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Video by Capt. Michael Meyer

Workers top-off the mass concrete for the Folsom auxiliary

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Sacramento District

July 11, 2014 | 0:51

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The last mass concrete for the Folsom auxiliary dam is placed July 11, completing the structure of the new dam. Work will shift to completing installation of its remaining electrical and mechanical components, including its 12 giant gates.

Concrete placement for the dam began in May 2012, and crews have worked nearly around the clock, six days a week to place more than 100,000 cubic yards of concrete for the structure – enough to lay more than 4,000 foundation slabs for 2,000-square-foot homes.

While construction of the new dam is scheduled to be complete in 2015, additional work on the spillway’s approach channel, downstream chute and stilling basin, which helps dissipate the energy of water released from the dam before it enters the American River, will continue until the project’s planned October 2017 completion.

The Folsom Dam auxiliary spillway project is part of the Joint Federal Project, an approximately $900-million cooperative effort between the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, Central Valley Flood Protection Board, California Department of Water Resources and the Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency to improve the safety of Folsom Dam and reduce flood risk for the Sacramento area.