Senator Lamar Alexander said the Army Corps of Engineers should focus its efforts on completing the new lock at Chickamauga Dam.
He was commenting on an Army Corps study that questioned the benefit of continuing with the project, saying its costs have soared and barge traffic has declined.
Senator Alexander said, “Traffic through the lock has been declining the last few years for this obvious reason: the existing lock is outdated, inefficient and unreliable, which is why it urgently needs to be replaced.
Because the Corps’ updated economic analysis includes this artificially low lock usage data, it only tells half the story. The Corps should focus on the benefits of finishing the new lock, not second-guessing the work that has already been done.
“We need to replace Chickamauga Lock before it fails - failure of the lock would throw 150,000 trucks onto I-75 and increase the cost of shipping goods for manufacturers all across the state.”