WATERFORD, Pa. -- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Pittsburgh District will temporarily close Middleton Road at Union City Dam to perform various maintenance work during May. The road is the entrance to the dam at 1438 Middleton Road, Waterford, Pennsylvania.
The maintenance work includes the replacement of three culverts, milling, and repaving the roadway. For the public’s safety, the entrance roadway will be closed Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. – 7 p.m. The roadway will reopen at the end of the working day.
BACKGROUND: Union City Reservoir is a unique part of a series of flood-control projects in the Pittsburgh District watershed. Located on French Creek among the rolling hills of Erie County, Pennsylvania, the Union City Reservoir is the only dry-bed reservoir in the district.
Authorized by the Flood Control Act of 1962, the dam was completed in 1971 and provides flood protection for the French Creek Valley and, to a lesser degree, the Allegheny River below Franklin, Pennsylvania. In addition, the reservoir can store the equivalent runoff of 4.08 inches of precipitation from its 222-square-mile watershed. The flood prevention benefits provided by the project since completion are estimated to be approximately $121 million.
Although Union City does not provide for typical lake-related activities, it offers visitors the unusual opportunity to observe how this dry bed reservoir becomes a lake.
The dam functions as an uncontrolled detention structure that automatically stores and releases water during peak flow periods.
Pittsburgh District’s 26,000 square miles include portions of western Pennsylvania, northern West Virginia, eastern Ohio, western Maryland, and southwestern New York. It has more than 328 miles of navigable waterways, 23 navigation locks and dams, 16 multi-purpose flood-control reservoirs, 42 local flood-protection projects, and other projects to protect and enhance the nation’s water resources infrastructure and environment.
Media can contact the Public Affairs office at CELRP-PA@usace.army.mil or 412-395-7500.
Know. Take. Wear. Know the waterways. Take a safety course. Wear your life jacket.