Update August 2010

From LC.com
Repairs to Wolf Creek Dam Back In Full Swing Next Week


By BILL MARDIS, Editor Emeritus Commonwealth Journal Somerset —
Engineers say Wolf Creek Dam appears to be stable and rehabilitation is expected to resume next week in a 600-foot area where work has been suspended since March.
A preliminary report from laboratory tests of samples taken from a critical area in the dam indicates no deep instability within the earthen structure. Engineers with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers also have concluded that widening surface cracks in the roadway across the dam were caused by movement of the sheetpile wall, a steel interlocking structure used by contractors to hold vertical dirt on the dam side of the main work platform. As a result of the preliminary findings, contractors next week will be allowed to resume grouting and preparation of a work platform in Critical Area 1. This critical area is one of two in the 4,000-foot-long earthen section of the dam where grouting has not been effective. Apparent earth movement in Critical Area 1 and cracks in the roadway triggered a work suspension in a 600-foot section in March. The work suspension was extended through August 31. Fred Tucker, public affairs officer for the Corps’ Nashville District, said General John W. Peabody, the Corps division commander in Cincinnati, was briefed August 23 on the preliminary report and that he (Peabody) concurred with Corps engineers that there is no deep instability in the earthen section of the dam. FULL REPORT CLCK HERE