Morganza Spillway weir, two sluice gates, seventeen scour indicators, and 125 gated openings which can allow up to of water to be diverted from the Mississippi River into the Atchafalaya Basin during major floods. The project was completed in 1954. A highway (Louisiana Route 1) and the Kansas City Southern Railway cross the structure The Corps of Engineers maintains the structures and, in times of flood, monitors their piers for scouring and stability. The Corps of Engineers has two 25-ton cranes used to lift and lower the flood gates. The cranes roll on special tracks next to the roadway, enabling the operators
Morganza Spillway still open. All bays were closed on July 7, 2011. The Corps had estimated that it would take opening one-fourth of the spillway’s 125 bays — or 31 bays — to control the flow of the river through Baton Rouge in response to a forecast crest of anticipated on Tuesday, May 17, 2011, which must remain below of water per second through Baton Rouge to ensure the integrity of the levee system. Since Morganza never operated above , the flooding in the Atchafalaya Basin was considerably lower than had been anticipated during the initial estimates of . By May 29,