HOOD COUNTY EXPRESS | INFRASTRUCTURE WATCH
🌊 BRA Studies Fixing or Replacing the 16 Gates at Lake Granbury's Dam
📅 October 31st, 2026AD
By Roger Teague, Staff Writer
GRANBURY — The Brazos River Authority is studying whether to repair or replace the 16 original gates at De Cordova Bend Dam, which forms Lake Granbury. Staff say the work is preventative and that they have no concern about the gates' stability.
The authority described the project in its Fall 2026 newsletter, and two of its project staff discussed it in an Oct. 1 episode of the authority's podcast, Unpacking the Brazos River. HCE also reviewed BRA's July 2025 and July 2026 board presentations, its July 27 board actions and its Sept. 25 project forecast. Everything below comes from those BRA documents unless noted.
WHAT BRA SAYS
BRA broke ground for Lake Granbury in December 1966, and the dam was finished three years later, in 1969. The 16 gates, known as Tainter gates, are still original. Each is 35 feet tall and 36 feet wide.
"With any aged structure, we're looking forward and trying to get out ahead of any issues," Lake Granbury Reservoir Manager Dylan Mayfield said in the newsletter.
Project Manager Lacey Darr said the gates are "an important part of the dam's infrastructure and how we manage water supply and flood operations."
Asked on the podcast whether BRA has any concern about the gates' stability, Darr said "No." Project Engineer Wesley Williams added: "This is preventative. This is course of doing business."
Williams also said BRA has found "no major issues" but some coating loss and some loss of gate metal, which he called "not major." He compared the choice to an old car: you can keep repairing it, but at some point you may want a new one.
WHAT THE FIRST PHASE FOUND
A BRA slide from the July 27 board meeting lists these findings from the first phase of the study:
🔹 The gates are generally in good condition considering their service life, with localized corrosion and coating problems.
🔹 Three gates have higher effective trunnion friction. Williams described trunnions as the pivot points the gates rotate on, and said the friction on some gates "was kind of high" and is being addressed in the next phase.
🔹 Both sets of low flow stoplogs need to be replaced.
🔹 Concrete is generally in good condition, with 19 locations marked for crack or spall repair, plus spalls at all bridge beam seats.
🔹 The hoist trolley used to place the stoplogs has exceeded its useful service life and requires replacement, the slide says. Williams said it is older than the dam.
The same slide says the foundation's "sliding factor of safety needs further evaluation." It does not say more, and HCE has not seen the engineers' full report.
THE COST
On July 27, BRA's board authorized the general manager to sign agreements with engineering firm Walter P. Moore for the second phase at up to $5,908,100, according to the board actions BRA posted.
BRA's slides split that phase in two. Phase IIA covers design of a monorail hoist system, a supplemental soil investigation and concrete repair design, and is capped at $4,481,000, according to the slides. The gate options analysis, labeled IIB, is capped at $890,000, according to BRA. Adding BRA's two caps gives $5,371,000 by HCE's math, according to the slides' own figures, which do not explain the other $537,100 under the board's cap.
A BRA budget slide lists a project total of $19,344,000 for the dam project and an approved fiscal 2026 budget of $3,131,000. The slide does not say how much of the total is for the gates. BRA has not published a cost estimate for repairing or replacing them, and the newsletter says the study will compare options on cost, constructability, risk and long-term performance.
According to BRA's July 2025 board slides, Moore's first-phase agreement was raised that month to a cap of $3,868,374.60.
THE TIMELINE
Williams said on the podcast that BRA hopes to decide between rehabilitating and replacing the gates "in a year-ish timeframe." The newsletter says the evaluations are expected to be done in less than two years.
A monorail to replace the old hoist trolley would ride on top of the concrete buttresses between the gates. Williams said BRA hopes to have the monorail and related concrete work ready for bid in about a year and a half.
BRA's Sept. 25 project forecast says a stoplog system replacement is in design, with bids expected in the first quarter of fiscal 2028. The authority's fiscal year starts in September, and the forecast says dates may change.
LAKE LEVEL AND ACCESS
None of the BRA documents HCE reviewed say whether the work would lower Lake Granbury, close the dam road or limit access at the dam. They do not say when any construction would start.
For reference, the Texas Water Development Board lists Lake Granbury at 690.65 feet on Oct. 29, which is 88.0% full.
ABOUT THE DAM
De Cordova Bend is a slab-and-buttress, or Ambursen, dam that is 2,200 feet long and 84 feet high, with storage of about 136,326 acre-feet, according to BRA's newsletter.
The federal National Inventory of Dams lists the dam as state-regulated by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, with a high hazard potential classification. TCEQ says a hazard classification describes the potential for loss of downstream life or property if a dam fails, and is "NOT a description of the condition of the structure."
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT
BRA's posted schedule lists its next board meeting for Nov. 9. HCE has not seen an agenda for it.
Neither the dam nor the engineers' reports have been inspected by HCE. The reports were not among the documents BRA posted.
Hood County Express — Est'd 1/26 🚂
© 2026 Hood County Express. All Rights Reserved
HoodCountyExpress.com
#HoodCounty #GranburyTX #LakeGranbury #TexasNews #News #USNews
