Tenn-Tom Waterway emergency channel is officially open

LOWNDES & MONROE COUNTIES, Miss. (WCBI)- For nearly three months an important section of the Tennessee Tombigbee Waterway has been shut down.

Crews have been working around the clock to remove sandbars left behind by February’s Floods.

As of ten o’clock on Tuesday night, the Tenn-Tom Waterway officially reopened.

Work on an emergency channel is finally complete.

And that means barge traffic and business are moving again.

“Here at the Lux Creek is just slammed packed with the barges and so I just think everyone is anxious and ready to get these barges underway going north,” said general superintendent Jason Colburn.

It has been a long road for ports along the Tenn-Tom Waterway. Companies that normally move their cargo through here have had to find alternate routes.

Now that an emergency channel is open, business can start flowing again.

“We can start getting back to normal with regards to supporting business and industry that use the waterway for moving their cargo and materials,” said Tenn-Tom Waterway Authority Administrator Mitch Mays.

Even with the emergency channel open, that doesn’t mean it’s full speed ahead.

Most of the channel has been opened to 150 feet wide, but dredging continues in some areas.

“There are still some narrow areas, but it’s enough that the barges and tows can make it through. It’s like going from a two-lane road to a one lane road we are trying to put as much notice out to boaters where those areas are. I would also encourage them to pay particular attention to the buoys that have been set by the Coast Guard and travel safely and definitely listen to what the lockmasters are telling people,” said Mays.

During the waterway closure, The Lowndes County Port has been working double time moving cargo north.

Now it has a chance to get back to business as usual.

“We will still be busy with our normal operations but we can kind of get back and settled into our normal daily routine and kind of keep things going,” said Colburn.

Mitch Mays said now that commercial traffic is moving, so can recreational but, they won’t be the priority. Barges and commercial traffic come first, but they will try to fit recreational boaters in where they can. Mays says the waterway should be fully operational in November.