Smithland Locks and Dam on the Ohio River

US Government, that is the highest propwash I have ever seen

Driving north on US-45 through Brookport, IL, I saw a sign indicating a right-turn would take me to Smithland Locks and Dam. So I turned. But after driving several miles and having no clue how far away it was, I turned around and continued home. When I got home, I studied a map and decided that it was feasible to see it if I then continued north rather than backtrack. So after my second trip across the Blue Hummer Bridge, I headed east from Brookport. There was another sign at New Liberty indicating the needed left-hand turn. And then a sign at Smithland Dam Road indicating where I needed to turn right.

Photo from US Government

After driving down that road for a bit, we noticed a little "Authorized Personnel Only" sign hanging under another sign. The road was narrow with no shoulder, so I wasn't going to try a multi-point turn, and I continued to the dam. But the dam has no visitor center, and it has a fence around everything. Thus this posting uses some government pictures instead of mine. (In retrospect, the first "No Authorized" sign might have been for a side road. Nonetheless, the dam is very visitor unfriendly.)

This dam was authorized in 1965 and became operational in 1980 to replace Dams 50 and 51. It has two 110x1200-foot locks. "This was the first structure of this size on the Ohio River and was then the world’s largest twin navigational locks system." (ACoE) Its eleven 36x110-foot Tainter gates create a pool differential of 22 feet.

Copyleft: cropped from a Chris Light photo

Voyages of Annie

The photo on the right comes from a blog that has gone on my "to read" list.

Neat aerial pictures of the dam being flooded: 2010, note that the river is still open to traffic; April 2011; and May 2011.

I include my pictures to document how visitor unfriendly this dam is. They were all taken from the van because of the bad vibes the place exuded. (Dresden Dam does not have a formal visitor center either. But it has two layers of fencing and a "Visitors Welcomed" sign at the open gate in the outer layer that allows you to get close to the lock.)

As I was still on the approach road, I took the following picture.

20150730 3675c

Note the crane on the other side of the river. It would be part of the hydroelectric facility that has been under construction since 2010.

When I arrived at the fence, I took the following upstream and downstream pictures. I didn't take a picture to the front out of the windshield because it was just some buildings.

As a consolation prize, I did catch a deer that was leaving the road as we left.

Michael Haynes posted
4 - 4000’s at Smithland Dam 1978

Michael Haynes posted again
Hal Williams Best crane I ever operated.
Matt Mohd Ji Yap.....4000W with #22.
Michael Haynes Matt Mohd Ji and 4000 with #17 tubular boom.
Matt Mohd Ji Theres another mani behind that 170" boom.

Jeff Kelly posted
Southbound

Jeff Kelly posted