Thalle Construction Company Wins "Best Utility" Pinnacle Award

Columbia Hydroelectric Fish Passage, Columbia , SC
Contractor: Thalle Construction Company, Hillsborough , NC

For over 100 years a dam at Columbia 's Broad River had blocked the path of migratory fish. Thalle's environmentally sensitive project involved construction of a ladder to allow the fish to overcome the dam and move upstream, plus construction of a downstream fish passage structure to allow migrating fish to return to the ocean. Because the fish ladder and the minimum flow gate were not adjacent-- but instead separated by 3.5 miles of canal-- 2 separate cofferdams were required to allow the dam demolition and protect the new construction, and then had to be redesigned to meet changing conditions.