The Western Dredging Association (WEDA) has just announced the release of the Journal of Dredging Volume 19 - Issue 2, which provides the dissemination of technical and project information on dredging engineering topics.
Repair or replacement of locks and dams along America’s inland waterway system is key to the system’s future, said speakers on an Inland Marine Expo panel.
May 24, 2021 By Frank McCormack
Familiar faces abounded at the 71st annual meeting of the Warrior-Tombigbee Waterway Association (WTWA), held May 17–19 at the Grand Hotel Marriott in Point Clear, Ala.
The 2021 meeting came just 10 months after last year’s gathering, which was not only delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic but also held, in part, virtually, with many attendees and presenters tuning in remotely.
Not so this year.
With COVID restrictions eased and vaccines readily available, the WTWA meeting was back to normal, with 150 waterway stakeholders meeting together, first for a golf tournament and Monday night social hour, then for two days focused on waterway management and business development.
From Staff Reports
With a $230 million backlog of maintenance issues on the Arkansas River navigation system, members of Congress from Arkansas, Oklahoma and Kansas have teamed up to request the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) direct funds to the issue.
The delegation also wants the Corps of Engineers to deepen the navigation system s channel from 9 feet to 12 feet to increase barge payloads, as well as address a related issue in southeast Arkansas near the confluence of the Arkansas, White and Mississippi rivers.
Several Fort Smith businesses depend on the river for cheaper delivery of raw materials. In addition to serving as a shipping lane for agriculture and manufacturing products, river barges keep about 400 semi-trucks off the roads for a typical tow of eight barges carrying 12,000 tons, according to the Arkansas Waterways Commission.