The Sandy Springs City Council has approved a $756,800 task order to have an engineering consultant draw up plans to repair the Lake Forrest Dam, at least 60 years old and categorized by the state as a Category 1 “high hazard” structure.
Schnabel Engineering already has performed preliminary evaluations of the dam on the Sandy Springs-Atlanta border, and has presented several repair options to the city to bring it into compliance with the Georgia Safe Dams program, officials said.
The latest contract with Schnabel "includes soil testing and supplemental subsurface exploration; Phase I and II roadway, utility and dam design services, and preparation of construction plans," according to a Sandy Springs announcement. "The cities of Atlanta and Sandy Springs will share payment of the fees. The work is expected to take at least eight months to complete."
Lake Forrest Road runs on top of the dam and will have to be closed during construction, officials said. Information: https://bit.ly/2osSwvm
Among the identified deficiencies: inappropriate vegetation on the embankment, a steep downstream slope, conduits in the dam that are leaking and have likely exceeded their design life, and an inadequate spillway capacity.
