The north side of Lake Peachtree is looking less like a pasture and more like a construction zone with dredging activities underway to remove 64,000 cubic yards of material.
The temporary roadway extending from adjacent Drake Field to Ga. Highway 54 is in place and will accommodate an estimated 6,000 dump truck loads of dirt and silt from the north side of the lake, said Fayette County Administrator Steve Rapson.
Drake Field is being used as a staging area for dirt and plant material being removed from the lake. From there the dump trucks are loaded and taken to an off-site location by Massana Construction.
Drake Field will be restored once the dredging work is completed, said Rapson.
And while the lake is dredged on the average of once a decade, Rapson said the current dredging activity will remove two and a half times more dirt than the past two dredging projects.
It was during past dredging activities that the work was done by a barge and was essentially wet dredging, Rapson said.
Asked how the project is going, Rapson said, “It’s going okay. Weather is making the work wet and nasty, but when working in a lake things get nasty.”
Evidence of just how the weather plays into the dredging was seen last week when a large excavator sunk into the mire near Drake Field. Rapson said the operator made quick work of the situation and, within minutes, had the excavator back on “dry” land.
“It’s not uncommon to get stuck,” said Rapson, noting that the area has a stream running through it and the ground is saturated from all the rain. “The guys got get a little ahead of themselves and went out too far.”
Rapson said the project completion date, barring an excess of rainy weather, is still expected in mid-June.
Commenting on the interaction between the Fayette County and Peachtree City on the dredging project, Rapson said both entities have worked well together on the project.
