Robert Street Dam Removal - Part 1 

Thank you.

StereoSpace well you gotta remember it's all thanks to the invention of hydralics lol

Dylan Ruppert Quite right! I think we would still be there today with a hammer and chisel trying to remove this dam if not for the wonders of hydraulics!

10 years later how has the river benefited from the removal?

I know. I used to be addicted to black tar heroin and porn. Now, after watching these things, I am only addicted to RU-vid demolition videos. Quid Pro Quo.

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Thank you for your supportive comments, I appreciate it. Thanks.

Actually some production companies, including two from the UK, are developing documentaries and TV shows on dam removals. My dams are on the small side of what they want to depict so I've directed them to other companies who are doing larger dam removals in Oregon and Washington. It will be interesting to see what shows they come up with. Thanks.

Indeed. Of the next few dam removals that I'm researching now, all three were incorporated the failed structure of a previous dam. I guess it was smart from their perspective to use the previous dam as additional ballast since all gravity dams depend on sheer weight to stay in place. Thanks for your comment.

Yes, I wanted to be the first person in nearly 100 years to kayak through a free-flowing river at this location; it was a great ride! Thanks.

+JohnWJengo If conditions permit, do you do that every time? I would in a heartbeat!

I'm literally wiping the tears from my eyes. First from JMR's post, then from your comment. GOOD STUFF.

It could be technically referred to as a weir, but I have found that term to be somewhat unfamiliar to people, so the more commonly known term "dam" is used. Thanks for your comment.

Thanks, I was hoping the tunes would accentuate the video.

JohnWJengo I only wish you added more of that music rather than a short clip

My original version used the full lengths of songs, but to be granted copyright permission to publish the videos on RU-vid, one has to use abbreviated segments of songs to protect the copyright holders from someone downloading the whole song. Thanks for your interest!

@@terasestHammasratas damn it

This earth created us.

EZ05 the earth didn’t just create us out of thin air

Thanks for your question. In our permit applications with NJDEP, that was not considered a risk to the ecology of the river, which is why the demolition was scheduled for mid-summer, after the fish migration season and before the young-of-the-year would be swimming downstream. I was required; however, and I was glad to do it, to remove all the concrete from the river so as not adversely affect the pH and chemistry of the surface water. Thanks.

Actually, I didn't either when I started planning this project. Knowledgeable engineers advised me that I needed a sheet pile driver and I literally stated "I don't want to put them in, I want to take them out." That's when they told there was a way to reverse the process, which as you can see, worked very well. Thanks for your comment.

Good question. Back then, not a lot of thought went into the negative effects of dams. Throughout the late 19th century and through most of the 20th century, most people felt as President Franklin Roosevelt did when he dedicated the Boulder [now Hoover] Dam on September 30, 1935 that dams were necessary to capture "the energy that otherwise would be wasted." We now recognize that a river in its natural state provides more economic and ecologic benefit than impounding it. Thanks.

JohnWJengo Just remember that wind turbines don’t generate any electricity on calm days and solar installations don’t generate anything on cloudy days or in the dark. We shouldn’t be so cavalier about getting rid of dams. I could maybe see why this one had to go because of the inherent danger of low head dams, but still...

The minimal gain in any hydropower generation was not offset by the economic gain of a free-flowing river; the owner of the dam recognized that the removal of the dam would generate more income from recreational use and they no longer have to carry millions of dollars of insurance to cover the drownings that occurred at this dam in the past. I'm hoping that we may be just a few years away from efficient in-river turbines that could generate hydropower without all the negative consequences from dams. Thanks for your question.

Back to Stupid is more like it. This guy and the rest like him should have his knees broken for what he is doing to N.American critical infrastructure, most of which was constructed literally in the name of Conservation ~

That would be excellent, I hope you catch something worth keeping!

Yeah we have a hydro dam up north with salmon ladders built into it you can watch them leap up the various bits with ease

We don't have salmon in this river (if we did, you are right, they could easily leap this structure). We have American shad and river herring, who cannot jump or otherwise get over these dams, hence the impetus to remove them. Thanks for your question.

+Täking Thë High Roäd Good point, but necessary in this case, at least in the beginning of the project. We are required to breach the dam over a certain width in a certain amount of time and so by eliminating the conveyance of concrete, we were able to comply with that requirement. I have on other dam removals (see the Calco Dam Removal for instance) been able to direct load into an articulated truck, thus limiting the number of times that the concrete was handled. Thanks for your comment.

JohnWJengo Yeah, I suppose that would make it a little hard to do. My boss is a real stickler on that subject, but in this case you had to move the pile several times. Great job by all!

This dam was not a flood control structure, and actually has alleviated flooding upstream because we lowered the baseline pool level of the former impoundment by 5 feet. Thanks for your comment.

The individual sheet piles connect to each other in a tongue and groove system similar to the way a hardwood floor is interconnected. After decades of oxidation that cemented this connection, the pulling apart of one sheet from another caused so much friction that the metal would super-heat and glow red and that is what I captured at 7:31 in the video. Thanks for your question.

I mentioned under another reply that it could be technically referred to as a weir, but I have found that term to be somewhat unfamiliar to people, so the more commonly known term "dam" is used. Thanks for your comment.

Installing a mini hydropower plant was not considered a beneficial exchange relative to restoring migratory fish passage and restoring the river's water quality. One of the land owners opted for solar panels, which was a much less impactful option for energy. Thanks.

What you are suggesting is not workable either technically or administratively. Fish migration studies have shown that anadromous fish cannot overcome breaching notch entrance velocities so notching every dam will not increase or improve fish passage. And on a practical basis, it takes 3-5 years to gain access to these dams through private properties, obtain all the proper (and required permits from federal and state agencies) and wait for the right river conditions (cfs) to set up. Very often, we have but one window of opportunity to execute a dam removal and we cannot leave until the river is completely open and the dam completely removed per the permit requirements that gave us permission to perform the work. Setting permitting requirements aside, to return to finish the job later essentially doubles the price of the project (a second set of permits, remobilizing equipment and personnel, installing another ramp, and etc.), which no one would agree to. Thanks for your comment

Indeed, they are all weirs on this river. I refer to them as "dams" because they are officially named that in the Bureau of Dam Safety inventory files, but moreover because weir is a term that is relatively unfamiliar to the public at large, whereas a "dam" is something that everyone can recognize or visualize. Thanks for your comment.