Freedom—December 17, 2020—Here’s what’s news around the lake:

Danforth Bridge
At last Monday’s weekly meeting with the Danforth Bridge contractor, it was reported that foundation construction has been completed and assembly of the structure is underway. The original plan to install a temporary surface so that the bridge could be opened to traffic by end of this year was discussed. The contractor reported his concerns with potential damage to the structure if the final black-top surface was not installed until spring. The contractor has a plan to do the surfacing in early January and have the bridge open to traffic by mid-January.  There will be further discussion next Monday.

Thursday morning there was a sheet of ice on about half of the Broad surface. Easy to spot the open water because of the heavy snowfall all day. The lake level has been coming down from a high of 406′ ten days ago. The jump-up from 405′ was the result of heavy rain for two days. It has taken longer than usual to bring the lake level down below 405′ because the only water flow is through the old south side dam. The new north side dam is not yet ready to take over on lake level control. By next summer all lake level control will be done by the new, north side dam, but the old south side dam will remain in place, just resting after many years of service.

Ice-Out
Ice-Out is only 15 weeks away!