Summit Street Dam Removal

RiverReach Construction and their design team were contracted by the City of Warren to remove the Summit Street Dam. This dam was selected to be removed as Mahoning River’s industrial history and prior use by the steel mills and ancillary industries often returned the water into the river before the Clean Water Act was passed causing industrial waste and a variety of pollutants to be deposited into the river.

By removing this dam it allowed aquatic biological organisms a better habitat to survive. This river also had an excellent recovery potential due to the large watershed and prolonged floods. Past Ohio EPA Bicriteria studies showed that the fish and macroinvertebrate community potential remained resilient and were simply just waiting for the right conditions.

RiverReach Construction achieved this by demoing the dam while using hydraulic dredging to remove the sediment deposits within the dam pool. The goal of removing the dam was to gain an increase in habitat along with serving as a recreational aesthetic to draw people and businesses for a quality of life amenity.