A steady downturn in river traffic could threaten funding for operations along the Ouachita River.
The News-Star reports the ton miles of barges and other shipping vessels that chart a course along the Ouachita add up to a bottom line that provides federal dollars for the Ouachita-Black Rivers Navigation Project.
Such projects are expected to generate one million ton miles annually to avoid being deemed a low-use navigation system by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and are at risk of greater funding cuts.
“Last year, we were below and it looks like we’re going to be below it this year,” says Tensas Basin Levee District Executive Director John Stringer.
In 2015, the project’s ton miles dropped to 945,000. The lower figure resulted in the $11.5 million project request receiving just $8 million from the federal Office of Management and Budget.
Numbers for this year are on pace to again fall short of hitting the one million threshold needed to avoid being categorized as a low-use navigation system.
Stringer says previous U.S. Army Corps of Engineers studies impacted the project’s operation.
In July 2012, the Corps’ Inland Marine Transportation Study of the 336 mile project used lockage criteria to determine how many hours those locks and dams would remain open.
The study led to a reduction of hours on four locks of Ouachita-Black. The corps has since restored 24/7 operation on two lower locks in Columbia and Jonesville, while the Felsenthal and Hatcher locks operate 10 hours a day, five days a week.
The News-Star has the full story.
