Posted on January 26, 2022
Wolf Creek Dam is in line for some major upgrades as part of the Fiscal Year 2022 Work Plan that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) announced last week.
The Corps’s Nashville District has set aside nearly $689 million in total for Kentucky projects this year through the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Disaster Supplemental Appropriations Act. Both bills were signed into law last year.
“I supported last year’s landmark bipartisan infrastructure legislation because I understand the importance of addressing the Commonwealth’s need for adequate infrastructure resources,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell stated. “With the new projects announced today, Kentuckians will have access to the cleaner water, enhanced transport systems, better flood control, and more pristine natural spaces they deserve.”
Wolf Creek Dam has been awarded $202 million through the Disaster Supplemental Appropriations Act for full spillway gate replacement — 10 tainter gates which were damaged in a 2019 storm.
“The Corps of Engineers is replacing the 10 spillway gates and lifting equipment at Wolf Creek Dam to ensure the authorized flood damage reduction capabilities of this project is realized for many years to come,” Lee Roberts, Public Affairs Specialist with USACE Nashville, said.
Through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the dam was allocated another $5.45 million for various projects as explained below by Roberts:
• $2.8 million for power plant supervisory control and data acquisition — “Nashville District is beginning the process of converting power plants to a centralized control system. This is being done in order to reduce system cost of operating our power plants. Wolf Creek is currently a master plant operating other power plants remotely, but also needs to be converted to being capable of being operated remotely. This effort consists of designing the plant to be SCADA compatible, and then purchasing and installing this system.”
• $2 million to replace the concrete deck of the bridge and dam section — “Funding will be for plans and specifications development and replacement of the concrete deck of the bridge and roadway to minimize the increasing maintenance needs. The concrete section of bridge deck has reached a point where work crews must divert from other duties to patch holes with FLEXSET. The patch work is only a temporary measure to correct the issue and as the roadway continues to deteriorate the repair patching efforts are compounded. Potholes expose rebar in the concrete road deck leading to a decrease in structural integrity.”
• $650,000 to replace the protective coating of the bridge section — “Funding will be for plans and specification development and replacement of protective coating on I beams and bridge rockers, which support the roadway section of Wolf Creek. We will replace these rockers as required due to deterioration.”
Roberts noted that all of the projects have yet to get underway.
Wolf Creek Dam was built at Jamestown in Russell County to impound Lake Cumberland. At more than a mile long, it has six turbines capable of producing a combined total of 270 megawatts of electricity.
The Nashville District touches seven states, covers 59,000 square miles, operates and maintains 1,175 commercially navigable river miles, almost 10 percent of the total within the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The district operates and maintains 10 dams in the Cumberland River Basin, and 14 navigation lock projects – nine on the Tennessee River and four on the Cumberland River, and 146 recreation areas, 25 developed campgrounds and primitive camping areas in Kentucky and Tennessee.
Tavis Hanley, Nashville District Management Support Branch chief, said a total of $25,355,000 is going toward operations and maintenance from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. A total of $375,565,000 is going toward operations and maintenance from the Disaster Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act. In total, $400,920,000 is appropriated for operations and maintenance, he said.
Lt. Col. Joseph Sahl, Nashville District commander, said there are aging facilities and critical infrastructure within the district, and these bills are providing much-needed funding for construction projects, and for operations and maintenance. He added that these funds are also about studies that create solutions to modern problems in a new way, as the Corps continues to seek innovative approaches and new partnerships to solve water resource problems.
Nashville District on the district’s website at www.lrn.usace.army.mil, on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/nashvillecorps and on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/nashvillecorps.)
