A long-orphaned dam on the Eklutna River is getting demolished after sitting unused for over 60 years.
But there will be no explosives bringing the dam down, nor will there be any wrecking ball smashing the 70-foot-tall concrete structure apart, despite the on-site presence of the state’s largest crane.
Instead, construction workers will dig out the 300,000 cubic yards of sandy sediment that has filled in behind the basin that was designed to hold water, not rock. They’ll then slowly chip the dam into pieces no larger than a basketball using jackhammers attached to backhoes. Those pieces of dam will remain in the canyon, spread out along the banks of the river it’s currently clogging.
LINK (via: Alaska Dispatch News)
