Lock and Dam Maintenence Concerns Voiced During Summit

Waterways, transportation and regionalism were themes for Wednesday’s 10th Tri State Development Summit in Hannibal.

Waterways were front and center during the morning session. Colonel Mark Deschenes  of the US Army Corps of Engineers painted a dire picture of the state of the lock and dam systems on the Mississippi and Illinois River. He cites 11 outages of a few days each since October 2011 and says money spent on maintenance isn’t keeping up with the 80 year old system. Deschenes adds that the maintenance backlog is approaching a billion dollars.

Around 300 Government and business leaders from 35 counties in northeast Missouri… west Central Illinois and Southeast Iowa are on hand for the event.