In 1992, the federal government announced that a major reconstruction of outdated locks and dams on the Monongahela River between Braddock and Charleroi would be finished in 2004 and cost $705 million.

But after years of federal funding shortfalls, the Lower Monongahela River Project is to be finished in 2019 and will cost a whole lot more than the budgeted price. It is being built by the Army Corps of Engineers.

"This project is woefully behind schedule," said James McCarville, executive director of the Port of Pittsburgh Commission, an advocacy group for river-related issues and industry. "Both the president and Congress have been underbudgeting, and we now are facing very serious consequences."

In the federal government's fiscal 2005 budget, the project was appropriated $31.6 million. For fiscal 2006, the project is expected to get either $50.8 million or $46 million, depending on allocations to be determined by Congress this fall.

"We appreciate the increase, but the U.S. Army Corps could easily spend $63 million a year to get it moving forward," McCarville said.

The project is what is called a "two-for-three replacement plan." It involves replacing the fixed crest dam at Braddock with a new gated dam, building twin 84-by-720-foot locks at Charleroi to replace smaller, antiquated ones, and removing the Elizabeth Locks and Dam 3, which was built in 1907 and renovated in 1980, but is deteriorating.

The project will create a single navigational pool 30 miles long and cause the river to rise 5 feet between Braddock and Elizabeth and drop 3.2 feet between Elizabeth and Charleroi.

For the next decade or more, river traffic will have to rely on a single lock operating in Charleroi. The deteriorating Elizabeth locks and dam will have to be repaired, even though it is scheduled to be torn down.

"If that lock goes down, the river will be cut in two pieces. People on the lower Monongahela River will be cut off," said Mark Devinney, president of Waterways Association of Pittsburgh.

"That is a very real concern for us," said Devinney, whose organization represents the interests of towing companies, barge lines and river terminals.

Jeanine Hoey, the Army Corps project manager, said the corps might raise the water level between Braddock and Elizabeth within the next two years but not until municipal facilities, such as sewer outfalls, are relocated. Work is beginning on those projects.

The Port Perry Bridge, a Norfolk Southern Railroad bridge between Duquesne and North Versailles, also will have to be elevated before the water level can be adjusted.

Hoey said the federal government and Norfolk Southern will share the costs of adjusting the bridge.

At its lowest point, the bridge is 45.6 feet above the navigation channel. Since the water level in that pool will be raised 5 feet, the bridge's vertical clearance will be 1.9 feet lower than required by the Coast Guard.

The federal government will pay about $25 million to relocate municipal facilities, such as the outfalls, in affected communities. These include Dravosburg, Elizabeth borough and township, Forward, Glassport, McKeesport, North Versailles, Duquesne, Charleroi, Monongahela, New Eagle and Rostraver, West Elizabeth and West Mifflin.

She said private businesses, such as marinas and terminals, will be responsible for paying for their own relocations, or doing dredging where water levels are lowered.

McCarville said the Port of Pittsburgh had created a revolving loan fund that can help private companies finance the required improvements.

Hoey said the Lower Monongahela River Project was now budgeted at $750 million, but that figure is based on a completion date of 2008 and is out of date.

A new, higher cost figure, based on completion in 2019, will be calculated later this year.

The first major phase of the project, the construction of the new Braddock Dam, was opened and dedicated in May 2004.

Its construction relied on an innovative in-the-wet technique where pieces of the dam were fabricated and then floated 27 miles upstream on the Ohio and Monongahela to Braddock.

In Charleroi, the smallest of the two locks was closed in April 2004, leaving one 56-foot by 720-foot lock in operation during the preparations for the construction of the new locks.

Hoey said dedication and ground-breaking ceremonies for portions of the Charleroi Locks and Dams 4 project would be held this summer. She said the dedication would mark the completion of one $7.9 million demolition contract to remove the floor and gates of the old lock.

The ground-breaking is to mark the beginning of a $96.5 million contract to construct a new lock chamber river wall, a project that is expected to be finished in 2010. The Trumbull Corp. and Brayman Construction Corp. , a joint venture, is the contractor.

The Charleroi project began in 2000 when submerged dikes were constructed. In 2002, construction began on an access road and bridge and two new operation buildings.

Hoey said Locks and Dam 3 in Elizabeth won't be removed before 2015 or 2016.

McCarville said the project was critical to the region's economy, providing waterways transportation for industries that are vital to the country.

According to Army Corps of Engineers figures, the Charleroi Locks handle about 19 million tons of freight per year and the Elizabeth Locks and Dam 3 handle about 17.1 million tons of freight.

McCarville called it a "failure of government" not to fund the Lower Monongahela River Project at an adequate level.

"This should be a poster child for how not to do a project," he said about the federal funding.