ST PAUL, Minn. — Here's another sign it's that time of year, when we batten down the hatches for months and months of the big chill.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, announced Tuesday that the 2023 upper Mississippi River navigation season is officially over.
The final towboat, the Motor Vessel Thomas Erickson, departed Lock and Dam 10, near Guttenberg, Iowa, with 15 barges on Sunday.
The St. Paul District of the Army Corps maintains a 9-foot navigation channel and all the locks and dams from Minneapolis to Guttenberg. Locks allow barges, towboats and other vessels to pass through the dams with "bulk commodities such as corn, soybeans, cement and fertilizer," according to Tuesday's news release.
Officials say barges and their tows transport about 175 million tons of freight each season on the upper Mississippi through a system of 29 locks and dams.
During the months the season is closed, workers conduct maintenance projects and repairs. This year St. Paul District staffers have projects scheduled for Lock and Dam 2, near Hastings; Lock and Dam 3, near Welch; Lock and Dam 4, near Alma; and Lock and Dam 7, near La Crescent.
The work is expected to be completed next March.
The 2023 season started last March when the Motor Vessel Phillip M. Pfeffer broke through the ice on Lake Pepin on its way to St. Paul. Barges and their motorized tows saved approximately $430 million this season, "instead of overland shipping methods," according to the release.
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