Olmsted Locks & Dam ![]() Click images for larger picture. Click this link to go to the Olmsted Locks Information Page These links take you away from our site. Click on the Back button in your browser to return to this page.
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Ground was broken on Olmsted Locks and Dam in 1996. Locks and Dam 52 and 53 will be replaced with this single facility at mile 964.4 of the Ohio River. The Olmsted project involves underwater foundation preparation, lift-in construction of the tainter gates and navigable pass shells for the dam, floating approach walls, directly connected hydraulic cylinder operation of the culvert valves, miter gates, tainter gates, and a central station to operate both the dam and the twin locks. The project is currently scheduled for a 2021 completion, depending upon funding.
According to the Corps of Engineers Waterborne Commerce Statistics for 2008, more than 76 million tons of commodities were shipped past the point where Olmsted is being built. These shipments had a combined value of $17.0 billion. The leading commodity shipped past the Olmsted Lock site was coal, which made up 28% of the total tonnage. The state that shipped the most tonnage through this region was Louisiana, transporting more than 19.9 million tons of goods worth $6.2 billion. Ores/minerals comprised over 33% of this amount.
Louisiana received over 28 million tons that would have moved through Olmsted Locks, with a combined value of $2.7 billion. Coal made up 40.2% of this amount. Ohio was second in receipts of potential Olmsted Locks traffic, with 9.2 million tons. See map for a graphical representation of state tonnage movements through Olmsted Locks.
Louisiana’s 3rd Congressional District was the leading shipper of commodities past the Olmsted Locks site. This district shipped over 15.3 million tons of ores/minerals, iron/ steel, chemicals and petroleum, with a combined value of $2.7 billion. Kentucky District 1 was next, with 15.0 million tons. See map for the top 10 Congressional Districts shipping Olmsted tonnage.
The leading Congressional District in receipts of potential Olmsted Lock commodities was Louisiana District 3, which received over 21.0 million tons. This tonnage was mostly coal and grain, and had a combined value of $1.8 billion. See map for the top 10 Congressional Districts receiving Olmsted tonnage.
Olmsted Construction Photographs as of June 1, 2000 - all jpegs: (photo1) (photo2) (photo3) (photo4) Olmsted Photograph During Flood of March 1997: (jpeg) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||