In the News

When sirens sounded through the streets of Elizabeth Borough about 7 p.m. on Wednesday, dozens of people rushed to the bank of the Monongahela River, fixing their eyes on a nearby dam and waiting breathlessly for a big BOOM.

Alas, the explosion went off as planned but the expected sound wave didn’t reach spectators gathered less than a mile away in Elizabeth Riverfront Park. The explosives had been placed underwater, muffling the blast. Some of the spectators had been waiting for the blast since noon, but high winds in the area delayed it for seven hours.

Causing the commotion were contractors for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, who used explosives to fracture the first 50-foot section of the Monongahela River Locks and Dam 3 — the first in a series of steps to remove the more than century-old structure and create 30 miles of uninterrupted river navigation.

The blast was the first of 13 that will occur weekly; complete removal of the dam is expected to last through the end of the year. While this initial demolition will close the area for three to 12 days — pending river conditions — Army Corps officials said that subsequent occurrences would shut the waterway down for under three hours.

After the dam is fully removed, river elevation will drop by about 3.2 feet between Elizabeth and the dam in Charleroi, Army Corps officials said. Removing the lock chamber and other structures will be a multiyear project.

Col. Nicholas Melin, commander of the Pittsburgh District of the Corps of Engineers, said public safety is the main priority during the demolition phase.

"We're going to be watching conditions up until the demolition itself. We wouldn't execute if there's any sort of elevated safety risk," he said at the demolition site.

His words held true later in the afternoon, when winds up to 40 mph pushed the demolition back by seven hours.

Kirk McWilliams, the construction area engineer, said there are typically two primary factors for delays: lightning within 20 miles of the site or if someone infringes upon the safety perimeter, which runs about 1,500 feet up and downstream of the dam.

But U.S. Coast Guard personnel on boats stationed on either side of the waterway made the latter less likely, he said.

"They have a very detailed plan for their security people to ensure that nobody has gotten inside," Mr. McWilliams said.

New, bright red buoys and signs that read "Danger: Explosives in Use, Do Not Pass" also bobbed in the river, alerting boaters to steer clear of the area and pass through the landside lock.

The start of the demolition phase also signals the end of a $2.8 billion project that started in 1994 to modernize locks 2, 3, and 4 on the lower Monongahela River in the Braddock, Elizabeth and Charleroi areas. When completed, the Army Corps estimates the project will return more than $200 million annually in business opportunities for the region and the nation.

Before the project, many of those locks and dams hadn't seen sufficient modernization or replacement work in decades; Locks and Dam 3 was last renovated in the 1970s.

The locks were designed to last 50 years, officials say, and are all more than a century old — some of the oldest in the United States.

There are 17 locks and dams within the Port of Pittsburgh, which encompasses about 200 miles of commercially navigable waterways in southwestern Pennsylvania.

The Army Corps' Pittsburgh District encompasses 26,000 square miles, including portions of Western Pennsylvania, northern West Virginia, eastern Ohio, western Maryland and southwestern New York.

Pennsylvania's waterways, ports and related industries also support about 248,000 jobs and generate $19.3 billion in personal income and $4.3 billion in state and local tax revenue each year.