Keeping the River Moving: The Work at McAlpine Locks and Dam

Keeping the River Moving: The Work at McAlpine Locks and Dam

__*How the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Light Fleet is helping maintain one of the nation’s busiest waterways

By; Marti Allen*__

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Regional Rivers Repair Fleet (R3F) Light Capacity Fleet recently completed work at McAlpine Locks and Dam in Louisville, Kentucky.

The light fleet was on site, moving with purpose—tools in hand—focused on one of the most critical parts of the system: one of the miter gate machinery arms.

These gates are what make the lock function. They open and close under pressure, guiding vessels through elevation changes along the Ohio River. Every cycle carries weight—literally. Over time, that weight takes its toll.

“This machinery has been here since 1963,” said Jay Rickman, McAlpine Locks and Dam lockmaster. “At some point, upgrades and improvements have to happen. It’s critical to keeping everything running the way it should.”

At McAlpine, “running the way it should” means handling some of the heaviest traffic in the country. The facility consistently ranks among the busiest locks in the United States, moving tens of millions of tons of cargo annuall__y__—including coal, petroleum products, grain, and raw materials.

This isn’t local traffic. This is the supply chain.

Commodities moving through McAlpine Locks can travel as far north as Pittsburgh and as far south as the Gulf of Mexico, where they’re transferred to larger vessels and shipped globally. If this lock slows down—or worse, stops—those impacts ripple outward fast, which is why work like this is so important

“We’re a major artery for commodities,” Rickman said. “This is what keeps things moving.”

In this case, keeping things moving means taking them apart.

The Light Fleet team focused on one of the locks miter gate arms, a critical component that controls how the gates open and close. Over time, alignment issues and wear can affect how smoothly and safely those gates operate.

The process starts with removal. Crews carefully disconnect and extract the existing gate arms—massive steel components that require precision handling. Once removed, those parts are shipped off-site for specialized repair and machining, where alignment corrections and structural improvements are made to meet exact specifications.

But the repair itself is only half the story. Because while those parts are off-site, the system still has to function.

When the components return, everything has to come back together just as precisely as it came apart—reinstalled, aligned, tested, and brought back online within a tight operational window designed to keep navigation moving without interruption.

“The Light Fleet’s role is to handle major repairs on locks and dams,” said Jeff Neely, Light Capacity Fleet Chief. “If these locks shut down, there’s a direct impact on industry. Goods don’t move the way they should.”

While crews handle the physical work, engineers are tracking every step to ensure everything meets strict operational standards.

“We’re repairing one of the gates here to maintain operational capacity,” said Zack Willis, Project Engineer. “They bring the hands-on expertise, and we make sure the engineering is right. The goal is to keep traffic moving.”

The goal stays simple, even if the work isn’t: keep traffic moving.Because what moves through McAlpine Locks isn’t optional. It’s infrastructure in motion—millions of tons of material moving through a system that doesn’t have room for failure.

“The Corps isn’t very forward-facing,” Rickman said. “We’re usually in the background, keeping infrastructure moving. But the skill, knowledge, and commitment of these teams… people would be amazed.”

That’s where this work lives—in the background, in the details, in the moments where systems are taken apart and trusted to come back stronger.

This critical maintenance work helps ensure the continued safe and reliable operation of one of the Ohio River’s key navigation facilities—supporting the movement of commerce, strengthening the economy, and keeping vital supply chains moving throughout the region and nation.

Infrastructure investments and maintenance like this play an important role in keeping the Ohio River navigation system operational for the industries and communities that depend on it every day.