1. Ouachita/Black Rivers Lock Operations
2012 ORVA PDT
Ouachita/Black Rivers Lock Operations
Jerry Stewart
Chief, River Operations
Vicksburg District
07 February 2012
Good morning. On behalf of the Vicksburg District, I am please to welcome you aboard for this Awareness Trip that will hopefully bring you a greater understanding of the district's projects along the Ouachita.
US Army Corps of Engineers
BUILDING STRONG® 1 1

2. Agenda Opening Statements- Colonel Jeffrey Eckstein Introductions
FY12 Work Plan
Level of Service(LOS) for Locks
Inland Marine Transportation System( IMTS)
Water Control
Congressional Perspective
Stakeholder’s Perspective
Next Meeting?
Adjourn

3. OUACHITA & BLACK RIVERS
FY12 Work Plan
Funding Available
$7,304,000
Lock and Dam Cost
Total O&M
$3,771,000
Offsite Costs
$934,000 
Dredging
$1,217,000
Total Navigation
$5,922,000
Recreation (LFO)
TOTAL RECREATION
$1,382,000
Total Cost

4. Inland Marine Transportation System
(IMTS)

5. Ouachita/Black Rivers LOS
2012 ORVA PDT
Ouachita/Black Rivers LOS
Skip Martin
Chief, Monroe Navigation Project Office
07 February 2012
Good morning. On behalf of the Vicksburg District, I am please to welcome you aboard for this Awareness Trip that will hopefully bring you a greater understanding of the district's projects along the Ouachita.
US Army Corps of Engineers
BUILDING STRONG® 5 5

6. Inland Marine Transportation System
IMTS
As a reminder, the IMTS includes a large number of inland waterways across the country including the Columbia-Snake.
12,000 Miles of waterways
Over 200 locks and dams
60% of domestic waterborne
tonnage

7. Introduction/Background
NavLocks Study
Business Process Review
115 Improvement ideas from workforce and industry
To refresh your memory, here is some background on the IMTS. It was created as a result of the NavLocks study conducted in 2007 to During the study, the workforce and industry generated 115 improvement ideas. So we faced a major challenge of finding the way to implement those. So that led us to propose several critical concepts in our draft study report, including the creation of process and structure that goes with the name of the “Inland Marine Transportation System”. We’re give you a quick update on those today.

8. IMTS Structure and Process
IMTS Board of Directors:
Chaired by Deputy CG for Civil Works and Emergency Ops
Members are Division Commanders and HQ USACE Chief of Ops
Working Group: cross section of skills from across IMTS
Action Teams
Composed of experts with hands-on experience (lockmasters, Ops Managers, etc.)
Develop draft outputs for review by workforce and industry, review and approval by Board
Implementation of new standards/policies IMTS-wide by Board of Directors
IMTS Board
Of Directors
Working
Group
Action
Teams
I also want to remind you that the heart of the IMTS concept is a structure and a process. The IMTS structure and process was created to implement the improvements ideas from the workforce and industry. The key concept for it all is to have an open process with participation by our workforce and by the industry users.
Key: an open process with participation by workforce and industry users

9. Recent Progress LOMA-AIS Implementation Enhanced Communications
Levels of Operating Service
Standardized Position Descriptions
Human Capital Improvements
Now let’s talk about the progress we have made. Here is a list of the some of the recent improvements we have worked on. We will discuss each one of these in detail.
Lock Operator uses the AIS hardware and software system to help lock boats through
Installing AIS hardware at project 9

10. Levels of Operating Service
Driver: expected budget reductions
Uniform and consistent process to evaluate Levels of Operating Service
Key element of process: user input
Levels of Service Guide
Another area that we have completed recently is to look at how to change our levels of operating service. I’m sure everyone has heard the news about the intense pressure to reduce costs at the federal government as well as state and local government units. We expect budget reductions to occur. So we want a uniform and consistent process to evaluate our Levels of Operating Service at Navigation Locks and Dams that will help us meet these budget constraints. So we formed an Action team and worked hard to develop a well thought-out process. We have developed a Levels of Service Guide to help identify potential areas to evaluate for changing the levels of service. We have an IMTS Handbook that spells out the process to follow for evaluating the levels of service and making the changes. Of course, a key element of the process is to get user input.
Budget cuts force change

11. 18 September 2018

12. PROPOSED LEVEL OF SERVICE BASED ON LOCKAGE DATA 2006 - 2011
YEAR
Jonesville Lockages
Columbia Lockages
Level Of Service
Description
2006
964
787 2
16 to 20 hours a day
2007
984
696
7 days a week
2008
934
711
365 days a year
2009
757
540
2010
707
562
2011
601
375
Average
825
612
Felsenthal Lockages
Thatcher Lockages 5
Lockages on weekends
214
213
and holidays only.
198
197
161
162
200
196
238
221 92 83
184
179

13. PROPOSED LOCKING SCHEDULE
Mid Summer 2012:
Jonesville, Columbia – , / 7days/365
Double Cut Tows – , / 7days/365
Felsenthal, & Thatcher – , / 7days/365
Post IMTS LOS Implementation in 2013:
Jonesville & Columbia – , / 7days/365
Felsenthal & Thatcher – , / Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, & Holidays (if so directed)

14. PROPOSED TRANSITION TIMELINE
07 Feb 2012 PDT meeting at Tensas Basin Levee District Office with ORVA, waterway users, and local media to inform them of Level of Service changes 12 March 2012 Advertise Changes in Hours of Operation for each L&D in the Federal Register for 30 days 01 May 2012 Present Implementation Plan to MVK Leadership Mid Summer 2012 Begin Following IMTS Level of Service 2 Lockage Guidelines at all four Locks and Dams During 2013 Begin Following IMTS Level of Service 5 Lockage Guidelines at Felsenthal and Thatcher

15. Water Control

16. Congressional Perspective

17. Stakeholders/Users Perspective

18. Questions