House Passes Legislation to Help Fund Chickamauga Lock

Congress passed the ABLE act Wednesday evening after a big push from Tennessee Congressman Chuck Fleishmann.
He encouraged the House of Representatives in Washington to keep money flowing into waterways.

"There’s a key portion of this act a provision which is going to fix a broken problem," said Fleishmann on Wednesday.

That problem really showed it’s face in late October, when the Chickamauga Lock had to be shut down for more than a week for repairs.
Completing a new lock has been a financial challenge, but Fleishmann said this provision would add a $.9 barge fuel tax that would bring in about $40-million for waterways across the nation.

"What that will mean is that Locks like the Chickamauga Lock in Chattanooga which is near and dear to our district and locks all over  this country will now be able to be properly funded in the way in which it was intended," Fleishmann said.
State leaders say construction on the lock could begin as early as 2016.