Navigation Conditions at McAlpine Locks and Dam, Ohio River. Hydraulic Model Investigation.

McAlpine Locks and Dam are located on the Ohio River near Louisville, Kentucky, 606.8 miles below Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The locks are located in a bypass canal on the left overbank landward of Shippingport Island. A powerhouse is located along the left bank adjacent to the downstream end of Shippingport Island, and a four-gated spillway section is located adjacent to the powerhouse. A fixed-crest weir extends for the four-gated spillway section upstream 6,600 ft generally parallel to the right band to an upper five-gated spillway section which is connected to the right bank with a 1,200-ft-long fixed-crest weir just upstream of the Pennsylvania Railroad bridge. The structures, designed to maintain a minimum upper pool during low flows extending about 75 miles upstream to Markland Locks and Dam near Warsaw, Kentucky, include a navigation lock with clear chambers dimensions of 110 ft wide by 1,200 ft long located at the lower end of a 1.75-mile-long canal along the left bank and two auxiliary locks between the main lock and left bank that are out of service. A fixed-bed model reproduced about 8.5 miles of the Ohio River channel, the lock approach canal, and adjacent overbank areas to an undistorted scale of 1120.