The size and horsepower of tows navigating the Mississippi River at Vicksburg are in place today after the waterway was reopened to southbound traffic Sunday.

Southbound tows are limited to daylight hours and must be pushed with a 6,000 horsepower vessel. For tows pushed with 7,200 horsepower or greater, a 25-barge maximum is in place and must be guided by a master pilot with experience pushing barges around the river bridges in high water.

Northbound tows are limited to nighttime hours and must maintain at least 3 mph at the bridges. The number of barges on northbound tows is not limited.

“We have additional horsepower at Ergon Marine if they can’t do so,” said Danny Koestler, vice president of Ergon Marine and Industrial Supply, where an information center was set up during the weekend by river industry officials, transportation officials and the Coast Guard. Guidelines cover six river miles immediately north and south of the river bridges and were set after test tows on Sunday were deemed successful by information center officials, Koestler said.

Plans to cut the rest of a 35-foot-wide barge lodged against a support pier beneath the Interstate 20 bridge remain on hold until equipment is ready, said Coast Guard Lt. j.g. Ryan Gomez, public information officer at the Coast Guard’s Vicksburg station. The barge was one of 30 that broke loose from a southbound tow Wednesday on the swollen river.

River stages expected to fall after Tuesday’s forecast crest should help the situation, Gomez said.

“Definitely, it’s going to help over the next couple of weeks,” Gomez said. “The goal is still to remove the barge and keep the river open to traffic.”

The interstate over the bridge was closed to all traffic for nearly three hours immediately after the accident Wednesday afternoon and again Thursday. No closures are expected once a crane can pass safely under the old U.S. 80 bridge to finish slicing the barge from the bridge pier.

The National Weather Service River Forecast Center continued to predict the Mississippi at Vicksburg would crest Tuesday at 43 feet, Vicksburg’s flood stage. The river was at 42.9 feet this morning, up a tenth from Sunday. A half-inch of rain recorded here and two to three inches upriver don’t figure to change the crest, said Marty Pope, senior service hydrologist at the weather service’s Jackson office.

Levels on the river side of the Steele Bayou Water Control Structure on Mississippi 465 stood at 90.7 feet, up two-tenths of a foot. The land side held at 85.4 feet overnight. The structure was holding out 5.3 feet of water from farmland this morning.

Crests are forecast for Wednesday on the land side near 86 feet and 91 feet on the river side.

Eagle Lake was at 76.6 feet this morning, up four one-hundredths of a foot. The Muddy Bayou Control Structure is open and is expected to bring the lake’s stage up to 76.9 feet over several days.