Ohio Governor John Kasich told reporters Thursday the proposed design for a barrier in front of the deteriorating Buckeye Lake dam could save money and accelerate the project. Kasich has announced a design using compacted soil and cement columns to reinforce the existing 4.1-mile earthen dam. The nearly 180-year-old structure has been weakened by several hundred homes, docks and other structures built into it. Area residents and businesses say they are losing money because the lake is being kept at low winter levels to protect the dam. Ohio Public Radio's Andy Chow reports.
The project was originally set at around $150 million and to take about five years. And while Kasich said the method they plan to use, known as soil mixing, would save time and money, he didn’t want to get into the specifics.
“I mean over promising, then all of the sudden—‘well you promised and you didn’t deliver’—I don’t want to get us in that position cause that will cause real credibility problems and we don’t need to have that as we go through this,” said Kasich.
The governor sought to replace the dam after a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers report found the potential for catastrophic failure at Buckeye Lake.