Corps of Engineers offers public access to Cheatham Lock

Photo By Leon Roberts | The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Nashville District is offering public access to Cheatham Navigation Lock, located at Cumberland River mile 148.7. The lock is open to visitors seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. from May 26 until Sept. 6, 2016. Lock is one of four locks located on the 300-plus navigable miles in the Cumberland River Basin. It is a single chamber measuring 110-feet wide and 800-feet long. During normal lake levels, the lock will lift a boat 26-foot from the river below the dam to the lake above the dam. The lock releases more than 17 million gallons of water each time it is emptied. (USACE photo by Leon Roberts)  

ASHLAND CITY, TN, UNITED STATES

05.13.2016

Story by Bill Peoples 

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Nashville District

ASHLAND CITY, Tenn. (May 13, 2016) – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Nashville District is offering public access to Cheatham Navigation Lock, located at Cumberland River mile 148.7. The lock is open to visitors seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. from May 26 until Sept. 6, 2016.

Allowing people to visit the lock enhances community relations and lets people see how the lock facilitates movement of commerce within the U.S. Inland Waterway System.

Cheatham Lock is one of four locks located on the 300-plus navigable miles in the Cumberland River Basin. It is a single chamber measuring 110-feet wide and 800-feet long. During normal lake levels, the lock will lift a boat 26-foot from the river below the dam to the lake above the dam. The lock releases more than 17 million gallons of water each time it is emptied.

The average tonnage of all commodities transported through Cheatham Lock is 8.5 million tons, which equates to approximately 5,600 full barges. The major commodities are coal, sand and petroleum. There are approximately 3,000 lockages for recreational traffic each year.

Congress authorized the project in 1946 as a navigation project to enhance the development of the Cumberland River Basin. Construction on the Lock began in 1949 and was opened to navigation traffic in August 1951.

The lock is located at 1799 Cheatham Dam Road, Ashland City, TN, 37015-9805, and at mile 148.7 of the Cumberland River in Cheatham County. Public restrooms are available during visiting hours. For more information please contact the Cheatham Lake Resource Manager’s Office at 615-792-5697.

(The public can obtain news, updates and information from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Nashville District on the district’s website at www.lrn.usace.army.mil, on Facebook athttp://www.facebook.com/nashvillecorps and on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/nashvillecorps. The public can also visit Cheatham Lake’s Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/cheathamlake.)

• Date Taken: 05.13.2016
• Date Posted: 05.13.2016 16:20
• Story ID: 198054
• Location: ASHLAND CITY, TN, US