Update Sept. 2010

Wolf Creek Dam rehabilitation may take longer than expected
By BILL MARDIS, Editor Emeritus - Commonwealth Journal - Somerset —
Rehabilitation of Wolf Creek Dam was about 40 percent complete as of September 1, but a six-month suspension of work in a critical area could lengthen the time necessary to complete the project. David Hendrix, project manager, responding to questions submitted by the Commonwealth Journal, said schedule and cost impacts of the six-month-long work suspension in Critical Area 1 are currently being evaluated by engineers at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Nashville District. These impacts will be briefed when they are finalized, and at that point it apparently will be determined if the scheduled contract completion date will be extended beyond December 2012. Work was suspended in March at Critical Area 1 to investigate what appeared to be material movement in the dam and widening cracks in the U.S. 127 roadway atop the dam. However, laboratory tests of samples indicate no deep instability within the upstream slope of the critical area. Engineers with the Corps also 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. Critical Area 1 is one of two places in the 4,000-foot-long earthen section that are labeled critical, meaning spots where previous grouting did not form a protective curtain to slow seepage. Contractors were given go-ahead to resume work in Critical Area 1 the first of September. Equipment is being mobilized to resume grouting in this 600-foot area of the dam near the juncture of the earthen and concrete sections. No new problems have developed since permission was given to resume work, Hendrix noted. Work in Critical Area 2 was never curtailed, and the contractor –– Treviicos-Soletanche JV –– has been free to work in all areas other than Critical Area 1. CLICK HERE