Archive
Dallas Whitewater Park
REP is happy to announce the “watering” of the Dallas Standing Wave Project. This project has been in the permitting and design stages for over five years. REP completed the whitewater design aspects of the project, Schrickel Rollins completed management, construction techniques and materials, and One Engineering Group completed the structural design.
Over the last few months Shane Sigle, PE and Gary Lacy, PE have made design changes for hydraulic optimization and improved safety.
We’re looking forward to the Grand Opening and final optimization of the structures.
See the following link for some video:
Charles City Construction Live Camera
REp is completing a dam removal project in Charles City, Iowa right now. Yep, it’s cold, frozen, and generally not too exciting right now, but the removal of a dangerous 6-foot low head dam in downtown “Chucktown” is expected to draw paddlers and river users from around the midwest.Shane Sigle, PE has noted the biggest problem at this site is that low water conditions, which are currently about 700cfs, challenge water control efforts. The good news is there is always enough water to paddle at the site, suggesting this is going to be a great paddling destination for about 10 months of the year.
We wish we had this much water in Boulder Creek……
check it out at: http://173.19.105.43:8000/view/index.shtml
Efforts begin to fix Charlie’s Hole in Steamboat
Steamboat Springs — Fear not: The concrete parking lot dividers being placed in the Yampa River opposite the library Thursday are not permanent. Instead, they will be used to divert the current while repairs are made to the whitewater play feature known as Charlie’s Hole.
The standing wave at the C-Hole that delights kayakers during peak flows, tubers later in summer and swimmers after that wasn’t itself in 2010. Whitewater enthusiasts and city officials deduced that the boulders that create the re-circulating wave had shifted.
“The stacks of boulders fell in on themselves,” Craig Robinson confirmed. “It’s the hydraulics — they found a weak spot.”
The city is spending about $27,000 with the help of a $1,000 contribution from Friends of the Yampa to make the C-Hole right again.
Robinson is the supervisor of open space and facilities at Howelsen Hill for the Steamboat Springs Parks, Open Space and Recreational Services Department.
Gary Lacy, of Recreation Engineering and Planning in Boulder, will be in town Monday and Tuesday, when a track hoe operator from Nordic Excavating will put the original boulders back in place.
Lacy’s first order of business will be inspecting the stones that “armor” the riverbed and support the boulders, to see whether any repairs need to be made, Robinson said.
This time around, a small amount of concrete grout will be used beneath the surface to more firmly anchor the boulders in place. That step is being taken with the approval of the Colorado Division of Wildlife and the Army Corps of Engineers. The nearby D-Hole already incorporates grout, Robinson said, and although it was approved for use on the C-Hole when it originally was built in 2003, it never was used.
The work on the C-Hole next week must be precise because it must faithfully restore the boulders to their originally surveyed elevation, Robinson said. That’s because those elevations were part of the basis of the city’s Recreational in Channel Diversion water right. Streamflow measurements for the RICD are taken just downstream, and the boulder elevations are recorded in the city’s approvals for the water right.
Still, Lacy hopes to improve the stability of the C-Hole while preserving its ideal play hole wave.
“He has some ideas on how to reposition the boulders and not change the elevation of the rocks,” Robinson said.
Peter Van De Carr, of Friends of the Yampa, said Lacy would be enticed to inspect other whitewater features in the town stretch of the river, such as the Z-Hole, to give suggestions about how they can be improved to make them more enjoyable for paddlers, tubers and trout fishermen.
The repairs are expected to be complete by Wednesday. In the meantime, patrons of the Bud Werner Memorial Library may be inconvenienced by a reduced number of parking spaces.
Ann Arbor officials considering $1 million redesign of Argo Dam headrace and embankment
Ann Arbor city staff will present a plan to the Park Advisory Commission on Tuesday, recommending reconstruction of the Argo Dam headrace and earthen embankment.
The nearly $1 million project would alleviate the state’s concerns about the dam’s safety and improve conditions for kayakers and canoeists, city officials say.
A second option on the table is to spend a lesser amount — about $700,000 — to fix the dam’s toe drains, said Sue McCormick, the city’s public services area administrator.
“I think there’s still lots of opportunity for discussion about what we do at this location, and ultimately that will be council’s decision,” McCormick said.
In an attempt to carry out steps outlined earlier this year in a consent agreement with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment, the city recently sought bids to repair the toe drains along the dam’s earthen embankment.
The lowest bid was $707,300 from ABC Paving, which beat two other bids that came in at $798,590 and $829,150. At the very least, the city must do those repairs under state orders.
The city issued a separate request for proposals for the redesign and reconstruction of the headrace and embankment. The city received two responses, but only one — the team of TSP, Beckett and Raeder, and Recreation Engineering and Planning — met requirements.
The cost for the team’s proposal, which is being recommended by city staff, came in at 
$988,170. It is being presented to PAC at 4 p.m. Tuesday in the county administration building at 220 N. Main St. The meeting is open to the public.
McCormick said the redesign of the headrace offers an added amenity for kayakers and canoeists that merely fixing the toe drains wouldn’t. She said the redesign would get rid of a portage at the end of the headrace, which means river users no longer would have to lift their canoes and kayaks out of the water and carry them down to another launching point.
McCormick said that might increase kayak and canoe rentals, which would be a revenue boost for the city. She also said the redesign could eliminate the need for a portion of the toe drains and reduce some of the dam’s maintenance costs over the long run.
Some City Council members already are expressing hesitations about the costs, which they say appear likely to come out of the city’s drinking water fund — the same fund that historically has paid for Argo Dam’s maintenance costs.
“I’m concerned that the cost for toe drain repair appears to be more than twice as much as we estimated,” said Council Member Carsten Hohnke, D-5th Ward. “That’s a lot to ask from taxpayers and the drinking water fund in a difficult economic climate.”
Ryan J. Stanton | AnnArbor.com
The city originally estimated it would cost about $300,000 to repair the toe drains, but McCormick said the DNRE is requiring the city to take additional measures to address concerns with the dam, including removing trees from the embankment.
The City Council must decide what to do with the dam by Nov. 15 under a deadline imposed by the state. The city also must award a contract for the work by Dec. 6. Construction has to start no later than June 1, 2011, and be completed by Nov. 1, 2011.
The DNRE has given the city the other option of removing Argo Dam entirely — all concrete portions included — but that’s not an option the city has sought bids on.
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