Micheal Clements, NAFB News Service

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 2021 civil works plan includes approximately $54 million for the repair of navigation structures along the Missouri River. The structures were damaged from high water and flooding over the past three years. The funding will address the highest priority repairs which pose an imminent threat to the navigation channel function, or significantly jeopardizes nearby critical facilities, structures, or property. The large volume of water that has passed through the system has damaged hundreds of river structures from Sioux City, Iowa, to St Louis. Those structures are critical and provide for a stable navigation channel when river conditions are within the lower range of operational flows. The 2020 navigation season, which saw a lower water year on the river, was challenged by shoaling in the navigation channel. The Corps of Engineers intends to restore full capacity and system reliability to pre-flood conditions providing that funding is appropriated and available.