NESP Mooring Cells Provide Cost-Effective Solution for Barge Traffic
“The purpose of a mooring cell is to allow towboats with barges transiting locks to wait at a safer spot closer to the lock,” said Colin Ewan, project manager for the mooring cell project. “Right now, when tows are waiting to use the locks, they are nosed into shorelines. Mooring cells allow the towboats to wait closer to the lock and shorten the turnaround time. It allows a tow leaving the lock to pass as another is entering in the opposite direction.”
Planning their locations was a crucial step in making this innovation a success.
“As part of NESP, we have authorization to build eight mooring cells,” said Ewan. “We identified sites in the project’s feasibility report and took them to industry representatives to ensure they were primary locations where the need was the greatest. A few sites were a bit different, and now we have four of them in the Quad Cities area: two in Pool 14, one in Pool 15 and one in Pool 16.”
So far, Ewan said local officials have been receptive to the mooring cells and their potential to improve industrial use along the waterways. Coordination has been key to making sure the cells are placed in locations where they won’t impact future development.
“After meeting with the Illinois Department of Transportation about their new bridge location, we ended up moving the planned location for the mooring cell at Pool 14 roughly 250 feet, which presented a unique challenge,” said Ewan.
Despite needing to adjust placement for new bridge construction, construction has proceeded smoothly.
“The cell in Pool 15 was completed three years ago and is fully in use. The two currently upstream of Pool 14 are under active construction and are expected to be completed this year,” said Ewan.
Continuing, he explained, “We have poured all the underwater concrete, placed the sheet piling, and we’re waiting for the delivery of the cell cap fabrications. This is a steel structure welded onto the steel structure in place where the barge is going to hit. While there is an impact rating on what is there, it’s not designed for repeated barge strikes. Essentially, this is an armor cap that has significantly stronger steel that they’re going to weld on top. This included the rebar for the check posts, where the bar comes in contact with the mooring cells.”
With check posts that will be 6 to 22 feet out of the water, depending on the location and water height, the cells are designed to provide benefits to barges during drought or near-flood conditions.
“The navigation industry has been incredibly supportive of this initiative as it drastically increases their efficiency,” said Ewan.
Estimates indicated these mooring cells will save an average of five to 15-minutes off each lockage, for a total of 215 to 220 hours of waiting time eliminated per year, per lock yeilding an estimated $300,000 in savings due to reduced queuing.
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