Army Corps Tamps Down Barge Worries on Mississippi

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Credit U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Digital Visual Library

The Army Corps of Engineers says its efforts to keep a crucial stretch of the Mississippi River open to barge traffic should help avert a shipping shutdown that river industry officials fear is imminent.

The corps said in recent weeks crews have made "fantastic" progress clearing bedrock from a channel near Thebes, Illinois. Shipping groups warned this week the waterway could drop to a point  in which barge weight restrictions would have to be further tightened, effectively halting shipping.  Officials with the river industry said if drafts are restricted to 8 feet or lower, many operators will stop shipping.  National Weather Service hydrologists, as of Friday, forecast that the river at Thebes could drop to the 3-feet mark by next Thursday and continue falling to 1 foot by the end of this month.