It probably won’t fail
(as far as you know)
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Dam was built between 1941 and 1949
It’s purpose was and is to control flooding in
the New and Kanawha River Valleys
It is constructed of a series of concrete
monoliths standing side by side and
interlocked across the valley
Monoliths were not anchored into the bedrock
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2048 feet long
55 interlocked concrete monoliths
165 feet high from the river bed
200 feet wide at the base
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Recent calculations have shown that the
possibility exists for the dam to fail based on
the monoliths sliding on the bedrock and
The possibility of erosion/scour undermining
the front of the dam and
Overtopping is also a threat which would
contribute to scouring
A series of projects are currently underway to
both stabilize the dam and increase the amount
of flood water it can hold
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Catastrophic flooding from the dam in
southeastern WV to the Ohio River
West Virginia State Capitol building would be
flooded to third floor.
Chemicals from large scale industry would be
spread down the valley
Hundreds of thousands of residents would be
affected
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216 high strength anchors were added to
critical monoliths
The dam will be raised 8 feet by installing a
precast concrete wall on top of the existing
structure and an additional monolith on the
East side in conjunction with
A swing gate closure across route 20 on the
West side of the dam
Installation of sacrificial bulkheads on the
penstocks
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Installation of scour protection and training
walls for the penstocks
Installation of high strength anchors over the
stilling basis
Improvements to the spillway
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Dam is exponentially safer than this time last
year
Project is 11years into a 20 -25 year project
In the event that danger level is neared, flood
causing amounts will be released
During the current rain events, Bluestone Dam
is the only flood control dam not increasing it’s
capacity
Lisa R. Morgan, PMP
Project Manager
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
502 Eighth Street
Huntington, WV 25701
304-399-5545
Lisa.r.morgan@usace.army.mil