By TIM ALEXANDER

Illinois Correspondent

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — Working with industry stakeholders who use the Illinois River to transport commodities to export terminals in the Gulf of Mexico and elsewhere should help mitigate the negative effects of the Army Corps of Engineers’ decision to essentially shut its lock and dam system down for repairs during the summer of 2020.

This is the conclusion of Scott Sigman, transportation and infrastructure lead for the Illinois Soybean Assoc. (ISA). “The Corps is working on minimizing the closures’ impacts on the range of industries that use the river. They feel like they are giving enough notice that sufficient planning can go into staging materials or developing temporary storage facilities for a shutdown or series of temporary closures,” he explained.

“We appreciate the long-term planning and effort by the Corps and the industry inclusion they have shown.”

The Corps’ chief of operations for its Rock Island District, Tom Heinold, told news sources that closure of six of the eight locks and dams on the Illinois River system will be mostly concurrent and will happen between spring flooding and harvest.

He spoke about the planned closures at the Grain and Feed Assoc. of Illinois annual convention and trade show in Peoria. Repairs are scheduled for the long-neglected LaGrange lock and dam at Versailles, which is in need of major rehabilitation.

Other planned closures include lock and dam systems at Peoria, Starved Rock (Ottawa), Morris, Joliet and Marseilles. The closures could last for up to 120 days, according to Heinold.

“The LaGrange lock is the main point of focus,” said Sigman, voicing a sentiment shared by U.S. Reps. Darin LaHood  and Rodney Davis, Republicans from adjacent Illinois districts that include communities on the Illinois River. Together, they traveled to Versailles to announce a $12 million Corps appropriation to make repairs intended to extend the life of the system for another 25 years.

“From all indications, this is just the beginning” of more extensive waterway infrastructure repairs on the Illinois River and inland waterway system,” LaHood said at the event.

Planned improvements to the lock and dam system include inspection and maintenance of areas usually submerged at Peoria, installation of new vertically-framed gates at Starved Rock and Marseilles and preparation work for new gate installation at Morris and Joliet, planned for 2023.

The narrow window for the extensive upgrade project will result in a shifting of transportation resources to railways and roadways during the summer barge transportation season. The upgrades to the Illinois River lock and dam system, however, are unavoidable and past overdue, according to Sigman.

“The Corps’ backlog estimate of deferred maintenance is now at $778 million. In 2015, there was $599 million in estimated backlog of deferred maintenance,” he said. “They have to get after this, and the only way is to close down the river and sequence the work, and address it in one fell swoop.”