News Release
| Release Number: | 00-204 |
| Dated: | 12/20/2000 |
| Contact: | Public Affairs Office, 503-808-4510 |
Portland, Ore. — The U. S. Army Corps of Engineers will reduce outflows from John Day Dam tomorrow, Dec. 21, to help the Washington State Patrol retrieve a tractor trailer rig from the Columbia River. The rig went off the Biggs Junction Bridge (Highway 97) on Dec. 15, 2000.
Lowering flows out of John Day will decrease the velocity of the river below the dam, thus increasing the safety margin for the recovery effort. Decreasing the outflows from John Day also will lower The Dalles reservoir slightly, which will make it easier to remove the tractor-trailer from the river.
The flows will be reduced to about 80,000 cubic feet per second, about half of the current flow. This action is within authorized operating limits for the Dam. Although the John Day reservoir is currently high, the project can safely store the additional water. Flows will still be adequate to protect spawning grounds downstream and meet fisheries requirements. Power needs can be filled on a temporary basis by generation from other hydropower projects on the Columbia River system.
At 10 a.m. tomorrow the flows will be at 80,000 cfs, and will be held down for about two hours, the estimated time needed to lift the truck and load it onto a barge. If recovery operations continue past noon, the John Day project will work with reservoir regulators from the Corps’ Reservoir Control Center to maintain lower flows from John Day for a longer time.
Once on the barge, the truck will be taken downriver and offloaded at the navigation lock at the Corps’ The Dalles Dam, 24 miles downriver. If all goes smoothly, the barge should be in the lock at about 3 p.m. The navigation lock will be closed while the barge approaches from upstream, and while the truck is being unloaded from the barge and reloaded onto a flatbed tow truck.
The Corps of Engineers’ boats the Umatilla and the Randy Cummings responded on Dec. 15 to a report of people in the water following the accident. The Corps furnished a crew and the Randy Cummings for use as a dive platform during the search and recovery operation on Dec. 16, 2000.
The Corps’ The Dalles/John Day Project is working closely with the Washington State Patrol and the Washington Department of Transportation to facilitate this recovery effort.