Review of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Restructured Upper Mississippi-Illinois River Waterway Feasibility Study (2004) / Chapter Skim
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1 The Corps of Engineers and the Upper Mississippi River-Illinois Waterway
1 The Corps of Engineers and the Upper Mississippi River-Illinois Waterway
Pages 6-21
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From page 6... ...
The 1930 authorization "represented a turning point" (NRC, 2001) in Upper Mississippi River history, because it resulted in the construction of 26 locks and dams that impounded many stretches of the river, creating a series of navigation pools and a 9-foot navigation channel.
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From page 7... ...
Most of the locks in the Upper Mississippi River-Illinois Waterway (UMR-IWW) are 600 feet (their original length)
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From page 8... ...
Since the 2001 NRC report, the nature of the Corps' feasibility study has broadened beyond the need for transportation improvements; the restructured feasibility study has taken a more holistic approach toward considering the relations between environment, navigation, and the floodplain. Given the emphasis on comprehensive river system planning in the restructured study, the committee will provide a comprehensive review of all aspects of the feasibility study, including economic evaluation, environmental analysis, design and engineering, and plan formulation focusing on key study assumptions.
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From page 9... ...
9 The Corps requested that this NRC Phase II committee produce three documents: (1) a report of the committee's initial impressions of the restructured interim report, (2)
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From page 10... ...
Phase I Committee Report National economic issues such as waterway traffic costs, levels of waterway traffic, forecasts of future grain exports, assumptions regarding ports of grain export, and the ability of shippers to use alternative modes of transportation (e.g., railways) as waterway shipping costs vary, figure prominently in the Corps' feasibility study.
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From page 11... ...
Navigation Economics Forecasting Future Waterway Traffic on the UMR-IWW Good decisions regarding investments in large civil works projects such as lock extensions on the Upper Mississippi River require some consideration of the future demands for those projects. Corps of Engineers locks and dams are intended to have a useful life of many decades.
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From page 12... ...
and Gulf of Mexico ports. These increases could be reflected in a spatial grain model, which could make upward adjustments in waterway shipping rates that link various Upper Mississippi River elevator sites to Lower Mississippi River ports.
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From page 13... ...
model to explain changes in grain shipping modes and export levels with different levels of waterway traffic costs and congestion. The Phase I committee commended the Corps for this development, noting that it represented important conceptual progress beyond earlier models, such as the TCM: "This system model represents a major advance over previous economics models used by the Corps to forecast barge traffic" (NRC, 2001~.
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From page 14... ...
3~. The Phase I committee also recommended that the revised ESSENCE model be implemented by having parameters estimated using empirical data from the UMR-IWW, stating that the Corps should "estimate demand and supply sensitivities to price from studies of current data .
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From page 15... ...
If plausible projections for future waterway traffic levels are to be produced, the fundamental structural factors, or "drivers," that affect regional and global patterns of production, consumption, and trade must be identif~ed and explained. A valid approach for scenario analysis would include an explanation of key drivers (e.g., changes in technology, consumer preferences, global climate, trade policy, population growth)
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From page 16... ...
The credibility of models used to create waterway traffic demand forecasts for the UMR-IWW feasibility study should be validated by their ability to reproduce actual historical patterns of waterway traffic. If the application of past values for the selected drivers could reasonably reconstruct patterns of waterway traffic from 1980 to 2003, for example, the modeling approach and the scenarios developed from it would gain credibility.
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From page 17... ...
Principles and Guidelines: Nonstructural Alternatives The congestion toll described above is one of several nonstructural alternatives that could be used in conjunction with or as a substitute for structural improvements. Before undertaking a billion dollar construction project that will affect river traffic for a decade and have large-scale effects on the environment and river ecology, it should be determined that the level of construction is appropriate to the level of demand.
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From page 18... ...
In particular, information regarding the effects of the existing system of locks, dams, navigation pools, and towboat traffic on river-floodplain ecology is essential. To improve scientific knowledge of Upper Mississippi River ecology, the Corps, the U.S.
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From page 19... ...
Recognizing uncertainties and the limits of knowledge, acting in the face of uncertainties, and monitoring management actions are tenets of an "adaptive management" approach that the Corps is discussing with regard to the UMR-IW~ Integrated Waterway Systems Planning The Upper Mississippi and Illinois Rivers and their floodplains support a variety of activities in addition to commercial navigation, including boating, recreational and commercial fishing, hunting, camping, and sightseeing. These activities are important to both the economics and the quality of life in dozens of communities along the rivers, including several cities.
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From page 20... ...
In reality, the Upper Mississippi River and Illinois Waterway region is one system, with human society interacting with natural systems. An integrated, or holistic, water management approach recognizes this and seeks to explain the relations between ecology, economics, and people, both quantitatively and qualitatively.
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From page 21... ...
Although the Corps of Engineers can help reduce uncertainties in the feasibility study, decisions regarding priorities for uses of this public resource are beyond the agency's purview. The Corps should conduct credible technical analyses, but when the agency must decide on trade-offs between different users, clear direction from Congress would be useful.
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