Mississippi River lock reopens after emergency repairs

GRANITE CITY, Ill.—Shipping resumed Thursday through one of the Mississippi River’s busiest locks, after crews completed emergency repairs that took days and that stranded hundreds of barges destined for points north or south.

By the time the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reopened Lock 27 at Granite City, just north of St. Louis, about 3:30 a.m. Thursday, the Coast Guard said the traffic jam had grown to 63 vessels and 455 barges—carrying enough cargo to fill 6,100 railcars or 26,400 large tractor-trailers.

Within a few hours of the lock being back in business, just six vessels pushing 80 barges had made it through the lock. The last of the idled barges—hauling everything from grains to coal, fertilizer and construction materials—were expected to clear that vital Mississippi River corridor in two or three days, Coast Guard Lt. Colin Fogarty said.

The Army Corps has said the repair is temporary, and that the lock itself wasn’t damaged.

The lingering drought has made the Mississippi narrower, leaving towboat pilots struggling to find a safe place to park their barges river as they waited out the repairs. Other barges parked at ports up and down the river, saving fuel instead of being caught up in the snarl near Lock 27.

Memorial Park. TOWNSEND, Claudine. Texarkana, Ark. Died Monday. Services 10 a.m. Texarkana Funeral Home, Arkansas. Burial East Memorial Gardens. YARNELL, Bobbie. Atlanta, Texas. Died Tuesday. Graveside services 10 a.m. Pine Crest Cemetery.