Notice to Navigators: Upper Mississippi River
RIAC: UM172 0800-1600 Closure Today 1APR
Closure as planned, 0800-1600 today, Fri 1APR. USCG will make a BNM
Optimistic that this will be the last closure for a week or so, then one or two more closure days for static lines. Details in previous emails below
Sent: Thursday, March 31, 2022 3:52 PM
The river re-opened to traffic at 1545 today, USCG will make a BNM
The contractor should be set to start pulling the fifth conductor at 0800 tomorrow, Fri 1APR
Sent: Thursday, March 31, 2022 1:25 PM
BLUF If things go well, after today we may have only 3 more daytime closures over the next 10 days or so.
Today’s closure may take until 1630. Hopefully that gives the contractor enough time to complete the pulling of the fourth new conductor.
That would allow the contractor to start setting up for pulling the fifth conductor after the river re-opens today.
Tomorrow the plan is for another 0800-1600 closure. If things go well that could be enough time to pull the last two conductors and be done with that phase of the work.
Assuming the last two conductors get pulled across the river tomorrow, there will be no daily closures for about a week while the contractor secures the conductors and makes connections.
After that week ( WAG 9 TO 11MAR ) the contractor will need one or two more daily closures to install the two static lines above the conductors. THEN THEY ARE DONE.
Sent: Thursday, March 31, 2022 7:11 AM A closure is set to occur 0800-1600 today, Thurs 31MAR, USCG will make a BNM
Sent: Wednesday, March 30, 2022 3:06 PM For awareness, the contractor is tentative to work 0800 to 1600 tomorrow 31MAR
Sent: Wednesday, March 30, 2022 9:00 AM The river will remain open today, no work because of rain
Sent: Wednesday, March 30, 2022 7:13 AM
The closure will start at 0900 as scheduled today, USCG making broadcast.
The contractor is working on pulling across the second of six new conductors. There is a high probability of rain stopping the job by lunchtime today, if so the USCG will make a broadcast that the river is back open.
A reminder, when the river is closed for this work, the area is a USCG safety zone, no one can enter the zone without permission from the COTP. BNM attached
Sent: Tuesday, March 29, 2022 4:03 PM The channel re-opened about 1515 today.
Sent: Tuesday, March 29, 2022 7:09 AM Closure today, Tuesday 29MAR, 0800 to 1600. USCG will make a broadcast.
Sent: Monday, March 28, 2022 4:49 PM
The river was re-opened to traffic today about 1530, USCG made the broadcast
Today the contractor rigged six pulling ropes and pulled across the first of six new conductors to be installed.
Tomorrow the plan is to close from 0800 to about 1530, hoping that will allow enough time to pull two more of the new conductors.
There is a good chance work will not occur on Wednesday due to rain in the forecast.
Sent: Monday, March 28, 2022 7:12 AM Closure as scheduled today 0900-1500, USCG will broadcast the closure
Sent: Sunday, March 27, 2022 7:15 AM
There will be no closure today Sunday 27MAR, and no USCG SMIB. Mariners may see a helicopter crossing the river at UM172 or working around the towers, he won’t be pulling anything across the river.
The contractor will be busy all day today setting up equipment to start installation of the new lines between the new towers.
Tomorrow the plan is to fly all six of the pulling ropes for the new conductors across the river, another 0900-1400 closure.
Sent: Saturday, March 26, 2022 4:01 PM The river was reopened for traffic at 1550 today, USCG made the broadcast.
Some equipment problems slowed the work today, but all of the old lines have now been removed.
Tentative for another 0800 to 1530 closure tomorrow Sun 27MAR
Sent: Saturday, March 26, 2022 7:12 AM There will be a scheduled closure today 0800 to 1530, removing the last conductor of the old crossing.
A good chance the river will re-open before 1530 today. The USCG will announce the closure and re-opening via SMIB on ch16.
Sent: Friday, March 25, 2022 4:14 PM 1610 the river was re-opened to traffic. USCG making a broadcast. Another closure planned for tomorrow Sat 26MAR 0800 to 1530
Sent: Friday, March 25, 2022 1:16 PM
The contractor lost about an hour today while local fleet boats responded to a fleet breakaway that entered the work zone. Extending the closure to 1630 today to stay on track, the contractor believes they have a good chance of getting the fifth existing conductor out today. That would leave only one more existing conductor to remove tomorrow before starting the process of installing the six new conductors and two static lines between the two new towers.
The USCG will announce on vhf16 when the channel is back open, I will send another email when I am made aware of the opening time.
Sent: Friday, March 25, 2022 7:07 AM This closure is on track to occur 0800 to 1530 today, Friday 25MAR
Sent: Thursday, March 24, 2022 9:15 AM The river will be open to traffic all day today Thurs 24MAR
Sent: Thursday, March 24, 2022 7:34 AM
As of 0715 today 24MAR, the plan is to keep the channel open. If the weather turns dry later today the contractor may ask for a closure with a one hour notice for the traffic in the area.
To help the contractor get more work done tomorrow , Saturday and Sunday (25-27MAR), they are planning for closures 0800 to 1530 those days, then back to 0800-1400 on Monday.
As for progress, they have removed the two static lines and 3 of the 6 conductors on the existing highline crossing, they are rigged to remove the 4th conductor. The new lines to be installed are the same 2 static lines and 6 larger conductors. Assuming today is scrubbed they have a good chance to have all the old lines removed sometime Saturday. The contractor said today that the installation of the new lines typically goes a little faster than the removal of the old ones, they could be a little better than halfway done with this project sometime Saturday, barring any unforeseen glitches.
Sent: Friday, March 4, 2022 10:45 AM Some details on these planned closures for UM172 (USCG BNM bottom of this email):
Ameren is taking down a highline crossing at UM172 and putting up new, higher capacity lines slightly upstream. This will require a helicopter to pass over the river 32 times removing the old lines and installing the new. They are tentative at this time to shut off the power for this crossing on 10MAR, then after 2 to 4 days of preparation, start closing the river daily from 0900 to 1400 every day that the weather allows the helicopter to work safely. I will send an email to the RIAC list every morning by 0715 to share the go/no go status for closure that day. And an update when the work is done for the day. If the weather is good (low winds) they will probably be able to do more than one pull in a day. It would probably make sense for lock 27 to prioritize downbound lockages between midnight and 0600 each morning to help those tows that are downbound going through St Louis to get below UM172 before the potential 0900 closures.
Bernie Heroff
Port Captain Navigation/Training
ARTCo – Ag Services and Oilseeds
American River Transportation Co., LLC
P.O. Box 2889
Saint Louis, MO 63111
t 314 481 8828 / m 314 803 4644
