The Army Corps of Engineers and its contractors finished its rock removal project at Thebes and Grand Tower, Illinois on Thursday.
The rock removal was made necessary by low river levels that threatened to run barges across on the rocky river bottom near those two communities. The Corps scraped and blasted the so-called “rock pinnacles” to help keep barges from running aground.
Corps spokesperson Mike Peterson says the navigation channel will be a lot more reliable. He adds shippers can have a lot more confidence that they will be able to move products during times of low water.
“That was really the main heartburn over the last few months was that shippers have to plan weeks in advance, and they’re looking at worst case scenarios and have to plan off of that. So that know much better how we can keep that channel open despite the fact the river broke some historic lows,” Peterson said.
The rock removal project added two feet of depth to the Mississippi River’s navigation channel. Peterson says the rock removal is a permanent improvement to the channel that will give shippers during low water seasons.
“Ultimately what we have a soft-bottom river,” Peterson said. “We can dredge the rest of the river, but this is really the choke point for transportation to get through the middle Mississippi and we’ve been able to improve it.”
The two-month operation removed 1,000 cubic yards of rocks from the river bed.
