TRAVERSE CITY – Brown Bridge Dam demolition is slated to begin next week after the state Department of Environmental Quality formally signed off on the project.
The dam is the first of three along the Boardman River south of Traverse City scheduled for removal as part of a long-studied river restoration project designed to return the river to its historic boundaries.
Work on the $2.9 million removal of Brown Bridge Dam will begin Wednesday and is expected to be complete by year’s end, officials with the Boardman River Dams Implementation Team said.
Removal of the city-owned dam will restore 1.5 miles of Boardman River and connect 145 miles of natural river habitat. Officials said it also will restore about 150 acres of upland and wetland areas and forest habitat along the river.
The work will include taking down the 91-year-old dam’s powerhouse structure, and removal of thousands of tons of sediment accumulated around the dam. Work crews will slowly drain the remaining 22 vertical feet of water in Brown Bridge Pond, and hope to catch sediment in traps as the water recedes.
Dredged materials will be left on-site in upland areas. The buried powerhouse foundation will remain as part of the river embankment.
AMEC Environmental & Infrastructure Inc., an international company with an office in Traverse City, is the project’s general contractor. Molon Excavating of Traverse City is the primary subcontractor.
Traverse City Light & Power Co. decommissioned Brown Bridge Dam seven years ago, along with Boardman and Sabin dams, which are owned by Grand Traverse County.
City and county officials agreed to remove the structures in 2009, clearing the way for one of the largest river restoration projects in the U.S. The Army Corps of Engineers is expected to release its recommendations in the next few weeks for the remainder of the project, where Sabin Dam is expected to be the next dam removed, implementation team spokesman Chuck Lombardo said.
U.S. Sen. Carl Levin and Daniel Ashe, director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, are scheduled to visit the site Wednesday to help formally launch the dismantling project. More information on the effort is available at www.theboardman.org.
Region
Related Photos
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(Record-Eagle file photo/Jan-Michael Stump) Brown Bridge Pond begins to show the effects of a drawdown of the Boardman River in this 2011 photo.
Brown Bridge Dam demolition to begin next week
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