Although located many miles downstream from Ashland, the failure of a gate at the Markland Locks and Dam on the Ohio River near Gallatin is certain to have a negative economic impact on this community and region.
The reason is simple: The Ohio River remains important to the economic life of this region and replacing the largest lock at Markland with a lock that is only half the size is certain to slow traffic on the river as barges make their way downstream from Ashland to Cincinnati, to Louisville and on to New Orleans. And as they say in industry, time is money.
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers spokesman Todd Hornback said a 250-ton segment of a gate to the locks fell into the water Sunday morning. The failure forced a shutdown the until a smaller auxiliary lock could be opened later that night.
The Corps recognized that there were problems at the locks. In its latest inspection, the locks had received a “poor” rating.” As a result the Markland Locks and Dam received federal funding for new gates this year, but the gates are not scheduled to be installed until 2011.
Surely, Sunday’s accident will move up the date for installation of the new gates, which the Corps said currently are being built. If the collapsed gate — which has been fished out of the river — cannot be repaired to make the 1,200-foot lock again functional and a higher priority is not placed on replacement of the old gates, then river traffic at the locks could be slowed for another two years. Communities and industries upstream of the Gallatin dam simply cannot afford to wait that long for traffic through the locks to be back to normal.
On Saturday there was no pressing need to replace the gates at the locks despite their poor condition. On Sunday, that suddenly changed. Replacing the gates now should be given the highest priority
