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USACE is working on stabilizing banks of the Missouri River to enhance navigation and address sediment issues. The $300M project involves placing rock and repairing river structures to maintain a reliable channel. Despite challenges like rapid sediment deposition, the project aims to ensure safe and efficient commercial transportation on the river.
Wed January 29, 2025 - Midwest Edition #3
Since the 1800s, the Missouri River has been an important means of transporting people and goods from its source in Montana and the Dakotas to St. Louis where it joins the Mississippi River. Some 2,300 mi. in length, the Missouri River is similar in length to the Mississippi but carries less river traffic. Sending agricultural products, farm equipment, asphalt and other items downriver by barges is a cheap means of transportation. A single barge carries the equivalent of 60 loaded semis.
Kansas City District, USACE photo
Known as the "Big Muddy" for the opaque brownness of the water, the Missouri also is known for snags and various impediments that bedevil travelers and shippers. The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) in Kansas City, Mo., maintains a current website to inform travelers on the river of the latest developments.
The channel shifts, changing course over time, and carries large amounts of sediment, which makes it hard for travelers and ship captains to spot trouble. The river used to meander more broadly before the USACE began its Bank Stabilization and Navigation project (BSNP) some 100 years ago.
USACE has been given the job of assisting navigation of this unpredictable waterway. The Corps is using $300 million from the bipartisan infrastructure bill to oversee the repair of some 7,000 river structures. This effort is part of the BSNP which channels the river. The project was completed in the 1980s, but repairs became necessary after the 2019 flooding.
Instead of relying on locks to control the water flow, the Corps uses dams in North and South Dakota to release water when needed. The graded channel has dikes on many inside bends of the river and revetments on the other side to prevent the river from wandering too much.
"Our objective is to maintain a channel nine feet deep and about 300 feet wide," said Clint Mason, technical support branch chief of the Corps operations in Kansas City. "In most cases, the dikes and revetments are composed of gradations of rock from eight to 24 inches in diameter that fits together securely. Our contractors have been placing rock on nine different locations along the river."
Mason and his team are fighting the ever-changing nature of the river. Rain and tributaries have great influence on the Missouri.
"Our objective is to provide reliable commercial navigation," said Mason. "We see grain, asphalt, concrete, piping, windmill parts and a variety of items coming down the river. The Midwest has multiple means of transportation. We want to keep the river open as one of those options."
Kansas City District, USACE photo
Depositing rock where it needs to go can be tricky. In most cases, tugboats nudge barges loaded with rock into place near the riverbank. Workers drive pilings into the riverbed to anchor the barges. Often the barges have a ramp that enables trucks to unload directly onto material barges. Excavators on the barge push the rocks into place to secure the riverbanks.
The project will require seven million tons of rock over five years between 2021 and 2026. The undertaking is about 75 percent complete.
Major quarries near the river have supplied the rock — much of it Missouri limestone — but some stone has been brought down from the Dakotas.
In addition to hauling rock, contractors have removed impediments to the river flow, including material from dikes that have failed. Some of the tributaries have brought debris into the river channel. In other places, the fast-moving river has weakened the dikes and revetments.
Sometimes the river itself is an enemy.
"Often, we remove sediment from an area that is a problem. Then when we return two weeks later, we find that the river has filled in the spot with more sediment," said Mason.
The river team occasionally will remove the sediment and use it as fill material behind the dikes. On other occasions, the sediment is deposited in fast-moving sections of the river where it will be dissipated downstream. On rare occasions the USACE will employ dredging machinery to deepen the channel. Dredging is not usually effective without the control structures built or rebuilt to the design dimensions.
Kansas City District, USACE photo
Newt Marine Services out of Dubuque, Iowa, was one of several contractors that participated in the project. Marcus Murphy, general manager of the company, supervised the work.
"We have been working off our ramp barges for several years," he said. "It was our job to procure, deliver and place the rock. We delivered about 700,000 tons of rock to Missouri locations over three seasons."
Clint Mason of the Corps worked closely with contractors like Newt Marine and river users of all kinds to document river conditions.
"We hear regularly from people using the river and try to incorporate their suggestions into our website so other people can be aware of problem areas. But mainly we are helping to make the river safer and more navigable. To see the progress we've made over the last several years is very gratifying." CEG
Chuck MacDonald is an editor, blogger and freelance feature writer whose writing adventures have taken him to 48 states and 10 countries. He has been the editor for magazines on pavement construction, chemicals, insurance and missions. Chuck enjoys bicycling, kayaking and reading. He graduated from the University of Missouri with a degree in journalism. Chuck lives in Annapolis, Md. with his wife Kristen. They have seven grandchildren.