ROCK ISLAND, Illinois -- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Rock Island District, invites the public and media to attend a christening ceremony for the new “Quad Cities” heavy-lift crane barge at the River Heritage Park in Davenport, Iowa, Thursday, May 13, at 4 p.m.
Public tours of the crane barge will be available prior to the ceremony from 9 a.m.-2 p.m. and following the ceremony until 6 p.m. Additional public tours will be available from 9 a.m.-4 p.m., Friday, May 14. Closed-toe, flat-surface shoes are required for anyone wishing to tour the vessel and a facial cover is required for those attending the ceremony or participating in tours. Due to limited parking at River Heritage Park, ceremony attendees are asked to park in the adjacent Quad Cities Times parking lot across Highway 67.
The new Quad Cities is the largest heavy-lift crane barge on the Mississippi River and is being dedicated to the cities of Davenport, Bettendorf, Rock Island, Moline, and East Moline. It replaces the Rock Island District’s older “Quad Cities” crane as part of the Mississippi River Project’s Structures Maintenance fleet located at the Mississippi River Project Office in Pleasant Valley, Iowa. The older “Quad Cities” has a lift capacity of 350 tons and has been used by the Rock Island District since 1986.
The new crane, a Seatrax Series S140, Model S14440, housed on a barge, includes a 193-foot boom that can rotate a full 360 degrees. It’s 500-ton lift capacity is designed specifically for lifting lock and dam gates at Corps of Engineers facilities on the Upper Mississippi River. The crane and its crew are considered a regional asset supporting projects outside Rock Island District on the Mississippi River, Illinois Waterway, and other areas of the country.
The Mississippi River Project Office is the largest federal employer in Scott County, Iowa, employing 275 people with nearly 100 of them living and working in the Quad Cities. The project is responsible for maintaining the nine-foot channel on 314 miles of the Upper Mississippi River from Potosi, Wisconsin, to Saverton, Missouri, which includes operating and maintaining 14 locks, 11 dams and 1,200 regulating structures.
For more information about the christening ceremony, please contact the Rock Island District Corporate Communications office at (309) 794-5729.