Long Description:The following information comes from the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers Huntington District webpage
(
visit link)
The 56’ x 600’ auxiliary lock was completed in 1921 and the 110’
x 1200’ main chamber was opened in 1961. There is also an inactive
56’ x 360’ lock chamber. In 1960, the project was renamed from Lock
and Dam 41 in honor of a former Louisville District Engineer.
Construction began at McAlpine in 1996 on a new 110’ x 1200’
lock, which will replace the active 110’ x 600’ auxiliary and an
inactive auxiliary lock. Innovations associated with this project
include roller compacted concrete walls, wrap around filling and
emptying system with in-chamber culverts, a shortened guide wall
and reduced cofferdam length. Construction began in 1996 and is
scheduled for completion in 2008.
During construction, the McAlpine project is reduced to a single
chamber project because the new 1200’ lock is being constructed in
the foot-print of the auxiliary 600’ chamber.
According to the Corps of Engineers Waterborne Commerce
Statistics for 2005, almost 57 million tons of commodities were
shipped through McAlpine Locks. These shipments had a combined
value of $11.7 billion. The leading commodity shipped through
McAlpine Locks was coal, which made up 36% of the total
tonnage.
The state that shipped the most tonnage through McAlpine Locks
was Louisiana, with just over 17.1 million tons worth $3.6 billion.
Iron, steel, ores and chemicals made up over 13.7 million tons of
this amount. Kentucky, was next, shipping 11.3 million tons of
mostly coal.
Kentucky received the most tonnage (13.8 million tons) moving
through McAlpine Locks. Ohio was next, moving 12.5 million tons.
See map for a graphical representation of state tonnage movements
through McAlpine Locks.
Louisiana’s 3rd Congressional District was the leading shipper
of commodities through McAlpine Locks. This district shipped 14.3
million tons of ores, iron, steel and chemicals, with a combined
value of nearly $2.5 billion. Kentucky District 4 was next, with
5.5 million tons. See map for the top 10 Congressional Districts
shipping tonnage through McAlpine Locks.
The leading Congressional District in receipts of McAlpine Locks
commodities was also Kentucky District 4, which received over 9.2
million tons. This tonnage was mostly Iron/steel and coal, and had
a combined value of $1.4 billion. Indiana District 9 received 6.3
million tons of goods with a value of $540 million. See map for the
top ten Congressional Districts receiving McAlpine Locks
tonnage.
The following information comes from Wikipedia.com
(visit link)
The McAlpine Locks and Dam refers to the series of locks and the
hydroelectric dam in Louisville, Kentucky at the Falls of the Ohio.
They are located at mile point 606.8 and control a 72.9 mile (117
km) long navigation pool. This was the first major engineering
project on the Ohio River, and the first official name of the
system of canal locks was the Louisville and Portland Canal, which
was completed in 1830 to allow shipping traffic to navigate through
the Falls of the Ohio. From 1925 to 1927, a dam for generating
hydroelectric power was added, and the system of canals was
expanded, first by a private company and then by the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers. The hydroelectric plant at the time was the
seventh largest hydroelectric plant in the United States.
The system was renamed the McAlpine Locks and Dam in 1960 in
honor of William McAlpine, who was the only civilian to have ever
served as district engineer for the Corps of Louisville. At
present, the normal pool elevation is 420 feet (130 m) above sea
level and the drainage area above the dam is 91,170 square miles
(236,000 km²). The average daily flow at McAlpine is 118,000 cubic
feet per second (3,340 m³/s). The lock chambers are located at the
dam on the Kentucky side of the Ohio River and are capable of a
normal lift of 37 feet (11 m) between the McAlpine pool upstream
and the Cannelton pool downstream. The hydroelectric plant consists
of eight turbine units with a net power generation capacity of
80,000 kilowatts. The hydroelectric plant is currently undergoing
an 8-year long rehabilitation project. This will extend the life of
the 1920s era turbine-generator units and increase power output to
100 megawatts.
McAlpine Locks and Dam, Louisville, KentuckyIn October 2003,
McAlpine was designated a Historic Civil Engineering Landmark by
the American Society of Civil Engineers.
The McAlpine locks are currently undergoing a 10-year, $278
million expansion project scheduled to be completed in 2008.
The hydroelectric plant is owned and operated by LG&E, a
subsidiary of E.ON U.S., while the locks are operated by the Army
Corps of Engineers.
