The Paducah Sun reports a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers contractor topped out the first massive concrete pillar for the addition on Wednesday. It is a significant step in finishing the 1,200-foot-long lock. The entire project is expected to be completed in 2023.
The purpose of the lock is to relieve bottlenecked marine traffic caused by the current 600-foot-long lock.
The newspaper reports the size of the current lock coupled with the high traffic on the Tennessee River causes delays of seven to nine hours at times for commercial tows.
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Information from: The Paducah Sun, http://www.paducahsun.com