WALLA WALLA, Wash. – Contractors will begin work Monday, Aug. 13, to remove about 350 cubic yards of silt deposits from the interior of the Mill Creek Project diversion dam, located about 2 miles east of Walla Walla, Washington, requiring temporary and/or intermittent access closures to land areas near the work zone, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers officials announced today.
The Corps awarded a contract, valued at about $142,000, to Lanterra LLC, a registered small, disadvantaged, minority-owned business in Houston, Texas, to perform the work, which is expected to require about two to three weeks to complete.
Access to recreation areas and the Mill Creek Trail should not be significantly affected by the work activity. However, there could be short-duration, intermittent closures on the south levee service road near the diversion dam and along the diversion canal for visitor safety while construction vehicles maneuver near the work site.
Visitors should be aware of construction vehicles and trucks entering and exiting the work site at the diversion dam and traveling to and from the sediment disposal site on the downstream side on the Bennington Lake storage dam. Trucks will be transporting sediment from both ends of the diversion dam, via Rooks Park on the north end, traveling along Mill Creek Road, Tausick Way and up Reservoir Road; and on the south end, traveling along Corps service roads and around the east side of the lake. This additional traffic will continue throughout the work period.
A graphic-map of the construction area is available on the Walla Walla District’s website www.nww.usace.army.mil.
For more information about this project or for general information about Mill Creek Dam and Bennington Lake, call the Mill Creek office at 509-527-7160.
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Release no. 18-089