The spring floodwaters have subsided, but Tulsa’s navigation channel remains closed.
Remember the run-away barges that hit the lock-and-dam at Webbers Falls? Those sunken barges are now preventing the dam from operating. Without the gates, barge traffic cannot pass. That has the navigation channel upstream to Tulsa still closed.
A salvage operation is underway, but there is no clear timetable when the waterway will reopen.
Tulsa Port Director David Yarbrough says the lack for barge traffic is costing an estimated $2-million a day. He says the manufacturers at the port have to find another way to transport and receive their products.