Conceptual design alternatives for upstream fish passage on the Upper Ohio River near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

The US Fish and Wildlife Service Region 5 Fish Passage Engineering Team, in cooperation with Region 3’s Carterville Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office, developed conceptual designs for selected fishway alternatives at the three upstream most dams on the Ohio River near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  The effort was part of the Upper Ohio Navigation Study, through which the Upper Ohio Interagency Working Group is examining lock modernization alternatives for Emsworth (18-foot lift, River Mile (RM) 6.2), Dashields (10-foot lift, RM 13.3), and Montgomery (18-foot lift, RM 31.7) Locks and Dams.  A second purpose of the Navigation Study is ecosystem restoration which may provide an opportunity to improve historic connectivity for riverine fish and mussel populations.  Conceptual designs considered dual-vertical slot fishways, nature-like rock ramps, fish lifts, and fish locks as appropriate for the multiple target species and life stages.  Features for the dual-vertical slot designs include: 12-foot by 16-foot pools with 6-inch drops; 6-foot normal depths; and, 1:32 bottom slopes.  The rock ramp designs incorporated 6-inch lifts on the chevron-shaped stone weirs in the 50- to 100-foot wide partial channels.  Fish lifts and fish locks are proposed to be 10-feet minimum width throughout the entrances, hopper or lock chambers, and exit channels.