Wall to fix Howard Hanson Dam could cost $450M

A concrete cutoff wall that could permanently fix the damaged Howard Hanson Dam is expected to cost about $450 million, Metropolitan King County Councilmember Julia Patterson said Monday.

Reporting on a trip to Washington, D.C., last week to lobby for funds for repairs, she said the figure came from the Army Corps of Engineers, which operates the dam and is studying alternatives for repairing its leaky right abutment. Costs could change when the study is complete, she said.

The Corps' Hanson Dam program manager, Mamie Brouwer, confirmed the $450 million figure is "in the ballpark for the permanent fix if, and this is an important caveat, that permanent fix is a concrete cutoff wall."

Patterson, who joined Gov. Chris Gregoire, County Executive Dow Constantine, South King County mayors and others on the lobbying trip, said a second round of interim repairs might cost $25 million, below the official $44 million cost.

Brouwer said it may indeed be possible to cut the interim repair cost.

Times staff