JAMESTOWN, N.D. (NewsDakota.com/USACE) – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District, in partnership with the prime contractor, Barnard Construction Company, will be hosting a groundbreaking ceremony for the Pipestem Dam Spillway project at the Pipestem Dam – near right abutment of dam crest, in Jamestown, North Dakota May 25, 2023, from 10-10:30 a.m.

The ceremony is open to the public and will commemorate the first day of construction for this multi-year project that consists of constructing a concrete terminal structure and labyrinth weir on the downstream end of the spillway channel and other related features to improve the spillway’s reliability. Guests can access the abutment of the dam crest from 31st St. SE in Jamestown.

USACE operates Pipestem Dam and Reservoir, completed in 1973 on Pipestem Creek to reduce impacts from flooding on people and property in Jamestown, North Dakota, and further downstream in the James River Basin. USACE, who also owns and maintains the dam, coordinates water storage and releases with the Bureau of Reclamation, which owns Jamestown Dam and Reservoir, about 6 miles east, also within the James River Basin. These two dams alone or together cannot eliminate the impacts of floods