Kerr/McClellan Navigational Channel

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Inland waterway system with Kerr/McClellan Navigational Channel shown in red.

The Kerr/McClellan Navigational Channel or Arkansas River Navigational System is part of the inland waterway system originating at the Tulsa Port of Catoosa and running southeast through Oklahoma and Arkansas to the Mississippi River, following the Arkansas and Verdigris Rivers.

Through Oklahoma and Arkansas, dams artificially deepen and widen this modest sized river to build it into a commercially navigable body of water somewhere between Fort Smith, Arkansas and Pine Bluff, according to the season. From this point to its mouth, the Arkansas sustains commercial barge traffic and offers passenger and recreational use and is little more than a series of reservoirs.

[edit] Construction

The Arkansas river is very shallow through Arkansas and Oklahoma, and is incapable of supporting river traffic though most of the year. To allow for navigation, construction was started in 1963 on a system of channels and locks to connect the many resevoirs along the length of the Arkansas River. The first section, running to Little Rock, Arkansas, opened in 1968. The first barge to reach the Port of Catoosa arrived in early 1971.

Each lock measures 110 feet wide and 600 feet long, the standard size for much of the Mississippi River waterway. Standard jumbo barges, measuring 35 by 195 feet, are grouped 3 wide by 3 long, with a tug at center rear, to form a barge packet which can be fit into a lock. Larger barge packets must be broken down and passed through the lock in sections, and rejoined on the opposite side.

[edit] Lock information

The following tables list the features of the navigation system, from the Mississippi River to the origin at the Port of Catoosa. Note that there is no lock 11, and the Mississippi River lock is not numbered.

[edit] External links

• Animated Map of navigation system
• An Outline History of the Arkansas River