Missouri’s Bagnell Dam concludes $53 million upgrades

A year’s worth of upgrades poured into the $53 million Bagnell Dam project in Missouri are officially complete this week, concluding safety updates for the 85-year-old structure.

One of the state’s major clean energy sources — it produced more than 624,000 megawatts of energy in 2017 — the facility also forms the recreational destination known as the Lake of the Ozarks. The project was undertaken by Ameren Missouri and consisted of a series of new anchors and concrete poured on the dam’s downstream side. More than 66 million pounds of concrete was poured in total to weight the dam further.

“The work our engineers perform to enhance the structural integrity of the Bagnell Dam continues to be viewed as a best practice and has been implemented on dams across the globe,” Warren Witt, director of hydro operations for Ameren Missouri, said. “Closer to home, we know these recent improvements help drive local economic development. For example, during the first 16 months of the project, more than 220 construction jobs were created for the local trades and vendors to the Osage area, translating to an estimated $40 million impact on the area through additional spending.”

This was the first major structural update to the facility in more than 30 years and concluded ahead of schedule.