McConnelsville Dam Update

McCONNELSVILLE, Ohio – The residents of Morgan County have seen quite a bit of construction take place this year at the McConnelsville Lock and Dam.

The McConnelsville Dam Replacement Project is nearing the end of its first construction season and Ruhlin Company Project Superintendent Christopher Gray talked about the size and scope of the undertaking and detailed how much they’ve been able to accomplish.

“So currently we’re in the second stage of construction,” Gray said. “The first stage was putting a temporary bridge in to get across the canal for access. And currently we are working in the river, putting the first three sections of the dam on this end. And we’re working on either side, on the Malta side and the McConnelsville side installing soldier pile for the abutments.” 

Coffer dams have been built into the river bed that act as an island for heavy equipment to work in the center of the channel. The materials for those dams have been recycled from other construction projects and sourced from local quarries.    

“The next steps initially are to get more of the dam done while the river’s down,” Gray said. “Following that, in the wintertime, you’ll see us slow down. There might be a little work, a little roadwork on the Malta side. Other than that there won’t be much in the winter. Overall progress, right now, we are on schedule to finish the dam next season and then remove the existing dam the following season.

Public access to the canal island has been restricted along with one lane of county road traffic along the west side of the river. However, State Route 376, which leads to the high school and county fairgrounds has not been impacted and should not affect football traffic or county fair parking.