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Contracts Awarded for Dam Lock Repairs by Andy Porter Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, February 2, 2016

A Deer Park, Wash., company will do the work during an extended shutdown to start in December

Two contracts totaling more than $8 million have been awarded to a Washington state company for work on two Lower Snake River dams.

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers officials said Monday that Knight Construction & Supply Inc. of Deer Park, Wash., will perform upgrades on locks at the dams during an extended shutdown beginning at the end of this year.

The work will be done at Ice Harbor Dam near Burbank and at Lower Monumental Dam near Kahlotus, Wash. All of the dams on the Columbia-Snake River system will be shut down between Dec. 12 and March 20, 2017 for major rehabilitation projects.

In a release, Corps officials said the contract for Ice Harbor Dam totals $4.69 million and the contract for Lower Monumental Dam totals $3.37 million. Both will involve upgrades to the downstream lift gate hoist machinery and associated electrical and control equipment on the dams' navigation locks.

Additional work items may be added within the schedule, dependent upon available resources, said Jeannette Wilson, the Corps' Walla Walla District navigation business line manager.,

Ice Harbor's lock went into service in October 1962, and most of the gate hoist components being replaced have exceeded their estimated 50-year service life. The Lower Monumental lock went into service in April 1969, and most of the gate hoist components being replaced are also nearing the end of their service life, Corps officials said.

According to the Corps, about 9 million tons of cargo worth $3 billion transit annually through locks on the Snake-Columbia inland navigation system, including about 40 percent of the nation's wheat.