Project Involved More
Than Just Construction
The Lanesboro Dam didn ’ t lose its tourism appeal during the summer of 2020 , even as the structure underwent
major restoration work .
Lanesboro residents and the tourists who flock to the City each summer were drawn to the construction site to observe – and often to comment on – the workers ’ progress .
“ We had a lot of sidewalk supervisors ,” joked Chris Goodwin , the Ayres engineer who designed the innovative method for restoring the antebellum dam to its original state .
“ Yeah , it was pretty much daily that people were observing from the sidelines ,” said Austin Rieder , a member of Ayres ’ water resources engineering staff who was on-site throughout the restoration project .
“ I was there to make sure everything was going as planned ” Rieder said , “ because anytime you go underwater and start digging there are a lot of unknowns .”
The project went according to plan , but there were some interesting nonconstruction-related issues that factored into that plan .
Tales From the Bike Trail
One important consideration was how to keep the Root River Bike Trail open to riders during a part of the restoration project that required a drawdown of a section of the river below the Lanesboro Dam . That area is where the popular bike trail crosses over the river via a former railroad bridge .
To keep the trail open during the drawdown , a temporary bridge made with concrete beams and wooden planks was created downstream from the dam .
“ It allowed the trail to stay open and it kept the Minnesota tourism and DNR people happy ,” Goodwin said .
Fish Tales
Because the area immediately below the dam is considered a first-rate troutfishing stream , the Minnesota DNR ordered that the fish from that section of river be safely removed before a temporary drawdown to allow work to be completed at the base of the dam .
As Rieder observed , construction workers walked back and forth across the river gathering fish in a large seine net . The fish then were placed into buckets of water and those buckets were walked further downstream where the fish were released back into the river .
“ That was a unique experience ,” Rieder said . “ I was never a part of anything like that during the other dam projects I ’ ve worked on .”
“ That ’ s a job everybody wanted to be in on ,” Goodwin joked , noting that many of the construction workers also are avid fishermen .
– Bob Brown
20 | TRENDS Ingenuity , Integrity , and Intelligence .