Area 51 in the Ozarks
This is the photo I've been looking for! I drove up Highway U last week and hoped to see some of the construction, but all you can see from that angle is a pile of the old reservoir wall. This photo was taken looking to the SE and the plane had to be over the scour. Thanks to an old friend in Lesterville for sending this photo.
posted by staff @ 8:53 AM
3 comments
3 Comments:
I had a guy putting gravel on the driveway at my property in Iron County today so I spent the day in Arcadia Valley. I went for a drive and spent some time at Johnson Shutins where I counted 70 cars in the parking lot. I know it was almost at full capacity because they were setting up the right hand lane near the entrance that is used as a waiting line to get into the park. The boulder field trail they had last year is now closed but I still saw a lot of boulders looking out towards the scour. The shutins and overlook trail are open but be aware that there is a $500.00 fine if you walk into any closed sections. From there I went through Lesterville an took Hwy U up towards the Taum Sauk reservoir. Proffitt Mountain appears cone shaped instead of flat topped like it used to be, not sure why. There is a lot of activity at Ameren and a trucker told me trucks are hauling cargo to the area 7 days a week. The guy working on my driveway said he built a parking lot up there last month where they are putting portable office trailers. The Lower Reservoir is now open on weekends for camping and the fishing boat launch is open weekends as well.
That is a neato picture of the roller compacted concrete (RCC) embankment going up. Ameren has plans as to how the final rebuild will look on their website.
I was wondering if the fellow who took the air photo might have taken others. If so, let me know as I am interested. I am real interested in the section just to the right of the picture as it was taken as that is where the reservoir failed. Also, how does the upper scour zone look?
Contact me at cwatkin@mst.edu
The trucks you are seeing are likely hauling aggregate from the Iron Mountain Traprock quarry. Not enough of the old material meets spec for the rebuild so some has to be brought in.
I talked to a contractor for this and it sounds like they are working day and night to get this completed. I am sure lots of people are quite happy to have these construction jobs right now.
http://www.rizzoassoc.com/ProjectDetails.asp?ProjectID=241&AreaID=7
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