by
Rachel Hansen | Aug 16, 2024
Viewing area will be closed, expect intermittent traffic impacts along Highway 2 Monday
WENATCHEE, WA – Travelers along Highway 2 through Tumwater Canyon can expect a one-day, one-lane closure near Tumwater Dam on Monday. Crews are planning to install jersey barriers along the highway shoulder to prepare for a maintenance project at Tumwater Dam this fall.
Starting in late August, crews will repair and reinforce the dam’s apron – a section of concrete downstream of the dam – with new concrete to prevent undercutting of the structure. The project includes measures to protect fish passage.
Starting Monday, the viewing area at Tumwater Dam will be closed through the end of December.
Work on the dam apron was originally scheduled last year, but it was postponed due to high-water conditions.
The project is part of a multi-year maintenance plan that started in 2020 with concrete repairs to the fishway. The work is required to continue to meet dam safety standards regulated by the state Department of Ecology.
The fishway at Tumwater Dam is used by Chelan PUD to monitor salmon and steelhead populations in the Wenatchee River. Chelan PUD also collects adult fish that are spawned in a hatchery as part of the Habitat Conservation Plans for Rocky Reach and Rock Island hydro projects.
Tumwater Dam is also an important site for several agencies, including Yakama Nation Fisheries and Grant PUD to collect adult fish for hatchery production, and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife to conduct fish studies.
Tumwater Dam was originally constructed at the turn of the century to provide clean energy for trains travelling through the long tunnel at Stevens Pass. Chelan PUD acquired the dam in the 1950s and rebuilt the fishway in its current configuration in the late 1980s.
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