Find Posts By Topic

Barge Landing on Diablo Lake Reaches Milestone

Photo of construction workers.

A construction crew installs a pre-cast concrete section for the heavy barge landing at Diablo Lake.

Seattle City Light’s contractor for a heavy barge landing dock on Diablo Lake at the utility’s Skagit Hydroelectric Project has reached an important milestone.

Last week, the contractor set pre-cast concrete panels for the barge landing, which is one of the biggest components of the job. Remaining tasks include tightening the panels together, patching any openings, adding handrails and bumpers, and final road grading.

This $1.5 million project is one of the final phases of work needed to replace facilities destroyed by a 2010 rock slide.

City Light uses barges to carry heavy equipment across Diablo Lake to and from its Ross Dam and Powerhouse. The project must be completed to allow for the delivery of six new transformers to Ross Powerhouse scheduled for 2016.

Diablo Lake was lowered about 10 feet for some of the earlier work. It is now back in its regular operating range.

Seattle City Light is the 10th largest public electric utility in the United States. It has some of the lowest cost customer rates of any urban utility, providing reliable, renewable and environmentally responsible power to about 750,000 Seattle area residents. City Light has been greenhouse gas neutral since 2005, the first electric utility in the nation to achieve that distinction.

Photo of construction workers.

Workers install a pre-cast concrete section of the heavy barge landing.