Work at Wolf Creek Dam is nearing its halfway point, according to the Corps of Engineers, who released a project update late last month on the rehabilitation project on the leaking structure.

The Foundation Remediation Contract is approximately 48 percent complete, the Corps said in the update on their website, their first update since early February.

Treviicos Soletanche JV continues all phases of the pile barrier wall construction in all areas of the project except Critical Area 1, the tenderest portion of the dam.

Activities include directional drilling, pre-drilling, pile drilling, concrete placement and verification coring. In addition, Treviicos Soletanche JV continues to install the protective concrete embankment wall in all areas except Critical Area 1. The PCEW is complete from station 40+50 to station 72+00.

The only section not complete is the area where work was suspended from February-November 2010 due to slope stability concerns, the Corps said.

The Corps and Treviicos Soletanche JV are in the negotiation stage of a modification to the contract for barrier wall installation in the cave and core trench area of Critical Area 1. Changes to the installation method and raising the work platform are included in the modification, according to the Corps. Once negotiations are finalized, impacts to the project cost and schedule will be announced.

Subcontractor Hayward Baker Inc. has also completed drilling the fan line holes at the west end of the work platform with all but 20 holes grouted. The fan line closes the area between the ends of the upstream and downstream grout lines and the grout lines drilled from the gallery beneath the concrete dam in 2007.

The Corps also issued notice to proceed to The Judy Company, a geotechnical contracting firm based in Kansas City, to begin work on the foundation and plaza grouting contract.

The contract includes widely spaced grout holes over the entire length of the concrete section of the dam and exploratory drilling and grouting between the concrete dam and the switchyard. The expected contract completion date is September 2012.

The round-the-clock monitoring program continues at Wolf Creek as well with recent instrumentation data and observations showing no abnormalities in terms of stability of the dam.

The Army Corps of Engineers has budgeted $132 million for ongoing repairs to Wolf Creek Dam for the next fiscal year with a total project cost up near the $600 million mark.

Government officials recently said that while repairs are going well now the project may not be finished until December 2013, a year later than originally projected.