Fixing Lake White dam to cost $35M

The dam at Lake White State Park in Pike County sprang a leak last summer, and now the state says it expects to spend $35.5 million to fix it.

It will be a massive project involving the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and the Ohio Department of Transportation and will include improvements beyond just repairing the leak, said ODNR spokeswoman Bethany McCorkle.

The two departments will repair the 4,200-foot earthen dam at the lake, which was nearly drained last summer as engineers searched for the cause of the leak.

The bridge on Rt. 104 that crosses the spillway on the lake will be replaced as part of the project, and turn lanes and intersection improvements will be added.

To shore up the dam, roller-compacted concrete will be used along its base as part of the road project. Other fixes include installation of a new lake drain and the relocation of part of Crooked Creek away from Rt. 104.

The agencies hope to finish the work by summer 2016, McCorkle said. Because the projects don’t have contractors’ bids, a complete cost isn’t available yet, she said.

Time and erosion had damaged the dam, and a significant leak sprang at the base of the spillway in August.

Crews worked around the clock for more than three weeks after the leak was discovered during a routine dam inspection on Aug. 29. The water levels of the lake were manually lowered to about 11 feet below where they should be in the winter, and everyone with a boat docked there had to remove it.

McCorkle said the 400-acre lake will be refilled, and boating will resume after all the work is finished.

This season, fishing can still take place from the shores and from kayaks where the waters are still, she said.