The Wilson Lock on the Tennessee River is projected to reopen around June 30, 2025, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Nashville District.
“This is ahead of the current scheduled completion date of July 8,” said Tim Fudge, operations division chief.
The main lock, located at Tennessee River mile 259.4, has been closed since September 2024 after engineers identified cracking in the chamber gates and pintle assemblies — the hinge components for the 650-ton miter gate leaves.
Since January, crews from the Nashville and Huntington Districts’ Regional Rivers Repair Fleet’s Heavy Capacity Fleet have worked on extensive repairs. The Corps also collaborated with the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), which fabricated new pintle assembly components and provided key technical assistance.
Among the major repairs completed were additional bracing to the heel section of the gate leaves and valve repairs. Non-destructive testing on welds and protective painting were finished last weekend. This week, crews are applying ceramic metal to the gate’s embedded quoin blocks — precise work needed to ensure components align and fit within required tolerances. Once complete, teams will remove temporary bulkheads and equipment in preparation to rewater the chamber and resume lock operations.
“This has been a major lift for USACE and our TVA partners,” said Lt. Col. Guillermo Guandique, Nashville District commander. “From the unscheduled nature of the outage to the high-water events and the custom-fabrication needs — the team overcame major challenges. I’m incredibly proud of the way our team communicated with the navigation industry, stayed mission-focused, and delivered this repair safely and professionally."
While the main lock was out of service, the auxiliary lock — a pair of 60'x300' chambers operated in tandem — remained open. Lock operators worked continuously to keep river traffic moving, although the smaller dimensions significantly increased transit times for large commercial tows.
“During the outage of the main navigation lock, our lock operators stepped up to the challenge and worked around the clock to move barges one at a time through the auxiliary lock,” said lock master Brian Brewer.
The emergency repairs to Wilson Lock are estimated to cost $20 million. The lock, which measures 110'x600', features the highest single-lift east of the Rocky Mountains, raising or lowering vessels between 93' and 100'.
