McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System

The McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System is part of the inland waterway system originating at the Tulsa Port of Catoosa and running southeast through Oklahoma and Arkansas to the Mississippi River.

Though it primarily follows the Arkansas River, it also follows portions of the Verdigris River in Oklahoma and the White River in Arkansas. It also includes the Arkansas Post Canal, a short canal named for nearby Arkansas Post National Memorial, connecting the Arkansas and White Rivers.

Through Oklahoma and Arkansas, dams artificially deepen and widen this modest sized river to build it into a commercially navigable body of water. Along the section of the Arkansas River that carries the McClellan-Kerr channel, the river sustains commercial barge traffic and offers passenger and recreational use, and is considered by some, a series of reservoirs.

Construction

The Arkansas River is very shallow through Arkansas and Oklahoma, and was naturally incapable of supporting river traffic though most of the year. To allow for navigation, construction was started in 1971 on a system of channels and locks to connect the many reservoirs along the length of the Arkansas River. The first section, running to Little Rock, Arkansas, opened in 1968. The first barge to reach the Port of Catoosa arrived in early 1971.

Each lock measures convert|110|ft|m wide and convert|600|ft|m long, the standard size for much of the Mississippi River waterway. Standard jumbo barges, measuring 35 by convert|195|ft|m, are grouped 3 wide by 3 long, with a tug at center rear, to form a barge "packet" which can be fit into a lock. Larger barge packets must be broken down and passed through the lock in sections, and rejoined on the opposite side.

The specifications for the channel itself are as follows:
*Depth of channel: 9 feet (2.7 m) or more
*Width of channel: mostly convert|250|ft|m|abbr=on. - convert|300|ft|m|abbr=on. (75 m to 90 m)
*Bridge clearance: 300 ft. horizontal (90 m) 52 ft. vertical (15.6 m)

Lock information

The following tables list the features of the navigation system, from the Mississippi River to the origin at the Port of Catoosa. Except as noted, all locks are on the Arkansas River.

Note that there is no lock 11; it is believed that revisions to Dardanelle Lock & Dam (which created Lake Dardanelle) eliminated the need for lock 11Fact|date=February 2007. The Mississippi River lock is not numbered as it was added to the system after it was completed.

Feature	Lock name	Distance (miles)	Location
Mississippi River Lock	Montgomery Point	0.5	White River
Lock 1	Norrell	10.3	Arkansas Post Canal
Lock 2	Lock 2	13.3	Arkansas Post Canal
Lock 3	Joe Hardin	50.2
Lock 4	Emmett Sanders	66.0	Pine Bluff, AR
Lock 5	Lock 5	86.3
Lock 6	David D. Terry	108.1	Little Rock, AR
Lock 7	Murray	125.4
Lock 8	Toad Suck Ferry	155.9
Lock 9	Arthur V. Ormond	176.9
Lock 10	Dardanelle	205.5
Lock 12	Ozark-Jeta Taylor	256.8
Lock 13	James W. Trimble	292.8	Ft. Smith, AR
Lock 14	W. D. Mayo	319.6
Lock 15	Robert S. Kerr	336.2
Lock 16	Webbers Falls	368.9
Lock 17	Chouteau	401.4	Muskogee, OK (Verdigris River)
Lock 18	Newt Graham	421.6	Inola, OK (Verdigris River)
Port	Port of Catoosa	445	Catoosa, OK (Verdigris River)

External links

* [http://www.tulsaport.com/navigation_system_map.html Animated Map] of navigation system
* [http://www.tulsaweb.com/port/history.htm An Outline History of the Arkansas River]
* [http://www.swl.usace.army.mil/navigation/mckarns.html US Army Corps of Engineers] , Little Rock, Arkansas district navigation information

ee also

*List of navigation authorities in the United States
*List of crossings of the Arkansas River