irjci - Barge operators along a key stretch of the Mississippi River are bracing for months of shipping delays as the Army Corps of Engineers prepares to blast rock formations that are impeding river traffic because of low water levels, The Associated Press reports. Contractors from Iowa and Ohio will begin drilling holes into the river's bedrock near Thebes, Ill., and detonating explosives this week. They expect to remove enough rock to fill 50 dump trucks.The decision to blast the rock comes at the same time as a Corps decision to release water from Carlyle Lake in southern Illinois to increase the river's depth by six inches so barges can pass the rock formations as the rubble is hauled away. A six-mile stretch of the river will be closed to shipping today until 10 p.m. so the explosives can be detonated safely. Then, barges will have to line up, waiting to be flagged through the stretch one at a time, a process that could take up to eight hours.(Read more)