Posted on March 25, 2024
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Walla Walla District has awarded a $2,136,537 contract to MACNAK Construction, LLC to conduct a rehabilitation project on the 70-year-old Turner Gulch Boat Ramp at Lucky Peak Dam and Lake near Boise, Idaho.
The nearly 1000-foot-long Turner Gulch Boat Ramp is vital to the operation of Lucky Peak Dam providing water access for critical operations and maintenance activities, along with providing boaters with a ramp to use for low-water, off-season recreation.
The project will focus on rehabilitating damaged and unsafe portions of the ramp and implement measures to reduce erosion and siltation of the ramp edge ensuring the continued availability of the ramp. Construction is planned to begin Sept. 1 and be finished by Oct. 31, before the onset of freezing temperatures.
This work will require the lake to be lowered 125 feet. To accomplish this, Lucky Peak Lake will begin draining to supply irrigation demands in mid-to-late July, shortening the boating season by a month. This window was identified as having the least impacts to Lucky Peak’s authorized purposes while keeping construction feasible and affordable. Spring and winter construction windows would require costly safeguards for the new concrete and could be subject to weather delays causing impacts to the 2025 flood risk management, irrigation supply, and recreation season.
As in prior years, the lake level will fall about two to three feet per day, dependent on prevailing irrigation demands. Falling lake elevations may present obstacles and unexpected stranding hazards for lake users.
USACE and the Bureau of Reclamation will coordinate management of the Lucky Peak, Arrowrock and Anderson Ranch reservoirs to optimize water storage in the three-dam system.
