For the second time in four months a 240-ton leaf of a main Ohio River miter-gate lock has failed, severely restricting shipping and signaling, once again, that it can be perilous to depend on aging infrastructure.
On Jan. 27, as the main-chamber, downstream gate of the Greenup Lock and Dam, near Greenup, Ky., neared closure, operators heard a pop and the landside leaf canted over, but it did not fall.