McAlpine Locks and Dam

McAlpine Locks and Dam
McAlpine Locks and Dam, Louisville, Kentucky
Location of McAlpine Locks and Dam in Kentucky
Official name	McAlpine Locks and Dam
Location	Louisville, Kentucky
Coordinates	38°16′41″N 85°47′32″W / 38.2781°N 85.7922°W / 38.2781; -85.7922
Opening date	1830
Operator(s)	United States Army Corps of Engineers Louisville District
Dam and spillways
Impounds	Ohio River
Power Station
Operator(s)	Louisville Gas & Electric
Installed capacity	80 MW

The McAlpine Locks and Dam are a set of locks and a hydroelectric dam at the Falls of the Ohio River at Louisville, Kentucky. They are located at mile point 606.8, and control a 72.9 miles (117.3 km) long navigation pool. The locks and their associated canal were the first major engineering project on the Ohio River, completed in 1830 as the Louisville and Portland Canal, designed to allow shipping traffic to navigate through the Falls of the Ohio.

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History

From 1925 to 1927, the dam for generating hydroelectric power was added, and the locks were expanded, first by a private company and then by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The hydroelectric plant at the time was the seventh largest hydroelectric plant in the United States.

The system was renamed the McAlpine Locks and Dam in 1960 in honor of William McAlpine, who was the only civilian to have ever served as district engineer for the Corps of Louisville. At present, the normal pool elevation is 420 feet (130 m) above sea level and the drainage area above the dam is 91,170 square miles (236,000 km²). The average daily flow at McAlpine is 118,000 cubic feet per second (3,340 m³/s). The lock chambers are located at the dam on the Kentucky side of the Ohio River and are capable of a normal lift of 37 feet (11 m) between the McAlpine pool upstream and the Cannelton pool downstream. The hydroelectric plant consists of eight turbine units with a net power generation capacity of 80,000 kilowatts.

In October 2003, McAlpine was designated a Historic Civil Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Civil Engineers.

The McAlpine locks underwent a 10-year, $278 million expansion project scheduled to be completed in 2008, but was completed in early 2009.

Ownership

The hydroelectric plant is owned and operated by Louisville Gas & Electric, a subsidiary of PPL Corporation while the locks are operated by the Army Corps of Engineers.

Gallery

Chart of Falls of the Ohio and Portland Canal from 1916
Locks and Dam No 41 navigation chart from 1934
McAlpine Locks and Dam navigation chart (detail) from 2010
Aerial view of Falls of the Ohio and Locks and Dam No 41 circa 1930s or 1940s
Aerial view of McAlpine Locks circa 2000
Towboat Brimstone entering auxiliary lock at McAlpine Locks, 1987
Towboat Steel Trader departing auxiliary lock at McAlpine Locks, 1987
Dewatered main lock undergoing repairs at McAlpine Locks, 1987
Coast Guard buoy tender Obion entering main lock at McAlpine Locks, 1999
Towboat Enid Dibert departing main lock at McAlpine Locks, 1999
LG&E Ohio Falls Generating Station at McAlpine Dam, 1998
Tainter gate at McAlpine Dam, 1998
Fourteenth Street Bridge pier and upper gates of McAlpine Dam, 1998

External links

LG&E Plants
McAlpine Locks and Dam 2007 version from Wayback Machine
McAlpine Locks and Dam from U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Retrieved 29 April 2017
McAlpine Locks and Dam fact sheet from U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Retrieved 29 April 2017
History of navigation development on the Ohio River from U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Retrieved 29 April 2017
Robinson, Michael C. (1983). History of Navigation in the Ohio River Basin (NWS-83-5) (PDF). National Waterways Study, Institute for Water Resources, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Retrieved 30 April 2017. Provides historical context for McAlpine Locks and Dam; good bibliography.