Photo by Janet Meredith | U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Louis District - MVS | 03.24.2025
The QUAD Cities Floating Plant Heavy Lift Team lowers the second leaf into its respective position at the Melvin Price Locks and Dam in Alton, Illinois during the Lift Gate Replacement Project. The Melvin Price Locks and Dam lift gate replacement project concludes the third phase in a multi-year maintenance project. Melvin Price Locks and Dam is a 1,160-foot-long dam structure equipped with a......
Photo by Janet Meredith | U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Louis District - MVS | 03.20.2025
St. Louis District Structural Engineer Kyle Anderson, Lock and Dam Equipment Mechanics, Logan Ruehrup directed by Lock and Dam Equipment Mechanic Zach Meszaros are lowered at Melvin Price Locks and Dam to inspect the slot intended for the second lift gate leaf. The Melvin Price Locks and Dam lift gate replacement project concludes the third phase in a multi-year maintenance project....
Photo by Janet Meredith | U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Louis District - MVS | 03.20.2025
Lock and Dam Equipment Mechanic Zachary Meszaros preparing to reattach one of the missing 100-pound steel plates located inside the gate slot. Lift gates are vital to operations in the winter to pass ice accumulations keeping the 1200-foot chamber open to accommodate a towboat pushing sixteen barges. During the gate replacement project, inspectors found the steel plates inside the gate slots......
Photo by Janet Meredith | U.S. Army Corps of Engineers-Mississippi Valley Division | 03.19.2025
The first approximately 490,000-pound lift gate downstream leaf lowered into position by the Rock Island Structures Maintenance Heavy Fleet with the Heavy Lift QUAD CITIES Floating Plant inside the 1200-foot lock chamber. The Melvin Price Locks and Dam lift gate replacement project concludes the third phase in a multi-year maintenance project. The new lift gate leaf is 110 feet wide by 14 feet......
Photo by Janet Meredith | U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Louis District - MVS | 03.18.2025
Throughout the consolidated closure at Melvin Price Locks and Dam, 26 bulkheads were used to block the flowing Mississippi River to allow for the two-leaf lift gate installation. Bulkheads are used in the dewatering process for major maintenance and were set on the upstream and downstream side of the lift gate by the QUAD Cities Floating Plant Heavy Lift Team. Large pumps and used to dewater......
Photo by Janet Meredith | U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Louis District - MVS | 03.18.2025
During the consolidated lock closure, the gear box and 125 hp motor used in the gate lifting system on the 1200-foot chamber lift gate at the Melvin Price Locks and Dam was replaced as part of the consolidated lock closure. Electric motors are the primary drives for wire rope hoist systems. Motor upgrades were needed due to the increase in size of the gates....
Photo by Janet Meredith | U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Louis District - MVS | 03.04.2025
The approximately 450,000 pound upstream leaf and the approximately 490,000 pound downstream leaf of the new liftgate, constructed by G & G Steel, Inc, from Russellville Alabama, rest on a barge by Maple Island, Mo. The project is part of the phase three construction project, waiting installation into the upper end of the 1200-foot lock chamber at Melvin Price Locks and Dam. This maintenance......
Photo by Janet Meredith | U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Louis District - MVS | 02.14.2025
St. Louis District staff and McMillen Inc. from Boise, Idaho working to place concrete to raise the gate sill and gate rests to accommodate the new two leaf lift gate at Melvin Price Locks and Dam, February 2025. The concrete was delivered to Maple Island in West Alton, Mo., moved by concrete pump truck to buckets that were loaded onto a barge and then moved by crane into the forms inside the......
