Lock and Dam 52 was the 19th lock and dam on the

Ohio River The Ohio River () is a river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing in a southwesterly direction from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to its river mouth, mouth on the Mississippi Riv ...

. It was downstream of

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

and upstream from the

confluence In geography, a confluence (also ''conflux'') occurs where two or more watercourses join to form a single channel (geography), channel. A confluence can occur in several configurations: at the point where a tributary joins a larger river (main ...

of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...

with the Ohio. The lock complex was completed in 1929. There were two locks for commercial barge traffic, one that was long by wide, the other being long by wide. The complex was demolished in 2019–20. According to the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', in 2015 80.2 million tonnes of cargo transited the lock, making it the biggest and most economically important, in the United States. In a profile of the lock, the ''New York Times'' called it a "serious bottleneck", causing delays of 15 to 20 hours. Annually, 135 million tonnes of cargo passed through the lock. Olmsted Lock and Dam, completed in 2018, was built to replace lock and dam 52 and nearby lock and dam 53. According to the ''New York Times'', the Olmsted project was scheduled to have been completed in 1998 (although the locks should have been replaced in 1988, since locks have an expected lifespan of approximately 50 years). In November 2016, the ''New York Times'' reported the Olmsted project was then scheduled to be complete in October 2018. The project's cost had ballooned from $775 million to $2.9 billion. The ''New York Times'' reported that according to the US Army Engineers, the federal agency responsible for maintaining navigation on the United States' rivers, the delay in replacing the lock complex with the Olmsted project cost $640 million per year. It has been described as an "emblem of America's crumbling river infrastructure".

References

External links

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Pittsburgh DistrictU.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Huntington DistrictU.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Louisville DistrictHistoric American Engineering Record, Ohio River Lock and Dam 52, Brookport, IllinoisHistoric American Engineering Record, Ohio River Lock and Dam 52, Garage/Warehouse, Brookport, Massac County, ILHistoric American Engineering Record, Ohio River Lock and Dam 52, Power House, Brookport, Massac County, ILHistoric American Engineering Record, Ohio River Lock and Dam 52, Lockkeeper's Houses, Brookport, Massac County, ILHistoric American Engineering Record, Ohio River Lock and Dam 52, Lockkeeper's Cottages, Brookport, Massac County, ILHistoric American Engineering Record, Ohio River Lock and Dam 52, Oil House, Brookport, Massac County, IL
{{Dams and reservoirs in US Dams on the Ohio River Dams in Kentucky Dams in Illinois Dams completed in 1928 Locks of Kentucky Locks of Illinois

See also

References

External links