Progress continues on damaged Lower Missouri River Navigation Channel

Kansas City District, Northwestern Division, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Published Sept. 22, 2020
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Kansas City District's floating plant places rock on a Missouri River training structure near river mile 105 (Gasconade Bend).

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Kansas City District's floating plant places rock on a Missouri River training structure near river mile 105 (Gasconade Bend).

Dane Morris, Project Manager, explains damages to Tadpole Chute on the Missouri River to Maj. Gen. William H. Graham, Jr. and Stu Cook, Chief of the Operations Division, Kansas City District during a site visit on the Missouri River near Columbia, Mo. on September 15, 2020. Photo by Justin Hughes

Dane Morris, Project Manager, explains damages to Tadpole Chute on the Missouri River to Maj. Gen. William H. Graham, Jr. and Stu Cook, Chief of the Operations Division, Kansas City District during a site visit on the Missouri River near Columbia, Mo. on September 15, 2020. Photo by Justin Hughes

 The Kansas City District is currently performing multiple tasks to address priority areas of concern and the damages to river structures that have accumulated during the nearly three years of high water.  The district is using all available resources to include a combination of contractors, including one for emergency dredging, and our in-house floating plant to repair flood damaged structures and improve channel conditions.

An extended period of high water on the Lower Missouri River, including devastating flooding in 2019, damaged 50-75 percent of the 7,000 river training structures that make up the Bank Stabilization and Navigation Project. This damage caused navigation restrictions as the river returned to normal levels in the summer/fall 2020.

“After more than two years of high water levels on the Missouri River, the Kansas City District has identified high-priority areas of restricted navigation. USACE is committed to addressing these restrictions and restoring the channel to its nine-foot depth,” said Maj. Gen. William H. Graham, Jr., Deputy Commanding General for Civil and Emergency Operations, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, after a river site visit near Columbia, Mo. with members of the Kansas City District, September 15, 2020.

Actions over the last week include:

  • Contract awarded to Newt Marine
  • Survey crews conducted beam survey on River Mile (RM) 366
  • Industry calls conducted at 4 p.m., Sept. 14 & 21, 2020
  • Survey teams completed RM 178-180, RM 185-187, and RM 194
  • Survey potential new Area of Concern (AOC) on RM 56 and RM 60
  • Contract modifications for W.A. Ellis & Newt Marine to work in other portions of the river
  • Survey crews completed surveys at RM 104.5 to RM105.5
  • Request for additional funding from other portions of USACE sent out

The district has multiple assets working on the river:

  • Survey Crew - Conduct Hydro survey on RM480
  • Floating plant - Located on RM 105 repairing structure 111.3. Will move upstream to RM133.3
  • Contractors
    • W.A. Ellis - Repairing Tadpole RM 186
    • Newt Marine - Repairing structures on RM 26.2 
    • Capital Sands - Dredging on RM 133

The Kansas City District continues to work collaboratively with the navigation industry to address areas of concern and proactively communicate real-time river conditions through daily reports, weekly calls and a mobile application which also allows the district to receive immediate reports of river condition concerns from our navigation community. 

“The Kansas City team is fully engaged in solving navigation issues by repairing training structures while communicating frequently with our industry partners. Feedback from industry partners is absolutely crucial to determine how we prioritize our limited resources on the river. We appreciate the solid relationships with the navigation community and will continue to do all we can to keep navigation moving on the Missouri River,” said Col. Bill Hannan, commander of the Kansas City District.

Flows have recently returned to normal on the Lower Missouri River for support to navigation. We are currently meeting the full-service navigation flow targets on the Missouri River, and will continue to meet the full-service targets through the end of the navigation support season December 1.

Currently there is insufficient funding to repair all the structures damaged by the 2019 flood. Lack of funding is impacting the ability to make the BSNP repairs, and time will be necessary for the structures to fully scour the channel to return it to its authorized 9’x300’ condition.

For questions, contact the Kansas City District Public Affairs Office at (816) 389-3486.


Contact
Kansas City District Public Affairs
816-389-3486
cenwk-pa@usace.army.mil
Kansas City, Mo.

Release no. 20-126