This audio is automatically generated. Please let us know if you have any comments.
The US Army Corps of Engineers in the Pittsburgh District has awarded a contract of almost 770 million dollars to the joint venture Trumbull-Brayman Construction Corp. of Pittsburgh to build a new lock chamber at Montgomery Locks and Dam in Monaca, Pennsylvania, on the Ohio River, according to a USACE news release.
The JV, made by Pittsburgh-based builders Trumbull Corp. and Brayman Construction Corp., will remove the 56-foot by 360-foot auxiliary lock chamber and build a new 110-foot by 600-foot primary lock chamber. , according to the statement.
The contract is part of the Upper Ohio Navigation Project, which includes the construction of new primary lock chambers at the Emsworth, Dashields and Montgomery Locks and Dams in Emsworth, Moon Township and Monaca, Pennsylvania, respectively.
USACE received more than $1 billion for the company from the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
The USACE said work to deconstruct the auxiliary lock chamber will begin in the spring of 2025. After removing the auxiliary lock chamber, Trumbull-Brayman will begin construction of the new primary lock chamber. River vessels will continue to use the existing primary lock chamber until the new lock chamber is complete.
The Montgomery locks are critical to US infrastructure, USACE said in the statement. The nearly century-old locks allow the transportation of 12 million tons of goods annually by barge to and from the Port of Pittsburgh. Instead, it would take more than 100,000 wagons or 400,000 trucks to move the same amount of cargo.
“This project is vital to ensuring safe and reliable navigation on the upper Ohio River,” Col. Nicholas Melin, commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Pittsburgh District, said in the statement. “With the contract awarded, we are ready to move forward on this critical infrastructure for the region and the nation.”
