Closing of road atop dam riles many in Calif. city

FOLSOM, Calif. -- The massive Folsom Dam holds back nearly 1 million acre-feet of water, enough to submerge the entire state of Rhode Island under a foot of water.

Downstream from the dam are 700,000 people who live and work along the American River, and who federal authorities say could be in danger of cataclysmic flooding if terrorists managed to explode a well-placed bomb.

But many locals in this Gold Rush city east of Sacramento scoff at the likelihood of such a doomsday event, and remain unconvinced that the dam would ever be the target of terrorists.

''I just can't imagine it," said Chris Corda, who runs a Mexican restaurant in the city's historic district.

''What kind of security threat could it really be?" added Linnea Hoy, an owner of the Folsom Hotel across the street. ''Why is it that Hoover Dam can stay open, and yet they close Folsom Dam?"

In February 2003, the US Bureau of Reclamation temporarily closed the two-lane road that sits atop the 340-foot tall structure. Ever since, the dam has been a constant topic of conversation and hand-wringing in this city of 60,000. Before being closed two years ago, the road was among the area's busiest, with 18,000 vehicles traveling across it every day.

Now, the bureau is looking into permanently closing the 2-mile road, frustrating traffic-weary residents, civic leaders, and merchants who hoped to reclaim the route -- at least during high-peak traffic hours or until another bridge could be constructed to ease the city's traffic woes.

The closure prompted a change in driving patterns, and some neighborhoods, particularly near the city's Old Town, have asserted that the bumper-to-bumper traffic has scared away shoppers.

An informal city study suggests that business across the city is down by about one-fifth. But officials at the Bureau of Reclamation say closing the dam road isn't entirely to blame, pointing to competition from new commercial developments throughout the region.

But Corda, the restaurateur, insists that the downturn in Old Town is a direct result of the road's closure. ''People are getting fed up with the traffic, and the situation is getting worse. Nobody wants to come to Old Town anymore," Corda said. ''Why fight the traffic?"

Because of increasing grumblings from the community, the bureau is considering reopening the bridge during rush hour, but it has made no secret of its preference to close the road permanently.

The Bureau of Reclamation considers its facility in Folsom the most vulnerable of its 600 dams and reservoirs across the western United States, said Jeff McCracken, spokesman for the agency's Mid-Pacific regional office, headquartered in Sacramento.

After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the bureau identified five dams potentially at risk from terrorist attack: the Hoover Dam near Las Vegas, the Grand Coulee Dam in central Washington, Glen Canyon Dam in northern Arizona, Shasta Dam in northern California, and the facility in Folsom.

''As the security specialists began evaluating these facilities, Folsom kept going higher and higher on the list," McCracken said.

''It has more people living downstream than any other facility in the country. Hoover doesn't have that many people below it," McCracken said. ''So, it really put Folsom in the limelight." When officials looked at the facility's potential vulnerabilities, he said, ''the recommendation was for immediate closure" of the road.

Below the dam are some of California's fastest growing communities. Part of the state capital -- and $40 billion in property -- lie within the floodplain below the dam.

The agency has held public hearings on the possible permanent closure, which was detailed in an environmental impact study that included possible alternatives, including reopening the road atop the dam during commuting hours.

But that could mean installing security checkpoints and performing random inspections -- much like what is already in place at Hoover Dam. Large trucks would be barred and commuters could be required to apply for special permits to use the road.

Some in town believe the decision has already been made. ''I don't think there's a motivation to reopen it," said Joe Gagliardi, president of the local Chamber of Commerce.

''The speculation that someone is going to bomb the dam -- that's something people don't comprehend," Gagliardi said. ''If it's dangerous to let people drive over it, why are boats allowed to go right to it, why are planes allowed to fly over it?"

Keeping the road closed would make it easier for the bureau's crews to perform repairs and general maintenance, which in the past has sometimes been difficult to coordinate with city officials concerned about traffic issues.

The solution, everyone agrees, is another river crossing downstream from the dam, in addition to the city's two existing vehicular bridges. Plans for a new, $84 million bridge are in the works but it would not open for at least three years.

That's too long to wait, said Folsom Mayor Steve Miklos, a transplant from Southern California who shares the growing frustration over clogged streets.

''I'm just annoyed that they use the fears of people and the homeland security issue to justify" the road's closure, said Miklos.

As potential terrorist targets go, the Folsom Dam probably doesn't rank high among other places in California, said Miklos. Los Angeles International Airport, one of the nation's busiest, and San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge are widely considered by most authorities as the state's top targets.

''The residents of Folsom have had to endure one hardship that we should not have to accept," Miklos said in his State of the City speech last month. ''I do not know of any other community in the country that has had to put up with a hardship such as the closure of the Folsom Dam Road."