Rock Island Dam machinery to be updated in $50M project

The briefing

The 93-year-old Rock Island Dam is getting a $50 million modernization led by Spokane-based Kuney-Brenna JV for Chelan County PUD. Motorists on Highway 28 will see a 180-foot crane on a barge lifting 45-foot concrete mats for a commercial dive team, with the bulk of rehabilitation done by July 2027. A new set of spillway gates will be installed over about six years, and the PUD will spend the next decade upgrading the Columbia River's only bulb turbine generators.