Chickamauga Lock More Than Half Complete; Set To Go Into Operation In Fall 2026

The Chickamauga Lock replacement project is more than half complete, set to open for operation in the fall of 2026, said District Commander Lt. Col. Joe Sahl.

The U.S. Army Corp of Engineers commemorated a project milestone at the lock Monday with the removal of the last piece of form work from the first concrete monolith built by contractor Shimmick Construction Company.

“We don’t sacrifice quality, we don’t sacrifice safety, and we don’t take shortcuts,” Lt. Col. Saul said.

The replacement lock project was begun in 2004 with a groundbreaking in 2005. The project was on hold from 2012 to 2015 when funding dropped from the Inland Waterways Trust Fund. Inland Waterways funds about 35 percent of the replacement lock project and the rest are federal funds.

“This is a moment that we’ve been waiting for for a long time,” Lt. Col. Sahl said.

Chick Lock, a pet name of Lt. Col. Sahl, opened in 1940 with sitting President Franklin Delano Roosevelt attending the ribbon cutting. It was almost immediately clear that the concrete was swelling and shifting due to a reaction between the aggregate and alkali.

Engineers have managed to support, contain and stabilize the growing walls over the lock’s 83 years, but that concrete will have an expiration date.

“We get the funding and we do pieces at a time,” said Army Corps Resident Engineer Tommy Long.

The new lock’s miter gates and valves are ready and waiting in Muscle Shoals, Ala., built 10 years ago by Steward Machine Company in Birmingham. The approach wall beams were built at about the same time with funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Mr. Long said he can see the beams on Google Earth, waiting up the river at Watts Bar Dam.

The new lock is being built alongside the existing lock. At 600 feet, it will be almost twice as long and accommodate nine barges at a time instead of just one, reducing transit delays by 80 percent.

It now takes a boat, a barge, or even a lone kayak 45 minutes to “lock through,” Mr. Long said.

Lt. Col. Saul said the region’s inland water highways are fast and clean. The Tennessee River has 650 navigable river miles from Knoxville, down through Chattanooga, and back up to Paducah, Ky.

Shimmick was awarded the $245 million lock chamber contract in 2017. Its portion will be complete in late 2025.

C.J. Mahan Construction Company was awarded the $61 million upstream approach wall contract in 2021. This portion west of the dam toward downtown will be complete in fall 2026.

The Corps of Engineers will award the contract for the downstream approach wall, east of the dam toward Lake Chickamauga, in late 2024.

Shimmick President and CEO Steve Richards said the company has employed 450 workers and paid $112 million in payroll to date. Shimmick operates 12 cranes onsite as well as a huge conveyor belt.

Shimmick has placed 170,000 cubic yards of concrete of the total 250,000 cubic yards in the lock chamber.

“We’re placing concrete day and night,” Mr. Long said.

Cleanup and decommissioning of the old lock will stretch into 2028.