Kiewit Pacific Company has been awarded a US$16M contract by the US Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) for work on a new auxiliary spillway at Folsom dam and reservoir in California, US.

The contract, awarded at the end of September, is the first in a series of construction contracts for the new spillway, or Joint Federal Project (JFP), which represents an unprecedented partnership among USBR, the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), the California Department of Water Resources/Reclamation Board, and the Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency. When completed, the JFP will address the hydrologic risk to Folsom dam identified through USBR’s Safety of Dams (SOD) evaluation program. The JFP also achieves USACE’s objective of increasing flood control at Folsom to 1/200-year protection.

The JFP consists of a water-side approach channel, a control structure with six submerged tainter gates, a concrete-lined spillway chute approximately 914m long, and a stilling basin which acts as an energy dissipation structure prior to discharges converging with the American river below the main concrete dam. The project will be constructed in three successive phases by USBR and USACE.

The Phase I contract with Kiewit Pacific Company includes initial spillway excavation, construction of a haul road, and modifications to the Right and Left Wing dams. Work will begin in late fall 2007 and will be completed by 2009. Phases II and III will follow with full completion of the JFP expected by 2015.

In addition to the JFP, USBR will complete additional dam safety work on Dikes 4, 5, and 6, and the Mormon Island auxiliary dam. Once the JFP is completed, USACE will proceed with other flood control improvements, including a 1m raise of the earthen embankments and modification of the emergency spillway gates.

Additional information on the JFP is available on USBR’s website at http://www.usbr.gov/mp/jfp/index.html




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Folsom dam Joint Federal Project