The Chattanooga Times Free Press reports that construction materials are being delivered to the site of the new Chickamauga lock just as the project is being mothballed for lack of funding.

When the existing lock fails or has to be closed for safety reasons, which could be in the next ten years according to the article, barge traffic on the Tennessee River north of Chattanooga will stop.

Barge freight is more cost effective and way more energy efficient than trucks and even rail. This project is expensive, but the current lock has been in operation for more than seventy years.

In the recent 3rd District Congressional race, candidate Mary Headrick offered a plan to fund it based on an increased barge fuel tax that barge operators supported. Her Republican opponent, who won the election, is a "no new taxes" kind of guy who blames Obama for cutting funds for the project.