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After a decade of discussion, the removal of the Fifth Avenue lowhead dam will finally be moving forward. The Ohio EPA and OSU have both signed off on allowing the Columbus Department of Public Utilities to remove the dam and restore the flow of this portion of the Olentangy River. Yesterday evening, Columbus City Council passed legislation that will set the stage for the removal of the dam sometime this fall.
“The removal of the dam will help the Olentangy River return to its natural state for the benefit of the environment and community,” said Columbus City Councilmember Eileen Y. Paley, chair of the Public Utilities Committee. “This is the right thing to do and will leave a safer waterway for generations to come.”
The project is expected to cost approximately $6.9 million, which includes the redesign of the shoreline and the landscaping of native plants along the river. The river will eventually connect Downtown where the Main Street Dam is also being planned for removal, creating an interconnected navigable waterway.
More information can be found online at utilities.columbus.gov.
Yay for being able to kayak ~3 minutes from my house!
Anyone know if there are plans for a whitewater park/surfing wave with this? A lot of other cities have done this as a result of dam removal and it has given their downtowns a great attraction . I know I myself end up in Springfield quite often for theirs and that always includes at least one meal. It shouldn’t be hard to find an economic impact study from one of the other cities that have post low overhead dam whitewater parks. I think the main expense is the dam removal itself but that a park would need to be put in while the dam is being removed.
I agree with Tigertree. A surfing wave would be great. I was in Munich, Germany a few years ago and there was a perpetual wave on a small river there, and it was packed with people watching surfers. No doubt this would be an attraction for locals and tourists.
This could be a collaboration between the city and OSU, as I am sure many students would find something like this a great extra-curricular activity.
I have not heard anything about a surfing wave being part of the plans, so right now we’re just dreaming; perhaps others are thinking of the same idea?
Did you see the price tag on this?!?! Almost 7 million to destroy something?!?! That seems an order of magnitude too high.
BTW, putting the thing back to nature shouldn’t be part of the cost. Time = putting it back to nature. Not spending a lot of money to mess with the shoreline. What is it that must be done that nature cannot itself undo? Again the price tag seems WAY too high. I’d like to see the studies/documentation on this.
Also, weren’t those dams put in for flood control? I’ve heard that there used to be flooding downtown. How is this going to be controlled. Most of Ohio’s rivers, even the Ohio River, were at one time seasonal. There’s a story about a man who took a wagon across the Ohio River in the summer with materials to build a home on one of the islands there. This is a vastly different reality from the permanent rivers (Olentangy and Scioto) that we have in this town. I hope all this has been considered and this doesn’t go off like a pack of coyotes eating everyone’s dogs and livestock.
Some dams were installed for flood control, some weren’t. Some were installed to generate electricity. Some weren’t. Some were installed just to make the river look wide and pretty.
The Franklinton Floodwall was completed in 2000, which shields the Franklinton floodplain from the historic problems of major floods.
As far as the pricetag goes, I’m not really too familiar with what these things cost. I’m sure that given 30 years, the river could redefine its own shoreline on its own. You’d have nothing but muck and mud in the short term though.
And 5th avenue was built for supplying water to a long-gone power plant, not flood control. The dike between kinnear and 5th was probably built for flood control.
I’d be surprised if the cost to remove the dam exceeds 10% of the total. I’m sure most of the $6.9m will be for restoration of the channel. From Lane avenue south, the river takes a largely man-made route, as it used to flow through the stadium, and it’s been a dumping ground for construction debris and other large objects. In some areas they aren’t ‘restoring’ the river but creating a river from unnatural ditch. I don’t think even 30 years would address these problems.
I don’t mean to sound too nasty, but I stumbled upon these postings and thought I should weigh some facts.
I was an estimator for a local company for this project, and I have been involved in the construction industry for many years.
James is on track with his background knowledge of the dam, Walker is very on track as well.
This project has been in the making for a long time, but was sped up once the city realized the failure of the bike path and flood control walls that were constructed along the river back in 2010-2011. That project was completed in fall 2010(ish), and if you remember, spring/summer 2011 we had record rain fall to where the bike path was hardly usable.
This is to help decrease water build up as well as make the river more accessible to others. Walker was in the ballpark when he mentioned electricity, because there will be channels installed under the river to help power the new OSU Neuroscience Hospital.
The pricetag for this project is actually scary amounts of low. Just like most things in the city, it is a cheaply designed project. Majority of the cost for this project is tied into shoring underneath the river to bore under the river. As James mentioned, this is not a natural river, so a foundation was never properly set. As well, too many people whose opinions do not matter do not want to see the river “drained” to properly install the piers or cast piles to reinforce the strength of the riverbed.
After doing soil samplings, the dumping cost for the dirt being taken out are ridiculous because it cannot be recycled or used again (naturally). Nobody is willing to accept the dirt or store it on their property for a small penny. The city has open property to put it on, but even they don’t want to get their hands dirty with it (pun intended).
To keep things simple for all the feeble minded individuals with this, the labor costs are also ridiculous. Due to the specifications of the project, a common, uneducated laborer will not be making his regular ridiculous prevailing wage pay of $35/hr, but since there is more risk involved, $45/hr – I will not even go into the operator wages.
I have a sensitive spot for people who don’t understand construction projects or pricing. If society wanted to cut project costs to a quarter of the amount, shut down the bridge and section of Olentangy RR, and the price would be slashed by 75% as well as the duration. HUGE gain for the city, but small inconvenience for those who drive their cars around in that area without a purpose.
To those who want to build a surf park, keep drinking the bong water; I’m sure your parents are proud.
Ntn4502: hopefully I’ll see you out there with my kayak.
Final note: one other major aspect for the pricetag of this job. Again, I claim it is extremely cheap compared to what majority other companies came up with (the company that won it, DLZ is not a construction company but a management firm, so their P/O are none existent compared to an actual construction firm with their own labor and machines to cover).
If you ever walk by the $55 million Main Street Bridge. Original estimate was $19 million and they fell into all sorts of problems with the water and pier stabilization (weird, this is a water project right?).
Good thing our Mayor lobbied private companies for a $15 million fountain, and additional costs for a riverfront park that do not create jobs or stimulate an economy. That money could’ve been used elsewhere; just like the Parsons and Livingston “beautification” that was $15 million and was not necessary either. Projects such as those, poorly constructed and 100% unnecessary, mask projects like this that are poorly engineered and created. City could’ve alloted more money on projects such as the 2010 bike path, and this current one, so that they do not meet the “minimal expectations”; but are designed and built to last forever. The bike path in 2010 was designed in accordance to “average rainfall”, had the city looked up the records and researched prior record rainfalls and designed it above those specifications, this dam removal is not as necessary as it currently seems. (Essentially you can argue that by not sending one person to look at past records, that one person is costing Columbus tax payers $7 million. I’ll accept that argument any day).
I guarantee that by the end of the Fifth Avenue Dam project, with total change orders and force accounts, it will exceed $12 million. I know that because I was told it by a city official who guaranteed over $5 million of change orders on it. They just put the small price tag out there to fool tax payers.
It’s time for new leadership in this city. Things are getting ridiculous. $15 million fountain…St. Louis has an Arch, Chicago has damn near everything, Milwaukee has awesome manufacturing plants, Cleveland has a river than can be lit on fire, Pittsburgh has depression and no deodorant, and we have a $15 million urinal.
According to OSU notices, work on the dam itself will begin later this week: http://fod.osu.edu/dam/
I heard the breach starts today. Actually looking forward to running/biking by this for the next couple months to see how it all changes and settles out. Not looking forward to it sitting around all next spring and summer until the reclaim gets started next fall.