OMAHA, Neb. – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District has finished work on the Missouri River for 2024.
The lower Missouri River provides 735 miles of navigable waterway. The Omaha District’s Missouri River Project Office, also known as the MRPO, is responsible for maintaining the northern most channel from Sioux City, Iowa, to Rulo, Nebraska.
This year brought many challenges to include flooding in June that affected river operations.
Chuck McWilliams, MRPO chief, said technical and maintenance teams worked quickly to develop and execute a plan that included moving equipment, procuring sand, setting up HESCO barriers around infrastructure and performing around-the-clock operations to prevent flooding of maintenance buildings.
He said these actions significantly contributed to resuming normal operations in a short amount of time.
“The fact that all of that had to be done before the flood hit meant that as soon as the water went down, the recovery operation was able to kick in,” McWilliams said. “In less than a week, we were able to receive rock, put it on barges, and start executing the repairs that were outlined in the work plan. When you’re looking at the fifth highest stage on record here in Omaha, that’s pretty hard to imagine - that was some pretty quick work by Jeremy [Szynskie], Larry [Morgan] and their teams.”
Approximately 200 million ton-miles of commodities, to include fertilizer, grain and cement, are shipped on the Missouri River each year. The MRPO is responsible for maintaining the riverbank structures that support that navigation. Much of that work includes placing riprap, or larger rock, along the banks of the river to prevent erosion.
Despite the flooding challenges, the 2024 river operations season also included many accomplishments.
“Our maintenance crew had a very successful year even though it was impacted by the 2024 flood,” said Larry Morgan, maintenance crew supervisor. “They worked on 55 miles of the river to keep it open for navigation while supporting other maintenance projects. This included placing about 13,000 tons of stone on 16 structures over 10,600 linear feet to maintain the channel.”
In addition to placing rock, the team also removed 300 tons of debris from a channel supporting commercial navigation at the farthest upstream port near Blencoe, Iowa.
Other significant accomplishments in 2024 included working with the Contracting Division to secure a sustainable rock contract and the hiring of a second boat pilot – a position that had been difficult to fill for several years.
Szynskie, MRPO technical support section chief, says they are now working with the district’s River and Reservoir Engineering Section to identify maintenance issues for the 2025 season. They anticipate they will triple the amount of rock placed in 2025 compared to 2024. They are also working with the Kansas City District, which maintains the river downstream of Rulo, and the USACE Marine Design Center, a national center of expertise, to improve maintenance capabilities.
Operations will now focus on equipment and infrastructure maintenance until next season. River operations will resume April 1, 2025, when navigation reopens.