Corps of Engineers to detour traffic at Lac qui Parle Dam for repairs

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, will detour traffic at the Lac qui Parle Dam near Watson, Minnesota, from May 7 through October 15.

The detour includes setting and maintaining road closure and detour of east bound Lac qui Parle County Road 33, routing traffic south on Lac qui Parle County Road 75 to 20th Street Southwest eastbound to State Highway 59 where traffic will be routed Northbound through Watson to County Road 13. The project detour ends at the junction of Lac qui Parle County Road 33 and Lac qui Parle County Road 32 per plans.

Contractors are repairing a large portion of the emergency spillway which is a part of the road, removing the existing grouted rip rap, driving sheet pile and placing concrete under the shoulder and down the road bank. Finally, they will place additional rip rap at the end of road to prevent erosion.

Lac qui Parle Dam is the dividing line between Lac qui Parle and Chippewa counties. It was constructed in 1936-1941 by the Work Progress Administration as part of the overall flood risk control project; however, it is the primary dam of the overall system. Before being transferred to the Corps of Engineers in 1950, the Minnesota Department of Conservation owned and operated the dam. After 1950, the Corps of Engineers constructed new features to the dam to assist with maintenance and operation of the dam including the addition of a gauging station, installing steel plate bulkheads within the bays and repairing the dam apron. 

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