Wolf Creek Dam work continues to progress

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LCNN - 9-13-2009 at 07:51 PM

Russell Springs Times Journal
"We're pleased with the progress on the project," said US Army Corps of Engineers' Allison Jarrett.

Jarrett, an information officer with the Corps, said the earlier estimate of April 2010 for completion of the most vital work, and a possible reconsideration of the lake's water level, was "very optimistic," but the estimate of October 2010 is more realistic.

Daniel Kozoil, the lead engineer in the technical office at Treviicos-Soletanche said they are progressing well on the repairs to the dam impounding the largest man made lake in the Eastern United States.

He explained that they are familiar with the particular challenges that working inside a dam presents.

"You work on the unseen," Kozoil said. "You know what you are working on when you are doing it but not before. It isn't like working on a tower where you can see anything that is in the way and everything you have done."

Even given that, Kozoil said they have met with no surprises so far and that they have finished nearly 25 percent of the wall through the earthen portion of the dam and into the top of the bedrock.

That first, referred to as the protective wall, is wider than the final barrier wall and goes from the level of the work platform down to a few feet inside the top of the limestone below. He explained that it provides protection for the dam from the forces generated while drilling into the hard formations below, and the concrete pumping necessary to create the new barrier wall.

That final barrier wall is drilled within the protective wall.

In addition to pushing forward with the protective wall, Kozoil said they are beginning work on the barrier wall in the "technique area."

He explained that part of the purpose for those test areas is to prefect the process of installing the deepest, longest wall of its type; calibrate the necessary equipment and work the crews through the process before beginning work on what the Corps has acknowledged is the most structurally compromised areas of the dam, the "critical areas."

Those two areas especially that area formerly referred to as the "wrap-around" where the earthen portion meets the concrete portion of the dam and another area near the north end of the dam are those areas the Corps reports having the most "voids" and instability.FULL STORY CLICK HERE

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