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Area drivers can expect to see more than 600 truckloads of rock on Mountain Area roads during August as the $60-million construction project to strengthen the dam at Bass Lake continues.
Starting Aug. 1, about 32 truckloads per day, Monday through Friday, will be transporting 28,000 tons of rock to the site from the Raymond Granite Quarry to augment rock supplied by the 8-acre Wishon rock quarry that was developed near the dam, according to Pacific Gas & Electric spokesman Paul Moreno.
The trucks will travel along Knowles Road (416), Raymond Road (415), Spinelli Road (416), Highway 41, North Fork Road (200), Crane Valley Road (426) and Highland Drive (222).
The Wishon Quarry was developed to produce 420,000 tons of rock to be used to stabilize the width of the dam by 52 feet at the base and raise the height of the dam 7 to 10 feet.
The plan to develop the quarry was to alleviate the need to transport rock from the Valley for economic and safety reasons, but the additional rock is necessary to keep the project on schedule.
Harsh winter weather slowed the rock production at the Wishon Quarry and the quarry cannot produce the material fast enough to keep the project on schedule.
The Wishon Quarry is being redesigned to accommodate additional operations. Moreno said part of the original plan called for augmenting the Wishon Quarry production with rock from outside quarries as needed.
The rock will be hauled by Terry Johnson Trucking of Coalinga with eight trucks making four trips a day. Trucking operations will take place between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday and from 7 a.m. to noon on Fridays. There will be periodic traffic controls on Road 222 as trucks approach the Wishon Quarry.
In addition to the trucks from Raymond, trucks carrying 35 tons of rock per load, will be making about 60 trips of 2,000 yards from the Wishon Quarry to the dam and back Monday through Friday during August.
The retrofit of the dam began eight months ago with the removal of about 2,300 trees from the base of the dam and creation of the quarry located 2,000 feet southwest of the dam off Road 200.
General contractor for the project is Kiewit Pacific Construction. Parsons Construction of Pasadena is serving as the project manager for PG&E overseeing quality control and safety during construction.
PG&E is planning to hold a public meeting to provide a detailed update on the project, although the date and time has not be announced yet..
The project was originally estimated to be completed by February 2012, but Moreno said the project could extend into 2013 due to several construction and material factors.
In 2002, the Division of Safety of Dams notified PG&E that the 106-year-old dam needed modifications because it no longer met seismic requirements. It was reported that the dam would probably not withstand a 6.2 earthquake, resulting in downstream flooding.
Map shows the route that will be used for 32 round-trip daily truck trips Monday through Friday to haul rock from the Raymond Granite Quarry to Bass Lake during August to continue work on the $60 million sesmic retrofit of the dam. Click here to download a pdf of this map.
