Upper Mississippi River shipping season ends December 9th
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Shipping on the upper Mississippi River upstream from Lynxville, Wisconsin will end December 9th this year.
Patrick Moes with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers St Paul District tells Brownfield that’s when winter maintenance will begin on three of their lock and dam facilities. “Lock and Dam #2 which is right near Hastings, Minnesota, and then we had two separate projects on Lock and Dam #7 near La Crescent, Minnesota and Lock and Dam #9, which is by Lynxville, Wisconsin.”
Moes says the Lynxville and La Crescent projects will wrap up in February, and the Hastings project in mid-March, just ahead of when the ice is expected to thaw in Lake Pepin. “Historically though, Lake Pepin is usually the biggest culprit impeding spring navigation and generally, we’ll see that first tow usually third week in March.”
Moes says dredging and the series of locks and dams allow the corps to maintain a nine foot navigation channel, even in drought years.
Around 60% of U.S. grain exports are shipped by barge on the Mississippi River, and one fifteen-barge tow hauls as much cargo as 1,000 trucks
