John Day Dam’s navigation lock reopens to river traffic; other locks still on track with previously announced schedules

PORTLAND, Ore.  – The navigation lock at John Day Dam, near Rufus, Oregon, reopened to river traffic late Saturday night, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers officials in the Portland District announced.

The Corps of Engineers is nearing the scheduled end of an extended navigation lock maintenance outage, which began Dec. 12, 2016. The coordinated 14-week-long closure has affected all eight Corps navigation locks on the Columbia and Snake rivers, during which time critical, non-routine repairs and maintenance, plus routine maintenance and scheduled improvements are being completed.

Bonneville Lock and Dam reopened on Feb. 9, as scheduled, and McNary reopened Friday. The Dalles, Lower Monumental, and Lower Granite locks and dams remain scheduled to return to service at 11:59 p.m. on Monday, March 20.

As previously announced in Corps news releases, Little Goose and Ice Harbor dam’s navigation locks, on Washington’s Snake River, cannot be returned to service by March 20 because of on-site work complications. Ice Harbor is tentatively scheduled to return their lock to service at 11:59 p.m. on March 23. Little Goose is currently estimated to reopen their lock at 11:59 p.m. on April 2.

The Corps continues to communicate and coordinate with Columbia-Snake River Navigation System users and stakeholders.

For more information about the 2016-2017 Columbia-Snake Rivers Extended Navigation Lock Outage, visit the Corps’ webpage http://www.nww.usace.army.mil/Missions/Navigation/FY17LockOutage.aspx.