Mississippi Opens For Commercial Shipping
Hastings, MN (KROC AM News) - The 2015 shipping season on the Upper Mississippi River opened Wednesday morning when a tow pushing 9 barges arrived at Lock and Dam 2 in Hastings.
The Army Corps of Engineers considers the first tow to arrive at Lock and Dam 2 as the unofficial start of the navigation season, because it means all of its locks are accessible to commercial and recreational vessels.
The New Dawn crashed through the ice still covering Lake Pepin to become the first to make it to the Hastings site, beating another tow that had also started up the navigation channel Tuesday.The New Dawn later continued its way to the Twin Cities.
The average opening of the shipping season in recent years has been March 22nd. It was delayed until April 16th last year because of the record thick ice covering parts of Lake Pepin. That was latest opening since 1970, with the exception of 2001 when river traffic was halted due to flooding.
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