When you want to stop Niagara Falls from flowing , install a cofferdam . The New York State Parks Commission is hoping to do just that as early on as 2019 .
At a public merging yesterday , the perpetration discussed detail of a proposal to build two new bridge deck to replace the survive structures , which particular date to the turn of the 20th century . The current bridges , which elongate from the mainland to Green Island and from Green Island to Goat Island , are in bad anatomy : They weretemporarily close in 2004so that truss could be put in to stabilise them and permit entree to Goat Island , but pieces continue to come down into the water below .
The parking lot commission determined in 2015 that rehabilitation of the bridges would n’t be possible — both the initial construction methods ( reinforce concrete with world - filled arches ) and all-inclusive deterioration mean new bridges would be necessary . And to build Modern bridges , they ’d have to dry up the American side of the Niagara River , which sends as much as 150,000 gallons of water per minute over the American and Bridal Veil Falls .
To fulfil the dewatering , a temporarycofferdamwould be installed , in all likelihood at the upstream end of Goat Island . It would stretch out from the island — which seat at the edge of the falls and separate the American side from Canada ’s Horseshoe Falls — over to the mainland and divert flow from the river completely to the Canadian side . ( Only 15 percent of the fall flow to the American side ; 85 percentage gushes toward Canada . )
Once the surface area is dry , the undertaking could proceed in one of two ways . In the first , the Falls would be water - less from August to December . During that time , the existing structure would be demolish and workers would install piers , according toABC News Buffalo ; water flow would set about again at the end of December , and the next year , workers would resume construction on the bridges . The process would be completed in two years . The second option , which would last a class , would take a nine - month dewatering starting in April and round - the - clock construction .
The commission has been look at rehabilitating or replacing the bridge since 2009 , but the project does n’t yet have funding and is n’t sanction . It guess that construction costs will range from $ 21.37 million to $ 37.32 million , calculate on the intention chosen , and take note that the state park department " will need to secure special Washington backing from state and/or federal sources prior to get on this labor to the construction phase . "
If it does move forward , the study will begin in 2019 . It will be the 2d sentence the American side of the falls has blockade flowing thanks to humans : In 1969 , the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers diverted the flow of the river to the Canadian side using a 600 - foot cofferdam constructed of27,800 ton of stone . The goal ? To study the accumulation of boulders and rock from rock music slide at the bottom of the fall . The dried - up falls drew many tourists , and after six month of investigation , a decision was made to leave the falls as they were . The caisson was removed in November of that yr .
you may read the full PDF write up of the proposalhere .
