Associated Press
22 July 2002
By Joe Mandak
Pittsburgh -- A proposed 31 percent budget cut could reduce days and hours of operation for the Allegheny River's nine locks and dams next year -- making it harder for boats to navigate the 69-mile stretch of river overseen by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The lock-and-dam system is part of the federal Inland Waterway System, the backbone of which is the Mississippi River and most of its major tributaries. If locks close or, as is more likely, their operating hours are restricted further, it limits the options commercial and pleasure boaters have to travel the Allegheny -- or beyond.
''Somebody can get into their cabin cruiser in East Brady and travel to Florida,'' said Richard Dowling, spokesman for the Corps of Engineer's Pittsburgh District. ''Coal from West Virginia can end up in Texas.''
The Bush administration has proposed a $4 million budget to run the Allegheny River locks -- down from $5.9 million this year, Dowling said.
Some pleasure boaters are upset with the cuts, which could take away from their recreation.
''How long would you keep an automobile if you couldn't put it on the road and drive where you want?'' asked Clyde Coleman, describing the boaters' plight from his marina near Ford City, about 40 miles upriver from Pittsburgh.
Dowling said the cuts are driven by a federal equation that doesn't consider recreational boaters.
''Obviously, we've put together various scenarios that involve reduced hours of operation and/or days of operation. And as soon as we have a budget, we'll be able to let folks know what our options are,'' Dowling said. ''Clearly, there are some tough times ahead.''
The challenge for the Corps is that, even if all locks don't say open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, they all must remain open along the entire Inland Waterway System for it to remain viable.
The Pittsburgh District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers controls 23 locks and dams on the Allegheny, Monongahela and Ohio Rivers.
Of the Allegheny's nine locks, only three are open 24-hours a day, seven days a week: those closest to Pittsburgh, which handle the most commercial cargo.
By contrast, the northernmost locks -- at Kittanning, Mosgrove and Brady's Bend -- are used mostly by pleasure boaters and open roughly noon to 8 p.m., when they're open at all, between April and September.
The lock at Brady's Bend, 69 miles north of Pittsburgh, is only open Saturday, Sunday and holidays. Kittanning and Mosgrove locks are open Thursday through Sunday -- a compromise designed to give pleasure boaters access on weekends and commercial haulers three weekdays to move cargo.
Jerry Shuster, 61, of Kittanning, owns a 37-foot multi-deck houseboat. Shuster said the lock schedules already ''restrict us. We kind of conform our schedule to work around the hours of the locks. In the summertime, at the very least, they should be open until midnight.''
''If we were further inhibited from going south or north, it would have a disastrous effect on recreational boating,'' Shuster said.
The Corps of Engineers will spend roughly $33 million to operate the other 14 locks and dams on the Monongahela and the Ohio this year. That funding is projected to remain almost steady next year because most of the region's commercial cargo moves on the Ohio and Monongahela.
The three rivers area served by the Corps of Engineers comprise the Port of Pittsburgh, the second busiest inland port, and the 14th busiest port of any kind in the country, according to Port of Pittsburgh statistics.
The Port of Pittsburgh shipped or received about 53.9 million tons of cargo that brought more than $380 million of revenue in 2000, the most recent year for which statistics were available.
But pleasure boaters complain that they, too, provide an economic benefit to the region.
The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission estimates pleasure boaters will pump $1.3 billion into the state's economy this year, although the agency doesn't break down those numbers by region. The 11-county area served by the Corps' controlled rivers have nearly 81,000 registered boats -- about 22 percent of the state's total.