Final phase of Locks and Dam No. 3 demolition begins today

Roughly 33 explosions are scheduled to take place in the next few months.

The final phase of controlled demolition of the walls of Locks and Dam No. 3 in Elizabeth will start today.

Last year, almost to the day, contractors began a series of controlled demolitions to remove the dam by year’s end and open 33 navigable miles of river.

That part of the project wrapped up at the end of last year, but work will resume over the next several months as the final stages are finished.

U.S. Army Corps Of Engineers Pittsburgh District removed the miter gates in February, and the concrete demolition will continue until spring 2027 as the walls of the lock are broken down.

Work is being handled by Fay, S&B USA Construction.

Last week, the USACE announced controlled explosions would resume.

Andrew Byrne, USACE public affairs specialist said a test blast was done last Tuesday.

The second explosion — of approximately 33 that will take place over the next few months — will occur between 2 and 6 p.m. today, according to contractors.

Other controlled blasts will continue to take place — two to three times per week — between 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays through September.

The USACE contractor will use the audible signals to alert the public:

• Warning signal – A one-minute series of long audible signals five minutes before the blast.

• Blast signal – A series of short audible signals one minute before the blast.

• All clear – A prolonged audible signal after each blast inspection.

After Fay, S&B USA Construction demolishes the existing river wall and middle wall of the lock chambers, it will install recycled concrete rubble as a stability berm against the existing land wall and construct concrete cap on the land wall esplanade.

Contractors and USACE have informed residents in the vicinity of the dam that travel could be slightly impacted because of short-term closures on nearby roadways.

For public safety, traffic restrictions will be in effect on Bunola River Road (State Route 2001), with stoppages for vehicles and pedestrians in both directions for up to 15 minutes. Southbound traffic will be halted at the Cherry Lane intersection, while northbound traffic will stop 500 feet from the Lock and Dam entrance.

There are exceptions for emergency vehicles.

Short-term closures will also impact the CSX rail line.

River navigation at LD3 will be closed to all navigation for approximately three hours to allow the blasts to occur.

The Pittsburgh District began dismantling the lock chambers in January.

Locks and Dam 3 in Elizabeth had been in operation since 1907, making it the second oldest navigation project in the Pittsburgh District.

Its removal will help equalize the pool on the Monongahela River between the Charleroi and Braddock locks and dams, forming a 30-mile stretch of navigable waterway.

The expanded pool will benefit the navigation industry by cutting transportation time in half to pass through the region.

The locking facility in Elizabeth had been in operation since 1907.

Originally the dam served to raise the river’s depth to allow large towboats to transport commodities on the river year-round, but due to the facility’s aging infrastructure and upgrades made to other locks and dams on the Monongahela River, the Elizabeth-based locks and dam became more of a navigation obstacle than a benefit.

Removing the dam from the river helped eliminate an aging bottleneck that required costly maintenance repairs and caused commercial boats with large tows to slow down through that portion of the river.

The dam’s removal is part of the Lower Monongahela River Project, which constructed upgrades at Braddock and Charleroi in preparation for Elizabeth’s removal.

Adapting to river levels

Since the project started, river levels have continued to be a concern for residents who use the river and businesses that sit alongside it moving up river from the Locks and Dam at Charleroi.

With water levels still not where they will ultimately end up, remediation efforts to restore shorelines haven’t started yet, though some communities along the river have entered into agreements with USACE for such projects.

On Jan. 20, Rostraver Township’s board of commissioners approved a boat ramp relocation agreement with USACE to begin work on a project to extend the Webster boat ramp, but work has not yet begun.

Boat launches in Monessen and Monongahela have also been affected, and officials from several communities have remained in touch with USACE to ensure individual projects are addressed.

The Port of Pittsburgh Commission is working with USACE on the Lower Mon Dredging Project that will help address the problem, but the project is in its preliminary stages.

As USACE reconstructs the navigation channel on the Monongahela River between mile 23.8 and 41.5, the channel will have a trapezoidal shape with a minimum bottom width of 300 feet, side slopes of 3H to 1V, and a bottom elevation of 712.7 feet, which is 11 feet below the authorized pool elevation of 723.7 feet above sea level.

Executive Director Mary Ann Bucci said because river users have been impacted, the Port of Pittsburgh Commission PPC is planning to adjust or restore access in specific driveway locations — areas leading from the main navigation channel to a dock or mooring facility — for safe navigation.

This project will assess dredging requirements to maintain an 11-foot depth below the waterline in designated areas.

During the Phase 1 investigation, PPC will request survey data from the USACE to determine if additional data is needed, including permitting information from commercial industries.

This phase will focus on identifying areas to be dredged to achieve the necessary target depths.

One of the first steps will be to engage with stakeholders who have been impacted by the project and develop a communication page on the PCC website to keep communities informed as the project moves forward.

PCC will then review existing USACE hydrographic survey data to identify data gaps, if any, and review existing submarine utility crossings data including National Pipeline Mapping System and navigation charts.

It will also identify any unmapped utility crossings found in the USACE hydrographic survey data and contact existing pipeline owners for mapping, drawings, depth of pipelines and other information.

Existing structures in or near the river such as sheet pile walls, mooring cells and boat ramps that may be impacted by future dredging activities will also need to be identified.

As part of the initial start of the project, PCC will review existing USACE and Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection permits on the Monongahela River between Braddock Locks and Dam and John P. Murtha Locks and Dam, begin communications about the project with USACE, U.S. Coast Guard, PDEP and Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission. No permit applications will be performed during Phase 1.

With a budget of about $100,000, PCC will prepare a project management plan, work breakdown structure and identify and manage risks associated with the project.

“There have been a lot of dredging problems since they breached the dam, so we have a lot of money we’re looking for to try to make sure that work gets done,” Bucci said. “The removal of the lock will be done, but the navigation channel is just not the same. They breached the dam, the water levels lowered, barges were getting stuck, it significantly changed the shoreline. You have marinas sitting in mud, and if you don’t have a lot of rain you have a lot of people that are running ashore in these barges.

“And barges are expensive, you know they are $1 million a piece and the tow boats are even more.”

Bucci said right now, USACE has permission to fix some of the curvatures that are causing problems for barges, but doesn’t have the money.

“It might take a few more years, and they can only go by the law of the navigation channel, which is 300 feet,” Bucci said, “but some people have terminals on the river, it’s about 250 feet away from the channel, so we’d like to hire a consultant to do a study on how much dredging really needs done, dredging that no one has taken care of yet, and we’re gong to figure out how much it is going to cost and then try to secure the funding for it.”