# Researchers assess impact of lock failure on Upper Mississippi River freight – UW–Madison News

> A University of Wisconsin–Madison report examines the costs of Upper Mississippi lock and dam failures, which would divert freight to highways. The river carries more than $88 billion in goods annually, and the lock and dam maintenance backlog exceeds $1 billion.

- Date: 2018-02-05 · published 2018-02-05T12:00:00.000Z
- Category: report · region US · magnitude low
- Page: https://feedsoft.ai/events/66675-researchers-assess-impact-of-lock-failure-on-upper-mississippi-river-freight-uw
- Commodities: [Barge Freight (St. Louis)](https://feedsoft.ai/c/BARGE.md)

## Why it matters

Aging locks and a large maintenance backlog raise the risk of future barge disruptions, which would lift transport costs for Midwest grain, but the report itself is a policy analysis with no immediate price effect.

## Sources

- news.wisc.edu: https://news.wisc.edu/researchers-assess-impact-of-lock-failure-on-upper-mississippi-river-freight/

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