Key Challenges

The Bull Shoals Service Bridge is a critical structure managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Little Rock District at Bull Shoals Dam and Lake, located on the White River along the Arkansas-Missouri border near Mountain Home, Arkansas. Completed in 1951, Bull Shoals Dam is a major multi-purpose project providing flood risk reduction, hydropower, water supply, recreation, and environmental stewardship.  The service bridge provides essential access for dam operations, maintenance, and inspections over the pristine waterway and dam infrastructure.

This environmentally sensitive and operationally critical location presented significant challenges for our cleaning and painting project:

• Difficult and hazardous access: The bridge’s elevated position over the dam and lake, combined with its structural design, required specialized rigging, scaffolding, and work platforms in a remote, high-elevation setting with limited staging areas.
• High concentration of lead-based paint over a pristine waterway: Decades of exposure had left legacy lead coatings that posed serious risks of environmental contamination to the sensitive aquatic ecosystem below, which supports fisheries, recreation, and downstream water quality.
• Strict USACE Environmental, Safety, and Health (ESH) protocols: All work had to comply with rigorous federal standards for hazardous material handling, air and water quality protection, worker safety, and zero-discharge requirements in a protected natural area.

These factors demanded meticulous planning to protect the environment, ensure public and operational safety, and maintain the bridge’s structural integrity without interrupting USACE dam functions.

How We Met the Challenge

Our team successfully delivered a high-quality, long-lasting restoration of the Bull Shoals Service Bridge while fully adhering to USACE standards and protecting the surrounding pristine environment. We accomplished this through advanced containment, rigorous monitoring, and specialized coating application:

• SSPC Class 1A Containment: We engineered and installed a full SSPC Class 1A (highest level) containment system — a completely sealed, negative-pressure enclosure designed for hazardous paint removal over sensitive areas. This system captured 100% of debris, dust, and lead particles, preventing any release into the waterway or atmosphere below.
• High-volume air monitoring: Continuous, high-volume air sampling and real-time monitoring were conducted throughout the project to verify compliance with strict exposure limits, ensuring worker safety and confirming zero off-site migration of contaminants.
• Application of the USACE 3AZ coating system: After thorough surface preparation, we applied the specified USACE vinyl-based 3-A-Z system.

By combining expert access solutions, state-of-the-art containment technology, and precise execution under demanding regulatory oversight, we completed the project with zero environmental incidents. The Bull Shoals Service Bridge now stands protected for decades to come.