At last, shipping returns to normal on Columbia, Snake rivers

Shippers can again move wheat and other products as usual on the Columbia and Snake rivers.

All navigation locks at dams from the lower Columbia River inland to Lewiston, Idaho, on the Snake River have returned to service.

Locks at eight dams on the Columbia and Snake rivers closed Dec. 12 for an extended maintenance outage.

The final lock — at Little Goose Dam near Starbuck — returned to service at 10 p.m. Monday, according to the Army Corps of Engineers.

The outage had been planned through March 20, but problems at the Little Goose lock prompted the Corps to award a new contract to complete repairs on the downstream navigation lock gate.

Six of the other locks opened on time or early, and a three-day extension was needed at Ice Harbor Dam’s lock near Burbank.

This story was originally published April 11, 2017 at 11:10 AM with the headline "At last, shipping returns to normal on Columbia, Snake rivers."