ARDC Restructures 2016 Lock Schedule
website announcement
3 May 2016
The Allegheny River Development Corporation has worked hard over
the last several years raising funds to open the locks on the
Upper Allegheny. However, this year they didn’t get the
locks opened as often as they had hoped. Although it wasn’t
because of a lack of funding, it was because of a lack of
staffing. While they were disappointed, there is still
plenty of good news.
The ARDC set out a very ambitious plan for lock operations for the
2016 recreational boating season. Unfortunately, due to the
stringent requirements imposed on the US Army Corps of Engineers
for hiring lock operators, they were unable to staff all of the
hours that were requested by the ARDC.
While they didn’t get all of the hours they requested, they still
were able to increase operations over 2015. Last summer they
operated 1,410 hours of lock time. This summer, the ARDC
requested 2140 operations hours. After the ARDC board
members met with USACE Operations Management, they were able to
work out a schedule that managed to preserve 2,005 hours of lock
operations - and most of the long weekends that were
scheduled. In addition, as new lock operators complete
training, they may be able to add hours back into the schedule.
While fundraising and grants have been enough to get the locks
open again, the long term goals are to get the USACE to fund the
summer weekend operations. With increased recreational
usage, the USACE may see the value in keeping the locks open and
begin to fund the basic operations once again.
To view the updated schedule, click here
[http://www.boatlocal.com/content/articles/2016/ARDC%20&%20USACE%202016%20Lock%20Operations%20Schedule%20-%20April%2021,%202016.pdf].
It is also recommended that boaters monitor the ARDC website
[http://www.alleghenyriverdevelopment.org/]
and Facebook page along with the USACE Navigation Notices
[http://www.boatlocal.com/pittsburgh/pages/navigation-notices].
http://www.boatlocal.com/pittsburgh/articles/2016/ardc-revises-schedule-2016