On top of speeding up traffic and saving shippers money, moving products by barge is the green thing to do, according to Niemeyer.

"It would take 870 trailer-trucks to haul dry commodities in just one of these 15-barge tows,” Niemeyer said, adding that liquid loads weigh almost double. “Barges use only 10 percent of the fuel used by trucks, and 40 percent of trains. But barges are out of sight and out of mind."

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers estimates that more than 26 million tons of goods passed through Mississippi Lock 20, for example, in 2007—a figure that has remained roughly steady since 2003. The Waterways Council estimates that tonnage would require at least 17,000 barges.

Niemeyer asks us to imagine what the region’s highways would look like if you had to put all that product on additional trucks on the road, or if consumers had to pay the extra costs involved in trucking rather than barging.

“People don’t realize the impact that locks have on reducing food costs and highway traffic,” he said.

Click here to respond to this article

Top of page