Drish Construction won’t start on Walton Lake dam this year

FAIRFIELD – Drish Construction of Fairfield has informed the city it will not proceed this year with construction of a dam to replace the golf cart bridge at Walton Lake.

Fairfield City Engineer and Public Works Director Melanie Carlson informed the city council via email on Monday, Dec. 1, that the construction of the dam would not begin this year, and it wasn’t clear if Drish would proceed with demolishing the golf cart bridge before the end of the year, either. The city hired Drish to replace the bridge with a box culvert measuring 8 foot by 10 foot in the middle of an earthen dam.

During the city council’s most recent meeting on Monday, Nov. 24, Carlson told the council that Drish planned to move heavy equipment to the lake either later that week or next to begin demolishing the bridge and then starting work on the dam. However, snowfall over the Thanksgiving weekend combined with freezing temperatures have brought the project to a halt, and have pushed construction of the dam into 2026.

The dam safety construction permit the Iowa Department of Natural Resources issued to Fairfield is good through October of 2028, but the separate permit to draw down the lake was issued on the assumption the construction period would last 75 days.

“While I’ve had previous conversations with Iowa DNR dam safety regarding extending the drawdown period, and they had no concerns, we will reach out to them again to discuss the current timeline,” Carlson wrote in her email to the council.

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Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com