Lowering of Lake Bella Vista under way, repairs to trail bridge to follow
Posted on Wednesday, October 8, 2008
BENTONVILLE - The city of Bentonville began lowering Lake Bella Vista this week to begin working on the Lake Bella Vista Trail bridge project.
A press release from the Bella Vista Property Owners Association noted that the lowering is "to allow for repairs to the dam and work on the walking trail," but city transportation engineer Mike Churchwell said the work "is not the dam repair project; it actually has to do with the trail bridge project upstream."
The dam has been closed to pedestrians since March, when it was damaged in floods. It will remain closed until repairs are complete. "It will still be awhile before we have anything on the dam itself," Churchwell said.
In July, the Bentonville City Council approved directing the Dallas, Texas-based Chiang, Patel and Yerby to conduct engineering services for improvements of the Lake Bella Vista Dam.
On July 2, city engineer Travis Matlock and Churchwell met with representatives from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to discuss the possibility of providing financial assistance to repair the dam.
FEMA will reimburse the city 75 percent of the cost to repair the dam, with the state providing 12. 5 percent of the repair costs. "That leaves us with 12. 5 percent of the expense for this dam repair," Mayor Bob Mc-Caslin said.
CP & Y was chosen upon the recommendation of the city of Fort Smith, which used CP & Y for similar bridge repairs.
The area around the dam has been blocked off since March 20, when the dam was found to be unstable.
Meanwhile, the city has instructed individuals to stay out of the restricted area because of the dam's instability.
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