1973 Toad Suck Ferry Lock and Dam #8 on Arkansas River at Conway, AR

(Satellite)

 

Library of Congress via EncyclopediaOfArkansas

The river must get high rather frequently because it is not uncommon to see a photo with all of the gates raised.

Johnny Hooper, GRI, May 2022

This tow is having to double lock because you can see some of the barges on the other side of the downstream gate waiting for the rest of the tow.

Street View, Apr 2021

AR-60 goes over the dam. 

Before the bridge opened in 1973, the Toad Suck Ferry ran. [ArkansasRoadStories, this webpage speculates on the origin of the name]

This source puts the opening date as 1970.

Johnny Dalton, Jun 2018, rotated 12 degrees

April 2025 Flood:

Four scenes from a 0:50 video posted by the USACE, Little Rock District with the comment:

Video from Toad Suck Lock & Dam on April 6, 2025:

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Little Rock District is closing Toad Suck and Arthur V. Ormond locks on April 6, 2025 due to high flows on the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System. Flows are currently around 268,000 cubic feet per second at Toad Suck and 249,000 c.f.s. at Arthur V. Ormond, inundating sector gears that control the locks. The locks will reopen when water levels drop, and the gears are cleaned. This routine operation ensures safe navigation during high water events and highlights the lock design's ability to withstand flooding.

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Did they allow the water to go over the top of the gates before they bothered to raise them? How else could tree debris get on top of the gate's girder? And I'm still trying to figure out how the gate snagged a tree trunk.

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noaa