The Old Hickory Lock on the Cumberland River is scheduled to reopen to commercial marine navigational the coming days after being drained for inspection and maintenance.

Workers with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Nashville District recently closed and dewatered the 70-year-old lock to examine the condition of its components under the river's surface.

Joe Adawag, civil engineer technician with the Nashville District Navigation Branch Lock Section, said equipment mechanics have been working to support the Great Lakes and Ohio River Division Regional Rivers Repair Fleet to fix cracks in the miter gates, to repair struts that open and close gates, and inspect culverts where water enters the lock chamber.

“This is the second phase of this project, which involves the dewatering of the lock chamber to do repairs to both lower miter gates to repair cracks to steel structure critical members of the gate,” Adawag said. “There were more than 50 cracks found by Nashville District structural engineers during inspections. We are working hard around the clock to provide good quality work and professional workmanship on repairs to get the lock reopened for the marine industry and the public.”

Nashville District’s maintainers support the R3F Light Capacity Fleet, which has extensive repair capabilities and is based at Old Hickory, Tenn., on the Cumberland River. The LCF is assigned to the USACE Huntington District.

“The LCF is capable of completing full chamber dewatering for repairs and inspections, valve work, gate welding repairs, valve and gate machinery, gate cable replacement, concrete removal and replacement, as well as being able to respond to and perform emergency repairs to keep the nation’s infrastructure operational,” said Rodney Smith, superintendent for the Light Capacity Fleet.

He said the LCF relies on Nashville District’s Dive Team to assist with inspections prior to dewatering, as well as sweeping sills and setting bulkhead dams. The LCF also utilizes the lock staff with assisting in day-to-day operations.

Smith said anytime the team works on a lock that has been in service for about 70 years, it’s almost certain they will find deterioration below the water line.

“We did not necessarily find any surprises, although we found significant deterioration to metal clamping bars that hold the gate seals, preventing water leakage,” Smith said. “There were also a number of stress cracks in the gates themselves from years of water force and stress.”

The LCF is replacing the crossover hydraulic lines that allow the gates to be operated. Replacing these lines support the lock’s operation for years to come.

The Corps said it expects Old Hickory Lock will reopen to navigation August 3, 2024.

One of four locks within the 300-plus navigable miles of the Cumberland River, the Old Hickory Lock is located at mile 216.2 approximately 11.5 miles northeast of Nashville. It opened to navigation traffic in June 1954.

Old Hickory Lock’s single chamber measures 84-feet wide and 400-feet long. During normal lake levels, the lock lifts a boat 60 feet from the river below the dam to the lake above the dam. The lock holds more than 19 million gallons of water when full and releases more than 15 million gallons of water each time it is lowered with commercial and recreational vessels.

A total of 3,400,000 tons of commodities navigated through Old Hickory Lock and 759 recreational vessels locked through in 2023.