Mansfield Dam
Mansfield Dam is a dam located across a canyon at Marshall Ford on the Colorado River, northwest of Austin, Texas, United States. The groundbreaking ceremony occurred on February 19, 1937, with United States Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes attending. The dam was a joint project by the Colorado River Authority">Colorado River (Texas)">Colorado River Authority and the United States Bureau of Reclamation, with partial funding provided by the Public Works Administration. Brown and Root, headed by James E. Walters, Sr., was the prime contractor. The dam was completed in 1941. Originally called Marshall Ford Dam, the name was changed in 1941 in honor of United States [House of Representatives|United States Representative] J.J. Mansfield. The reservoir behind Mansfield Dam is named Lake Travis. The dam is owned and operated by the LCRA.
Mansfield Dam is high, long, and thick at the base. The concrete gravity dam with embankment wings and saddle dikes was designed to control flooding; to store 1.4 km3 of water; and to generate hydroelectric power. The Spillway Elevation is above Mean Sea Level. LCRA begins to open floods gates when water reaches 681 feet above MSL. At above MSL, discharge capacity exceeds as the lake rises.
The two lanes of Mansfield Dam Road, formerly RM 620, traverse the top of the dam, but traffic other than service vehicles are now prohibited. 620 was rerouted in 1995 to a four-lane highway bridge on the downstream side of the dam built for increase in traffic due to the popularity in Austin of recreating at Lake Travis.