Snake River Locks May Reopen Today

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers planned to complete repairs to the Ice Harbor Dam navigation locks today, reopening the Snake River to barge traffic for the first time in two months.

Workers scrambled Friday to finish last-minute repairs on the $5 million project to replace a damaged 33-year-old lock gate that have closed the river since Jan. 1.

The corps replaced a damaged concrete and steel lift gate at the lock, 10 miles upstream from the Snake’s confluence with the Columbia near Pasco. The damaged 900-ton gate disrupted river traffic since the summer of 1994.

The closure came at a time of record world demand for Northwest wheat, much of which is barged from inland ports to Portland. Prices for Northwest grain were at 20-year highs, while supplies were at record lows during the outage.

Shippers agreed to the closure last summer, long before the wheat boom materialized.

The Snake system represents 60 percent of the Columbia-Snake river barge capacity.

Corps spokesman Dutch Meier said there were no barges waiting to pass through the locks as workers from Imco Construction Co. of Bellingham completed last-minute details Friday afternoon.