McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System

Barge transportation, the least expensive and most energy efficient method of moving goods, is available in Oklahoma and Arkansas as a result of a massive civil works project undertaken by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to tame the Arkansas and Verdigris Rivers.

This waterway with its 9 ft., year-round ice free channel, extends from the Arkansas River's confluence with the Mississippi River about 500 miles upstream from New Orleans, Louisiana to the head of navigation near Tulsa, Oklahoma. Navigation depth and floods are controlled by lock and dams on the Arkansas and Verdigris rivers as well as a series of huge reservoirs on tributary streams.

The system handles millions of tons of products every year, providing cost savings to hundreds of companies using water transportation. The system is capable of handling over 35 million tons.

Locking Through

River traffic is passed from one level to another by means of a lock. With the water in the lock at the lower pool level and with the upper gate and valves closed, a boat or tow going upstream enters the lock chamber through the open lower gate. The lower gate and valves are then closed and the upper filling valves are opened. The valves allow water to enter through the intake ports, flow through the culverts in the lock walls, and into the lock chamber. When the lock chamber is filled to upper pool level, the upper gate is opened, permitting the boat or tow to proceed upstream. For passing boats down stream, operations described above are reversed.

Each of the system's 17 locks has a single chamber measuring 110 feet wide and 600 feet long. This is large enough to accomodate several vessels or a single tow as large as 108 feet wide by 585 feet long. A typical 8-barge 12,000-ton is equivalent to 400 semi-trucks or 120 railroad freight cars. Tows with more than 8 barges can now be accommodated through these locks that are equipped with a two-haulage system.