Researchers
Ray Mundy
James F. Campbell
About the research
A system of 37 locks and dams has been constructed along the Upper Mississippi River and Illinois Waterway (UMR-IW) to provide reliable commercial inland navigation. This infrastructure has a limited throughput and delays at locks and dams create congestion, bottlenecks and inefficiencies at certain critical segments of the UMR-IW system. Over one million barge-hours are wasted annually waiting in these queues. These hours both decrease the total quantity of goods that can be moved, and increase the transportation costs of goods that are moved on the UMR-IW. This project will adopt a complementary approach that seeks to reduce congestion by employing an intelligent appointment system at the existing locks.
Funding Sources:
Midwest Transportation Consortium