90 80
OHIO STATE EDITION
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A Supplement to:
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6 80 24
6
4
71
76
199 30 30 75
68
30 77
71 23 22 68
4
70 70
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70
22 71
75
77
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July 16 2016
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Vol. XVIII • No. 15
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“The Nation’s Best Read Construction Newspaper… Founded in 1957.” Your Ohio Connection: Ed Bryden, Strongsville, OH • 1-800-810-7640
ASI Continues $110M Rebuild of Buckeye Lake Dam
ASI Constructors Inc., a heavy-civil engineering contractor specializing in the construction of dams and dam modification projects, agreed to the aggressive 20-hour construction schedule to complete the stability berm and seepage barrier.
By Irwin Rapoport CEG CORRESPONDENT
The Buckeye Lake Dam, part of the Buckeye Lake State Park, is undergoing a $110 million rebuild that was awarded to ASI Constructors Inc., with design-related services being provided by Gannett Fleming Inc. The project is ahead of schedule and a team effort is helping to ensure that benchmarks are being met efficiently. The dam, owned by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR), is located near the edge of Millersport and the Village of Buckeye Lake and approximately 30 mi.
east of Columbus. The lake surface area at the top of the dam is 3,030 acres, and the principal spillway level is 2,800 acres at the normal summer pool elevation of 891.5 ft. above mean sea level. The lake’s storage capacity is more than 4.5 billion gallons of water at principal spillway level. Work on the project began in September 2015 and will be completed in 2019. The project is funded by capital improvement funds appropriated by the Ohio General Assembly. The dam’s maximum embankment height is approximately 15 ft., its principal spillway type is a concrete sluiceway with an AMIL gate and its emergency Spillway (at Sellers
Point) is a U-shaped concrete gravity, ungated weir structure with a crest elevation of 892.1 ft. above mean sea level; and in terms of drains, it has a 60-in. (152 cm) diameter pipe at principal spillway, and 60-in. diameter pipe at secondary spillway. The lake attracts many boating and fishing enthusiasts. The dam needed to be replaced after it was determined to pose a likely hazard in the spring of 2015. Buckeye Lake Dam is designated as a Class I high-hazard potential dam, according to the website for the project. A high-hazard potential dam classification signifies the general adverse consequences to lives and property that would occur in the event of a
catastrophic dam failure and does not describe the dam’s condition. This was among the interim risk reduction measures recommended by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in its March 2015 report. Upon completion in May 2016 of two structural risk reduction measures — an embankment stability berm and a soil mix seepage cutoff wall. The ONDR is taking nothing for granted. Comprehensive improvements to the dam are needed for it to meet dam safety standards. While the first phase of these improvements was completed in May, the second phase is yet to be determined and finalized. see DAM page 2