Reviewed by: Michael Seale
Army Corp of Engineers working to repair Demopolis Lock and Dam
On January 16, the Demopolis Lock and Dam suffered a severe failure of its lock system, rendering the dam unusable until repaired. Soon thereafter, teams from the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers mobilized vessels and crew to repair the lock in west-central Alabama. Read on to learn more about the project.
About the Demopolis Lock and Dam
If you’ve ever been to west Alabama, you’ve probably encountered the Tombigbee River—a 200-mile-long waterway that joins with the Alabama River to form the Mobile River, which then empties into Mobile Bay.
In the 1950s, construction was begun on a series of five locks and dams along the Tombigbee to help tame the river and harness its hydroelectric potential. Those locks and dams are:
- John C. Stennis Lock & Dam
- Tom Bevill Lock & Dam
- Howell Heflin Lock & Dam
- Demopolis Lock & Dam
- Coffeeville Lock and Dam
Unfortunately, some concrete portions of these dams and locks are beginning to show their age after more than half a century in use.
The issue came to a head on Tuesday, January 16, when an employee at the Demopolis Lock and Dam heard a large—and unexpected—noise. When they walked outside to investigate, they found water rushing from a section of the dam where it was not supposed to be.
Without the ability to control the flow of water, the Demopolis Lock and Dam was quickly shut down until repairs could be made.
Help from the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers was quickly on its way
In response to the emergency, teams from the Mobile District of the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers sent vessels and crew to assess and repair the lock. The vessels involved in the repair include:
- M/V Lawson, the Black Warrior-Tombigbee Project Office’s Marine Vessel
- Choctawhatchee, a crane barge from the Black Warrior-Tombigbee Project Office
- M/V Tenn-Tom, a tug boat with a new Liebherr crane
- M/V General Irwin, a tug boat with a Manitowoc crane
The first step in the repair process was to put stoplogs into the lock to protect it from headwater flooding.
“It takes a lot of teamwork and coordination to accomplish such a massive undertaking of repairing an unexpected failure of a section of the lock’s concrete miter sill. Teams across the District have been working to develop repair plans and specifications for the actual repair of the failed concrete and to mobilize the entire District fleet of floating plants to assist in resetting the upper stoplogs to reduce headwater flooding into the lock chamber and also mobilizing equipment for the O&M contractor.”
Anthony Perkins, Black Warrior-Tombigbee Project Manager, in a U.S. Army Corp of Engineers press release
When will the Demopolis Lock and Dam be back online?
With stoplogs now in place, the teams from the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers now have a stable environment in which they can work to repair the Demopolis Lock and Dam.
“The process of getting the fleet of floating plants in the lock went well and was coordinated with the floating plant captains, operations and project offices prior to the fleet arrival and once on site. The initial schedule developed by the team has been going through an external review. Even though it is somewhat fluid, it looks like the first concrete work will start around the first week of March.”
Anthony Perkins, Black Warrior-Tombigbee Project Manager, in a U.S. Army Corp of Engineers press release
If all goes according to plan, the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers aims to reopen the repaired Demopolis Lock and Dam by May 2024.
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