Casey proud of efforts to modernize Charleroi Lock and Dam
John F. Brothers | Herald-Standard
While standing in front of the Charleroi Locks and Dam Thursday, U.S. Sen. Robert Casey (left), D-Pennsylvania, talks about the ongoing project to reconstruct one of the locks at the dam.
John F. Brothers | Herald-Standard
While on board the towboat, Daniel P. Mecklenborg, Thursday, U.S. Sen. Robert Casey (left) speaks with Col. John Lloyd, commander of the Pittsburgh District for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Eunice Radcliff, Ingram Barge Company port captain, as the towboat enters a lock chamber at the Charleroi Lock and Dam.
John F. Brothers | Herald-Standard
The towboat, Daniel P. Mecklenborg, with U.S. Sen. Robert Casey (left), D-Pennsylvania, on board Thursday, pushes a barge loaded with 1,500 tons of coal into one of the lock chambers at the Charleroi Lock and Dam.
John F. Brothers | Herald-Standard
U.S. Sen. Robert Casey (left), D-Pennsylvania, and Mike Toohey, president and CEO of Waterways Council Inc., answer questions Thursday during a press conference about the project to reconstruct one of the locks at the Charleroi Lock and Dam.
After the conference, Sen. Casey was given a tour and ride onboard the Ingram Barge Company’s towboat, the Daniel P. Mecklenborg.
U.S. Senator Bob Casey went on the Monongahela River Thursday, touting the successful ongoing project aimed to modernizing the Charleroi Lock and Dam as well as others along the river.
“We value what our lock and dam system provides,” Casey said at the site in a press conference prior to taking a boat tour of the river.
The Charleroi Lock and Dam is one of nine navigation structures maintained by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers which provide for year-round navigation on the Monongahela River between Pittsburgh and Fairmont, West Virginia.
The Charleroi Lock and Dam is one of the oldest navigational facilities on the Monongahela River that are currently operating and experience a high volume of commercial and recreational traffic.
However, said Mike Toohey, the president and CEO of Waterways Council Inc., the structure has missed out on two or three generations of investment in upgrading.
The lock and dam is part of the Lower Mon Project that started 1992 to modernize Locks and Dams 2, 3 and 4 on the Monongahela River in Allegheny, Washington and Westmoreland counties.
The project will replace the nearly 100 year-old fixed-crest dam at Braddock Locks and Dam with a gated dam, will remove Locks and Dam 3 in Elizabeth, and construct two new larger locks at the Charleroi location.
Casey was able to help secure of $233 million for the project, which Casey said became a reality with bipartisan support and partnerships identify a priority to invest in the future to benefit multiple states.
“I’m happy to have played a role in this,” Casey said, adding that the RIVER Act of 2013, a bill he sponsored, helped bring about revenue for the project by increasing the per-gallon barge fee from 20 cents to 29 cents per gallon after 2013.
Toohey said the project is the second-highest priority in the nation for an inland waterways project.
The benefits of the Lower Mon Project will include more shipping of bulk goods on barges rather than on road or rail, which is expected to reduce transportation costs, less maintenance costs on older facilities, keeping roadways free from excessive truck traffic and a safer way to transport goods.
“The completion of the Lower Mon Project promises to make commercial transport of bulk materials more efficient, less costly and more environmentally friendly,” said Colonel John P. Lloyd, commander of the Pittsburgh District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. “It will provide an estimated $200 million in annual benefits as early as 2023.”
Toohey said it will take another $500 million to complete the modernization project by 2023 and is confident they will reach that goal.
“We’re on the path to accomplish a great modernization effort,” Toohey said.
Casey said the work is not done, but the current activity on the project shows America values what the locks and dam systems provide in moving commerce to compete and out-compete any other country.
“This is an investment in the future,” Casey said, adding that he wants to finish the job by getting the needed appropriations every year as 200,000 jobs are supported by waterways in Southwestern Pennsylvania.
“The people of this region deserve this kind of investment.”