During the 2025 season, St. Paul District staff supported more than 1,700 commercial navigation lockages at Lock and Dam 7, near La Crescent, Minnesota. These lockages supported approximately 8.4 million tons of commodities shipped by the navigation industry up and down the Mississippi River.
“Navigation on the Mississippi River is vital to the nation’s economy,” said Billy Thomson, project manager, “that is why it is so important that we dewater lock chambers routinely.” Locks are traditionally dewatered every 20 years for maintenance. Although Lock 7 was last dewatered 13 years ago, this winter’s dewatering was scheduled to perform a fit check for the new miter gates installed in July 2025.
“A developing USACE best practice on inland waterways is to dewater the lock chamber after new miter gates are installed to confirm the gates are operating most effectively,” Thomson said. “We had the opportunity to do that at Lock 7 during the non-navigation season this winter.”
“When we conduct preventative maintenance during the non-navigation season, it allows commercial and recreational vessels to move up and down the river during the navigation season which is one of the primary missions of the St. Paul District,” Thomson said.
Bryce Kingsley, marine mechanic, added, “Maintenance work this winter was smaller in scope than a traditional dewatering and primarily included proper fit and seal of the miter gates. It also included concrete repairs, making sure damaged chamber wall sections inaccessible in the wet are up to specifications.”
Scheduled maintenance on the lock chamber while it is dewatered was completed by the in-house maintenance and repair team from Fountain City Service Base. Design and oversight were completed by a variety team members from engineering and construction.
Thomson said that it takes months of planning and coordination for a project to make it to the point of execution and many different project delivery team members from different disciplines are involved. “It’s a collaborative effort to have a successful project and deliver for the nation.”
Work taking place during the non-navigation season also means that the crew – maintenance and repair staff and seasonal lock and dam staff – are working throughout the unpredictable Minnesota weather. “It’s highly impressive to see the maintenance and repair crew working in these harsh conditions during the winter months,” Thomson said.
The St. Paul District navigation program provides a safe, reliable, cost-effective and environmentally sustainable waterborne transportation system on the Upper Mississippi River for the movement of commercial goods and for national security needs. To do this, the district maintains a 9-foot navigation channel and 13 locks and dams from Minneapolis to Guttenberg, Iowa.
Industries making these shipments save approximately $430 million annually by using the inland waterways instead of overland shipping methods.
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| Date Taken: |
04.09.2026 |
| Date Posted: |
04.09.2026 11:26 |
| Story ID: |
562339 |
| Location: |
LA CRESCENT, MINNESOTA, US |
| Web Views: |
49 |
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0 |
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This work, The St. Paul District conducts winter maintenance at Lock and Dam 7, by Melanie Peterson, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
