The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Little Rock District has implemented a new program for recreational boaters on 11 of the 13 Arkansas locks along the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System.
Arkansas locks, with the exception of Trimble Lock near Fort Smith and Ozark Lock at Ozark, are closed to recreational boaters from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. Monday through Thursday, excluding federal holidays. The closures allow personnel to perform preventive and scheduled maintenance. Trimble and Ozark Locks will continue to close from 8 a.m. to noon daily to all traffic for maintenance.
Commercial towboats along with government and emergency response personnel will be locked through during the maintenance windows if the lock is operational.
Recreational boaters are encouraged to use public boat ramps to access the upstream or downstream portions of the river to avoid possible extended waiting times due to scheduled maintenance.
The Corps developed the policy after hosting eight public workshops in 2012 and conducting a 30-day comment period to seek input from all users. The policy also takes into account special scheduled events such as bass tournaments, flotillas and civic celebrations.
"During our public workshops we heard that our recreational boaters wanted the locks to be available weekends and during fishing tournaments," Little Rock chief of operations John Balgavy said. "We couldn't have accomplished this new strategy without the assistance and input from the users. We appreciate the public's participation and believe the finalized policy accommodates everyone."
