Ironically, to keep locks open, you’ve got to close them. To do work on a waterway structure, you’ve got to dry it out first, a process called dewatering.
“Last year, our lock operators locked through 25,486 vessels safely during 18,140 lockages along the Okeechobee Waterway,” said Bill Keeney, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Jacksonville District’s supervisory facility management specialist for the west region locks and dams. “We want to do everything possible to keep these locks open for our...