The 1963 road across the top was removed in 2017 because a UCEB (Ugly Concrete Eyesore Bridge) replaced it.
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| TVA "Fort Loudoun Reservoir, located on the Tennessee River at Knoxville, is the uppermost in the chain of nine TVA reservoirs that form a continuous navigable channel from there to Paducah, Kentucky, 652 miles away....It has a flood-storage capacity of 111,000 acre-feet....Barges passing through the Fort Loudoun lock carry about half a million tons of cargo a year." Fort Loudoun Lock commented on a similar photo in a post: Modified tainter gate design at Fort Loudoun Dam with "split" capability where the gate can be operated in 2 different sections or both sections moved together as one gate. (View here is downstream side of dam) [Other comments indicate the two white rectangles on top are cranes that manually open the gates. I'd like to find a photo with just the top section raised. I looked at all of the photos collected here and the gates don't look like they are split. So I'm confused.] |
The lock is just 360' x 60', but it has a 70' lift. "Fort Loudoun Dam is a hydroelectric facility. It has four generating units with a summer net dependable capacity of 151 megawatts. Net dependable capacity is the amount of power a dam can produce on an average day, minus the electricity used by the dam itself." [TVA] When built, the dam had a nameplate capacity of 144.5 MW. [GEO] The turbines have been upgraded because the current nameplate capacity has to be higher than the net capacity of 151 MW. And because a photo below shows one of the old turbines is on display. Upgrades began in 2008. [news-herald]
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| USACE The highway bridge over the dam was added in 1963. |
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| Fort Loudoun Lock posted As of 815pm this evening (Sunday, 9/24 [2023]) the M/V Kelly Lee has finished locking through at Fort Loudoun Lock and has departed the upper guard wall. The lock is fully available at this time for recreational boaters! 🙂 Here are some Kelly Lee action pics sent in by our FB followers. Also, we exceeded 8,000 followers on this Fort Loudoun Lock Facebook page over the weekend! 🙂 Yay! Thanks to all for the support, sending us great content and the continuing interest/enthusiasm in our navigation mission on the gorgeous Tennessee River! |
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| 0:18 video @ 0:14, Jan 20, 2023 |
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| 0:36 video @ 0:04 It's a beautiful day, but more rain is coming. The region is forecasted to receive up to 3 inches of rainfall this week. As a result, we are recovering flood storage at many of our tributary dams and spilling excess water at all 9 dams on the Tennessee River. 📸: Fort Loudoun Dam |
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| Kevin Lackey posted J.E. Potter coming out of Ft Louden lock on the Tenn River. Robert Sampley: Good boat for its size. [To push three barges through this lock, the boat had to be less than 60'. A lot higher resolution via TSLA] |
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| Photo via TSLA |
The above is looking upstream, this one is looking downstream.
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| Fort Loudoun Lock posted The sun 🌞 & warm weather today resulted in a couple of pontoons deciding to lock downbound at Fort Loudoun Lock to enjoy the gorgeous Tennessee River. 🙂 If you are docked up on Fort Loudoun or Tellico Lakes please consider coming to see us, locking through the lock and enjoying the scenery downriver a bit. Our lock operators enjoy working with the recreational boaters so don't be a stranger! 🙂 |
The lock can hold just one jumbo barge and its towboat.
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| Photo via TSLA |
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| Matthew Green, Feb 2021 |
The gates are still opening in this photo. And we can see the new bridge.
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| J. Thurow, Jul 2018 |
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| Fort Loudoun Lock posted An upbound recreational vessel being raised up / locked upstream inside our lock chamber yesterday at Fort Loudoun Lock. The upper concrete miter sill & steel upper miter gates holding the lake above. We're so appreciative & glad to share these wonderful pics that our many enthusiastic stakeholders see fit to send to us! 🙂 📸 Credit ~ Edward Upchurch Pickwick Lock shared Nice photo from one of our stakeholders locking through yesterday at Fort Loudoun Lock. The lock chamber in the photo is 60 ft wide and 360 ft long. Just imagine being in Pickwick's big lock at 110 ft wide and 1000 ft long. |
Fort Loudoun Lock posted two photos with the comment: hese are the two different views you would see from inside the lock chamber at Fort Loudoun Lock with a 72' max lift/drop if/when you decided to lock through upbound/downbound in your recreational vessel. Don't let the large miter gates make you too wary, because everyone who visits us reports a "fun, safe, and enjoyable locking experience! 🙂 "
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This May 2018 capture shows the new bridge exists and the road across the dam has been removed.
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| Street View, May 2018 |
The current Google Maps satellite image is rather old because the switch between old and new bridges was done in July 2017 and cost $71m. The TVA refused to let the old bridge stand as a trail bridge because it "deemed the structure unable to withstand a cataclysmic flood or earthquake and too costly to upgrade its construction." [KonxNews]
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| Satellite |
The new US-321 bridge took a lot of curves out of the road.
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| Satellite |
Philip caught the dam spilling water. This is another reminder that 2019 was "wet" almost everywhere in the US.
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| Philip Roberts, May 2019 |
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| iidosee, Nov 2020 Note the old turbine. |
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| Robert Edlund, Apr 2017 |
Note that they sometimes fine tune the spillage.
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| Robert Edlund, Apr 2017 |
When the dam is not spilling water, boats get rather close to the outflow of the power plant.
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| Peter Fendi, Apr 2018 |
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| Fort Loudoun Lock posted This beautiful picture was taken this past Friday [Apr 28, 2023] evening from the downstream side of Fort Loudoun Lock & Dam. The powerhouse is on the far left and Fort Loudoun Lock is on the far right on the opposite side of the river. Special 📸 credit and big thanks to our local Facebook supporter, Mr. Brad Pritchett, for sending this one along to us! |
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| Screenshot, 2021 |
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| Fort Loudoun Lock posted |
They also dammed the Tellico River to force the water from that river to flow through the hydropower plant.
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| Street View |
As part of that river diversion, they also dug a short canal between the rivers.
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| Satellite, the canal is in the lower-right corner. |
Fort Loudoun Lock posted three photos with the comment: "The Motor Vessel Gene Neal is locking through this morning with four big ones! These red flag barges are each 295' to 300' long and 54' feet wide! These type of barges make it difficult and often impossible to lock recreational vessels in between lockage cuts of these barges at these smaller 360' x 60' locks. Recreational boaters needing to lock through today should call us for an update and plan on the early afternoon at the earliest as far as this Gene Neal departing the lock. (Lock Operator on duty 865-986-2762 - Option 1)"
Reff Ratledge shared
Elvis Elvis: Blame Marathon for demanding 4 barges at a time.
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| Screenshot The USCG Cutter, "Ouachita" locked through upbound again today headed up to Knoxville. This US Coast Guard vessel performs buoy & day marker maintenance for the main navigation channel. |
Pickwick Lock shared three photos posted by TVA with the comment: "Rainfall from the remnants of TS Fred continues to fall across the eastern half of the Tennessee River basin. Areas along the mountains of Tennessee, N Carolina, and Georgia have seen upwards of 2-6+ inches. Tributary reservoirs like Fontana, Blue Ridge, Nottely, Chatuge, and Douglas are storing water, and lake levels are rising. As a result of high local inflows and runoff from the mountains, we are going into spill operations at Fort Loudoun and Chickamauga Dams on the upper Tennessee River."
[The third photo is Fort Loudoun instead of Chickamauga, so I'm assuming the other two are here also.]
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TVA posted three photos with the comment: "Fort Loudoun Dam is celebrating its 79th birthday with some upgrades to Unit 1! The original turbine and generator rotor are being pulled to make way for a brand new turbine and allow new generator components to be installed. The upgrades will keep Fort Loudoun providing clean, renewable power for decades to come."
Max Jolley: 80 years out of a turbine and generator 😃 Holy cow.....
[It will be interesting to see of the new stuff lasts 80 years.]
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TVA posted four photos with the comment: "Our dams and the equipment that runs them are massive in scale! During the construction of Fort Loudoun Dam, large pieces of equipment like the four Kaplan turbines, some weighing up to 182 tons, were lifted in place by the dam's gantry crane. Fort Loudoun is the uppermost of nine hydroelectric dams and navigation locks on the Tennessee River"
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| 3 David Westerfield: Knocker Wrench. Common Practice! |
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Fort Loudoun Lock posted three photos with the comment: "A rare sighting of the James H & River Salvage Company locking through upbound late this afternoon at Fort Loudoun Lock. This unit is headed up the Little Tennessee River for some salvage operations of one kind or another. When we see this vessel it usually means that a large boat or barge has sunk someplace, but this unit has all kinds of different capability. Stay safe, James H!"
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| 1 of 5 posted by Fort Loudoun Lock We locked this M/V Raleigh tow with "Little Clyde" helper boat headed upbound yesterday at Melton Hill Lock on the Clinch River with a new electrical transformer headed to the TVA Bull Run Fossil Plant. What goes up must come back down! 🙂 Today we locked this same tow downbound at Melton Hill Lock with the old transformer that was replaced. Credit to our Fort Loudoun Lock maintenance staff for keeping Melton Hill operational & properly maintained so we can successfully do our part to contribute to the reliability of power, which in turn benefits the larger economy of the Tennessee Valley! |
Fort Loudoun Lock posted two photos with the comment: "The motor vessel, Gene Neal began locking earlier this evening. Here's a couple of pics of this tow arriving in the lower approach area & beginning to lock their first barge at Fort Loudoun Lock. This vessel will be locking all night continuing into the early morning hours. The lock should be fully available again for recreational boaters when we open back up at 7am tomorrow morning. 📸 🤳 to Cathy Selber Thanks, Cathy!! "
Michael Pruitt: Why does it take that long for this particular vessel?
Fort Loudoun Lock: Michael Pruitt Standard jumbo commercial barges are most common at 195'-200' long x 35' wide and can fit in the chamber along with a smaller/shorter towboat to push them through if needed. However, these tows like the Gene Neal with larger red flag barges are 295' - 300' in length x 54' wide and no towboat can fit inside the lock chamber together with these red flag barges. As such, we have to pull them out one at a time with our tow haulage unit, which takes longer. (Our lock chamber is only 360' x 60' - same story at Watts Bar & Chickamauga Locks) Some recent changes in our operations to improve safety has also contributed to longer lockages for these vessels. Also, it many times is difficult to lock recreational boaters in between each of the lockages. The width of 54' takes up any/all available space for a recreational boat to navigate around to enter the lock chamber. (Difficult to explain on FB, but easy to see if/when you're in your boat & want to get locked through. 🙂 Hope that helps.....
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| Cathy Selber commented on the above post 10 pm. 4 hours and still 2 barges to get through! Sure is a long night for that crew!! |
Fort Loudoun Lock posted three photos with the comment: "Some final pics from the Pinta from her lock through earlier this morning at Fort Loudoun Lock. ~ 📸 credit to @DanPodPhotography Thanks, Dan Podsobinski"
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| Fort Loudoun Lock posted, cropped The Pinta departed Fort Loudoun Lock at 8am this morning (10/31) headed downriver towards Watts Bar Lock on her way to her final East Tennessee River area stop at the pier in downtown Chattanooga along the riverfront where this vessel will remain from November 3rd through the 19th! |
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| Brandy Fraser commented on the above psot We visited last week so cool Ellen Campbell Marsh: I hope people will visit the Pinta while she is docked. Fascinating to see how small it was and imagine the voyages in a vessel this size across the Atlantic Ocean. |
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| Tony Russel commented on the above post |
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| 1 of 4 photos posted by Fort Loudoun Lock he Bearcat locking upbound this afternoon with 1 loaded barge on her way to Knoxville. Safe travels, Bearcat crew! |
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| Screenshot @ 0:09 When Mother Nature poured large amounts of rain in many areas of the region last week, engineers in our River Forecast Center and dedicated teams at each of our dams swung into action. By managing high volumes of water, stored stormwater at the large tributary dams, and releases from the dams on the Tennessee River, they reduced the potential for downstream flooding and helped avert more than $10 million in damage. Estimated flood damages averted: Fayetteville, TN - Elk River: $6,700,000 Chattanooga, TN - Tennessee River: $2,200,000 Clinton, TN - Clinch River: $2,200,000 |
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| Screenshot @ 0:11 |
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| 0:55 video @ 0:00 |
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