Dam Project Looking Good ! Garner reports from russell Co.

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Published: December 08, 2008 06:00 am print this story email this story comment on this story

Russell judge pleased with Dam project

Garner: ‘I’m satisfied with what they’re doing’
By BILL MARDIS, Editor Emeritus
Commonwealth Journal

Russell County Judge-Executive Mickey Garner says he is very satisfied with information gleaned at a recent meeting with officials of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Treviicos-Soletanche JV, general contractor for the barrier wall project at Wolf Creek Dam.

“They are very open. They want us to know what is going on,” said Garner. “I’m satisfied with what they’re doing.”

Wolf Creek Dam, a mile-long concrete and earthen structure that impounds Lake Cumberland, is on the Cumberland River in the western part of Russell County. The dam has a serious seepage problem and a $341.4 million contract has been awarded to Treviicos Soletanche JV to insert a concrete barrier wall through the earthen section of the dam and deep into the limestone bedrock beneath the structure.

Garner said Corps and JV (joint venture of Treviicos-Soletanche) officials told him that a Somerset contractor has been hired to widen the work platform on the upstream side of the dam to 18 feet. The widened platform will be a base for cranes and other equipment to be moved onto the site between January and March, the Russell County judge-executive said.

Shane Weddle, vice-president of Weddle Enterprises, Somerset, said his company has negotiated with JV and will widen the work platform as well as do some other jobs.

Garner said JV officials assured him they would hire local workers. “They told me they would bring between 30 and 50 employees with them and there would be between 150 and 200 workers on the job site,” the judge-executive noted. Insertion of the wall is supposed to take four years.

“I think there are about 10 JV people there now ... I met with seven of them,” said Garner.

The Corps, on its web site, said the contractor (JV) is being proactive in hiring local employees, utilizing local subcontractors and purchasing supplies and materials from local businesses.

Officials of the Corps and JV will meet with Russell County Fiscal Court January 12 to update the magistrates on the project, Garner said.

Actual construction of the barrier wall will begin the last two weeks in March or the first of April, according to information Garner received during his initial meeting with JV and the Corps.

The concrete barrier wall in Wolf Creek Dam, as envisioned by Corps engineers, will be a combination of secant piles and rectangular panels installed through the earthen embankment to a depth of about 275 feet.

It will go deep into the foundation rock to effectively cut off seepage through the limestone. The wall will extend eastward along the upstream embankment from the concrete section to the right abutment, a length of about 4,200 feet.

The barrier wall to be inserted in the dam will be the second such project to control leaks. The original wall was built during the 1970s after more serious leaks developed in the late 1960s.

The first wall wasn’t long enough and deep enough to permanently repair the dam. The Corps announced in August 2005 that a major rehabilitation of the structure would be necessary. The lake has been held about 40 feet below normal since January 2007 to ease pressure on the dam.

Lake Cumberland at noon Thursday was 679.54 feet above sea level, less than half a foot below the target level of 680 feet. No generators are operating and some 530 cubic feet of water per second are being released through the dam.

Treviicos Soletanche has submitted its Quality Control Design Plan for modifications to the work platform and haul roads. Subcontractor URS has begun to prepare the work platform for installation of a piezometer monitoring system and inclinometers. Piezometers measure pressure and inclinometers show movement inside the dam.

Installation of lighting for the downstream embankment has been completed and is in service, according to the web site.

Allison Jarrett, public affairs specialist for the Corps, said work at the dam should have only a minimal effect on U.S. 127 atop the dam.

“Most of the work will be on the platform (on the upstream side) and it shouldn’t affect the road, except for movement of equipment,” Jarrett said.

Garner said JV and Corps officials agreed to provide quarterly updates at Russell County Fiscal Court meetings, beginning in January. These meetings will be telecast on the CATV system in Russell County, Garner said.

Garner is midway of this first term as judge-executive. He was a magistrate for 17 years before seeking the judge-executive position.