The gates on the locks in Ballard are getting old and they are due for replacement.  I had seen that they had drained the locks to start this process and went down to have a look.  However, they had finished the first phase of work and reopened the locks to traffic, so they were full again.  I was pretty disappointed but was told that there were more phases to come so I headed back at the beginning of the second phase.  They weren’t fully drained but most of the water was gone.  You could see the portals where the water flows when the locks are in use.

There are gates outside the normal gates which can be used to close off the water when the main gates need work done.  These were closed off.  The main gates are not the initial focus.  The intermediate gate is the first one to be replaced and it was already gone when I was there.  There will be more chances to check this out so I shall go back at some point.