Serving all the communities of the Buckeye Lake Region

More money released for dam project




COLUMBUS – The state Controlling Board approved a $1.3 million ODNR contract with ASI Constructors Monday.

The contract was not competitively bid and amends an earlier contract with ASI to provide Construction Manager at Risk services for the replacement of the Buckeye Lake dam. ASI’s initial contract, approved by the Controlling Board on Sept. 2, 2015, was for $498,017.

ODNR’ narrative to the Controlling Board included: “Phase 2 will provide a Comprehensive Risk Reduction Measure which is a larger-scale structural and procedural improvement to remediate dam safety problems on a long-term basis. This will consist of a new replacement dam, independent of the existing earthen dam, and other improvements as required. The amendment will provide additional preconstruction services by ASI Constructors, Inc. to assist throughout the design and development of Phase 2 of the Buckeye Lake Dam Improvement project. Funding for Phase 2 services were not included in the original agreement. Thsi amendment also includes ongoing site management services and insurance costs associated with Phase 2 construction. Future GMPs (Guaranteed Maximum Price) will be negotiated for construction of these improvements.”

In plain English, that means ASI will continue to provide construction management services through Phase 2. Separate Guarantee Maximum Price agreements will be bid/negotiated with subcontractors that will be actually doing the work. That primarily consists of building the 15-foot wide buttress wall behind the approximately two-foot wide and forty-some feet deep seepage barrier constructed in Phase 1.

The depth of the buttress wall has not been determined or at least released. It has been described as 15-20 feet deep. It will be built in the same manner as the seepage barrier using a large soil mixer. Two augur mixers and one trenching mixer were used in Phase 1. Most observers expect a trenching soil mixer will be used in Phase 2 since it can move much faster than the augur-type machines.

In September, the Controlling Board approved a $5.7 million amendment to ODNR’s contract with Gannett Fleming Engineers & Architects to cover design and construction administration services for Phase 2. Gannett’s initial contract for the dam project totaled $8.4 million which covered Phase 1 and “preliminary investigations, design, and planning related to Phase 2.

Work is expected to begin on Phase 2 next spring.



Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *