The River Parks Authority voted Thursday to accept an $839,547 bid from Timco Blasting and Coatings of Bristow for major maintenance work on Zink Dam.
The project is a far cry from the $41 million in improvements envisioned in Vision2 and other countywide sales-tax proposals, but officials say that at least for a few years, the work will plug holes in the dam and keep water in Zink Lake.
"Right now, with the seals gone, Zink Lake drains in about three days," Gary Smith, the authority's engineering consultant, said earlier this week. "And the whole point of the dam was to create a lake.
"If the lake drains in three days, you don't have a lake."
Smith said Timco would have a year to complete the work but that the job should take three to four months.
"It depends on the Arkansas River flow conditions," he said.
The planned maintenance includes replacing seals on the dam's three 50-foot gates; refacing the gates with steel plates on the upstream side of the dam; putting a protective coating on the plates; and repairing or replacing the dam's two trashracks, which allow fish to go through when the dam gates are up.
Smith said the dam is leaking at the seals and at the gates, which have deteriorated since they were installed when the dam was built in 1981.
The work is not expected to affect people using the River Parks trail system.
Timco is expected to begin work on the two east gates before moving to the third gate on the west side of the dam.
Crews are expected to use an inflatable coffer dam filled with water to create work space, Smith said.
The River Parks Authority, the city and American Electric Power-Public Service Company of Oklahoma have each contributed $250,000 to the project.
The River Parks Authority is in talks with Tulsa County to use approximately $150,000 to $200,000 in Four to Fix the County 2 funding for the maintenance project.
The sales-tax initiative included funding for hazard reduction below the dam.
River Parks officials have referred to the maintenance work as a "Band-Aid" intended to keep the dam operating properly until more significant improvements can be made.
City and county officials have been searching for funding to make major improvements to the dam for nearly a decade.
The three objectives of the renovation project are to improve sediment management and operation of the dam; provide more and better access to water along the east bank of the Arkansas River; and to make the dam safer by constructing its downstream side in a cascading fashion.
Many drownings have occurred in the strong undertow on the south side of the dam, and emergency responders have referred to it as "the drowning machine."
In 2007, Congress passed the $23 billion Water Resources Development Act, which authorized $50 million for Arkansas River development projects.
However, less than $100,000 of that has been appropriated, and local officials are not counting on it to become available any time soon.
In October of that year, county voters rejected a seven-year, $154.85 million sales-tax initiative to implement parts of the Arkansas River Master Plan and other river-related projects.
Public funds would have paid for the construction of low-water dams in Sand Springs and south Tulsa and modifications to Zink Dam.
Last year, county voters rejected Vision2, which included $41 million for the project.
Two weeks later, the state Supreme Court ruled that a planned $25 million bond proposal to improve the Zink Lake dam on the Arkansas River was unconstitutional.
The county has submitted its permit application to the Army Corps of Engineers for the major improvements and expects permit approval within the next few months.
River Parks Authority Executive Director Matt Meyer said Thursday that he was glad to be moving forward with the maintenance project.
"It could be five to 10 years before the $41 million thing is funded," he said.
Kevin Canfield 918-581-8313
kevin.canfield@tulsaworld.com
Original Print Headline: Bid for dam work accepted
Local
The convenience store chain was the sole distributor of the 50-cent stickers residents were required to place on bags of extra yard waste.
The plaintiff alleged in a lawsuit that he was made to perform pushups to avoid a ticket or jail.
