According to information provided by the Bureau of Reclamation, access across the top of Dam at Boysen State Park will be temporarily interrupted for testing of spillway gates during the week of August 21. 

A crew will set up a large crane on Boysen Dam for several hours during the morning of August 20. The crane will be used to place and remove stoplogs in front of the spillway gates throughout the normal work week of August 21 through August 25 to facilitate testing of the spillway gates.

Access across the top of the dam will be restricted while the crane is being set up and stop logs are being moved. During the week there will be periods of time ranging from 30 minutes to 1 hour when no traffic will be able to pass in either direction. Normal access will be restored by the end of the week.

The placement of stoplogs allows the 25-foot tall by 30-foot-wide spillway gates at Boysen Dam to be operated through full travel motion without large releases of water. The full travel test is a routine operation and maintenance activity that is generally performed every six years to ensure Reclamation’s ability to fully open and close the spillway gates. The gates are normally tested annually and are moved to a 10 percent opening.

Located on the Wind River near Shoshoni, Wyoming, Boysen Dam provides irrigation, hydropower, flood control, municipal, industrial, and fish and wildlife benefits. Near Thermopolis, Wyoming, the name of the river changes from Wind River to Bighorn River. More than 60,000 acres of farmland in Wyoming receive their irrigation supply from the Bighorn River downstream of Boysen Dam.