Nearly 20 years after beginning construction and $1.23 billion later, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Charleroi Lock and Dam in Monessen, Pa., is scheduled to be completed later this year.
Barging, it turns out, is a close, insular world of locks and dams, skilled workers and entitled executives, Dunkin’ Donuts and filet mignon. And underpinning it all are scores of earnest, hard-working people whose contributions to our region go largely unnoticed.