The new and bigger lock being built at the Chickamauga Dam is designed to expedite the flow of barge traffic on the Tennessee River, but building the replacement lock has proven to be anything but expeditious for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that now operates the Chickamauga lock.
After more than two decades of development, construction and cost overruns that have more than tripled the original projected cost, the Corps of Engineers is preparing to award what it said will be the final major contract for what has become Chattanooga’s longest construction project. The biggest congressional earmark this year was added to the federal budget to pay for the final $237 million of work to build the upstream approach walls and finish other elements in and around the new and bigger lock.
“This lock, as part of the nation’s inland waterway system, is critical for providing safe, reliable, efficient and environmentally sustainable waterborne transportation for the movement of commercial goods, for national security needs and for recreation,” Lt. Col. Robert Green, the Nashville District commander for the Corps of Engineers, said in an announcement of the bidding process for the final phase of Chickamauga lock. “There is a need to reinvest in our aging inland navigation infrastructure, and we are thankful to our elected officials and partners for the strong push to fund this final milestone.”
Joseph Cotton, a captain for the Army Corps of Engineers and project manager for the new Chickamauga lock, said in an interview at the construction project that nine construction companies have expressed interest in bidding on the final contract to complete the lock.
Cotton said he expects to begin receiving proposals next month and award a contract for the final approach wall and other work later this year to have the new lock built by 2026. But the entire project, including the closing of the existing, smaller lock and reclaiming the property around the dam with the addition of a new section of the Tennessee riverwalk, is expected to take until 2029 to finish.