Commercial vessels traveling down the Tennessee River at Kentucky Lock are being aided into the structure by an assist boat following recent wall damage.
According to a release issued Tuesday by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the lock sustained damages to its floating guard wall on Sept. 1 when a vessel carrying 22,000 tons of crushed rock struck it.
With the help of the assistant tow boat for vessels moving down the Tennessee River, the lock remains open to commercial travel in both directions. However, the Corps said that if wait times increase significantly scheduled lockage windows may be implemented for recreational vessels.
Army Corps personnel are evaluating repair options and potential impacts to river traffic to determine whether Kentucky Lock will need to be temporarily closed to address the damage.
Last year, over 2,300 commercial vessels passed through Kentucky Lock, experiencing an average wait of 17 hours in total – the longest at the lock in the past decade.
