BRADDOCK, Pa. — With a lock on the Monongahela River drained for repairs as a backdrop, the Army Corps of Engineers, lawmakers and representatives of area coal and steel industries stressed the importance of securing funds for critical upgrades to the region's aging locks and dams.

The Monongahela, Allegheny and Ohio rivers make up a water highway upon which millions of tons of coal, chemicals, metals and other cargo are shipped annually. Locks are essentially water-driven elevators that lift and lower boats so they can pass through dams, which control water levels on the river, enabling navigation.

Two of the Corps' 23 lock and dam facilities — the 100-year-old lock and dam at Elizabeth south of Pittsburgh and those at Emsworth northwest of the city — are "critically near failure" and several others are "not much better," Col. Michael Crall, district engineer for the Pittsburgh district said Thursday.

Lawmakers said they understood the situation and would continue to press for funding.

"If we fail to do this, the rivers fail to work," said Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Pa.

U.S. Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., called the system "the lifeblood of Western Pennsylvania and the nation." Pittsburgh is recognized as one of the largest inland river ports in the country based on tons of goods shipped.

When Congress first authorized upgrades to the lower Monongahela 15 years ago, the cost was about $750 million. That's since increased to $1.2 billion, of which $488 million in funding has been secured, according to Murtha.

Much of the work has been deferred because of federal budget constraints.

Should the Emsworth dam fail, it would isolate river activity around Pittsburgh, Crall said. Public utilities, industry, ecosystems and water supply would be harmed. Nearly 12,000 jobs would be at risk.

Two steel companies, five coal-fired power plants and the nation's largest coke plant would be affected, he said. Coke is coal-derived fuel used in steel production.

"The consumer will pay higher electricity costs as industry pays emergency rates for fuel delivery to power plants. Recreation on the rivers will be severely impacted," he said.

"Jobs will be lost within the navigation industry and the industries it supports. Our regional economy will suffer. Congestion on our highways will increase as more trucks are put on the road."

Without the river transportation system, U.S. Steel would require either 160 railroad cars or 700 trucks a day, instead of 10 barges, to serve its Clairton Coke plant, said Lisa Roudabush, general manager for United States Steel Corp.'s Mon Valley Works.