Arkansas river reopens to barge traffic

OREANDA-NEWS. May 19, 2015. Fertilizer barges are again moving freely on the Arkansas river now that three weather-related lock closures have ended.

A fourth lock, closed for maintenance, has also reopened.

High water on the Arkansas forced the closure of three locks north of Pine Bluff, Arkansas, on 11-13 May, blocking barges headed towards Little Rock, Arkansas, and Inola/Catoosa, Oklahoma. Water has since receded and the locks were reopened on 16 May.

The US Army Corps of Engineers had closed the Arthur Ormond lock and dam near Morrilton, the Emmett Sanders lock north of Pine Bluff, and the Toad Suck Ferry lock near Conway. A fourth lock, the James Trimble lock near Barling, had closed on 11 May but reopened the next day.

Further north the Chouteau lock and dam near Wagoner, Oklahoma, reopened on the evening of May 15. The lock had been closed for repairs since 11 May. But the replacement of stainless steel hydraulic piping occurred with no problems so the corps reopened the lock ahead of its expected restart on 17 May.

The Chouteau outage, combined with the other lock closures, blocked northbound and southbound barge movements. Some operators were force to tie up barges along the sides of the river while they waited out the closure.