California Water News Daily Your Source For Water News in California
With a focus on the rapidly approaching Nov. 1, 2018 public safety construction milestone deadline, all eyes – and continuing work – on the Oroville Spillways construction is targeted for the complete placement of all concrete on the main spillway. Although the main spillway’s complete placement of all concrete is tethered to the Nov. 1 date – just four-and-a-half weeks away – work at the emergency spillway site (the dam’s secondary spillway) is not subject to the same deadline as the main spillway. Work, including concrete work, will continue on the emergency spillway past Nov. 1.
The main spillway’s upper chute is 76 percent complete. Crews have constructed and placed 108 of 150 erosion-resistant concrete (ERC) structural slabs. Fourteen of 50 ERC structural walls on the uppermost 730 feet of upper chute are completed. Additional repair work on the energy dissipaters, or dentates, at the at the base of the main spillway is 65 percent complete.
Crews continue to place ERC structural slabs and walls on the middle chute. To date, crews have placed 221 of 228 slabs and all 76 walls. However, hot, high winds affected the surface of a slab on the middle chute during its placement earlier this month. The Department of Water Resources (DWR) determined the slab surface did not meet specifications and plans to remove and replace the slab. This will not impact the schedule. The middle chute is 95 percent complete.
After completion of scheduled maintenance on the roller-compacted concrete (RCC) batch plant, construction of RCC placement on the emergency spillway resumed on Monday, Sept. 10. Placement of RCC on the southern half of the emergency spillway splashpad is now 83 percent complete. RCC buttress construction at the base of the emergency spillway will begin in October.
Other construction work in and around the Oroville Dam project also continues including an underground transmission line project along Oro Dam Blvd. East. One-way traffic controls are in place from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. and will continue until the project is complete in mid-October. The speed limit has been reduced to 25 mph on Oro Dam Blvd. East between Glen Drive and Canyon Drive and cars will not be allowed to stop on the road. However, several designated turn outs for cars to pull over and get a view of the Oroville spillways construction site have been established.
For additional information regarding the Oroville Spillways Construction, go to the Oroville Spillways Photo Gallery at: https://pixel-ca-dwr.photoshelter.com/galleries/C0000OxvlgXg3yfg/G00003YCcmDTx48Y/Oroville-Spillway-Incident or to YouTube at: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeod6x87Tu6eVFnSyEtQeOVbxvSWywPlx.
