There has been a lot of progress happening at our Cobbs Creek Reservoir – Dam and Facilities Construction project located in Cumberland County, Virginia! The James River Intake Structures and associated valve vaults and piping are complete, as well as the installation of the Inlet/Outlet Tower Sluice Gates. These range from 6’ to 8’ square with the longest gate stem being 160 feet in length. Looking forward, construction of the Inlet Outlet Tower superstructure will begin. The superstructure is located atop of the 160ft. tall cast-in-place concrete tower located at the earthen dam, and consists of masonry, precast hollowcore planks, a metal roof, and bridge crane.  Construction activities will be accessed using a self-climbing work platform capable of climbing speeds greater than 35 feet per minute.

Following completion of the earthen dam and the raw water pump station, the facility will be capable of pumping 150 million gallons a day from the river to fill the reservoir, actual pumping amounts will be determined by the current river level/flow rate. At capacity, the Reservoir will be over 1100 acres with 14 billion gallons of water on standby for future drought management downstream. The Reservoir will have a boat ramp and be open to the public.

With about 82% of the project complete, we are looking forward to more exciting milestones and progress as the hard work continues!