Indian Lake Labyrinth Spillway - Unique Improvements to a Historic Spillway

The Indian Lake Spillway is a historic landmark originally constructed in the mid-1850s to transfer water in a controlled manner from Indian Lake to the Miami and Erie Canal System. The spillway, owned by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, is located near Russells Point, Ohio, and, primarily, is now used for recreational purposes. The over 150-year-old spillway needed modification to address inadequate capacity and severely deteriorated concrete. The original spillway design used an ogee-shaped weir with a total length of 700 feet and a height of 10 feet. After completion of the condition evaluation, it was determined that rehabilitation of the existing spillway would be difficult due to the many years of overlays and patching that had been performed. Numerous alternatives were evaluated with a consensus to replace the original spillway with a two-stage, 35-cycle, labyrinth spillway design.
This labyrinth-style spillway simulates the original 700-foot-long spillway within a reduced 180-foot-long spillway section. The additional spillway length now serves as an auxiliary spillway for storms that exceed the 100-year storm event.
To allow for continued recreational activities, construction was performed in a manner that did not impact the normal operating lake level. Construction was completed in July 2018 and opened to the public.