The design for the new lock at LaGrange is in the investigation and data gathering phase. The new 1200' lock will be constructed landward of the existing 600' lock chamber. Hydraulic engineers are utilizing numeric models to evaluate design configurations for navigation approach conditions and sedimentation. Hydraulic engineers at the US Army Corps of Engineers Engineering Research and Development Center (ERDC) in Vicksburg, MS are constructing a 1:120 scale physical navigation model. The physical model will model the river approximately 4 miles upstream and 4 miles downstream of the site. The physical model is an important tool in evaluating existing conditions and screening potential lock/approach channel configurations. Numeric and physical models are used together to verify results and design the new lock and approach configurations to optimize navigation approach conditions. The numeric and physical models will also be used to evaluate conditions during construction.

Extensive design investigations are scheduled to take place, as funding permits, in the next few years. Geotechnical explorations will take place to identify the subsurface materials. Lock type concept studies will be completed to evaluate lock component configurations to determine a low cost design that will meet the design life expectancy requirements for the lock. Mussel and habitat investigations will document existing conditions and be used to develop mitigation requirements for the construction of the new lock.

The Upper Mississippi River System (UMRS) is a vital part of our national economy and a valuable ecological resource. The system includes the Upper Mississippi River from Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Cairo, Illinois; the Illinois Waterway from Chicago to Grafton, Illinois; and navigable portions of the Minnesota, St. Croix, Black and Kaskaskia Rivers. The UMRS ecosystem refers to the entire floodplain area and associated physical, chemical, and biological components, and the UMR-IWW navigation system refers to 1,200 miles of 9-foot navigation channel, 37 lock and dam sites, and thousands of channel training structures. The 1,200 miles of 9-foot channel created by the 37 locks and dams allow waterway traffic to move from one pool to another providing an integral regional, national, and international transportation network.