Lewisville Lake

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Lewisville Lake
Aerial view of Lewisville Lake and Dam
Location	North Texas
Coordinates	33°6′3″N, 96°57′50″WCoordinates: 33°6′3″N, 96°57′50″W
Lake type	reservoir
Basin countries	United States
Surface area	29,592 acres (120 km²)
Max. depth	67 ft (20 m)

A park area on the shore of Lewisville Lake

Lewisville Lake is a man-made freshwater lake located in North Texas (USA) on the Elm Fork of the Trinity River in Denton County near Lewisville. The lake is primarily used recreationally for boating and watercraft, however, it was built for flood control purposes and to serve as a water source for Dallas and its suburbs.

1 History
2 About
- 2.1 Statistics
3 Recreation
4 Transportation
5 Cities named after the lake
6 See also
7 References
8 External links

[edit] History

Lewisville Lake is the second lake to impound the waters of the Elm Fork of the Trinity River in this area. The first lake, Lake Dallas, was constructed in the 1920's by the W.E. Callahan construction Company for the City of Dallas at a cost of $3 million. The dam, completed in 1927, was built near the village of Garza and named the Garza Dam. This dam was 10,890 feet long with a 567 foot long service spillway. Lake Dallas, with it's 194,000 acre-foot capacity and forty-three miles of shoreline, served as the principal municipal water source for the city of Dallas for 31 years. ^[1]

In the 1940's, a need for increased water storage capacity and additional flood control became apparent. The United States Congress passed the River and Harbor Act of 1945 and called for additional construction in the Trinity River basin. The Corps began construction of a new lake in 1948 that would not only incorporate Lake Dallas, but also impound Hickory Creek to the West, and Stewart, Panther, Cottonwood, Doe Branch, and Little Elm Creeks to the East.

The 33,000 foot long Lewisville Dam was completed in 1955 at a cost of $21 million, and the old Garza Dam at Lake Dallas was breached in 1957 creating the new lake, known then as Garza-Little Elm Reservoir. This new lake had one hundred eighty-three miles of shoreline and a 436,000 acre-foot capacity. ^[2]

The breaching of the Garza Dam and incorporation of Lake Dallas into the Garza-Little Elm reservoir led to confusion concerning the lake's legal name. This was compounded by the the Village of Garza renaming itself the City of Lake Dallas. The federal government attempted to rename the the lake as Lewisville Reservoir in 1960 only to reverse itself in 1961. The confusion persisted until the mid-1970's when the lake was officially designated Lewisville Lake. ^[3]

[edit] About

It is generally murky with extremely low visibility. The water by the dam is clear with a visibility of 2 to 3 feet (~1 m).

The lake has many facilities for overnight camping and great fishing—the black bass lake record was broken three times in 2006. It is a beautiful lake with incredible sunsets.

A sunrise over Lewisville Lake, viewed from Highland Village

[edit] Statistics

Shoreline length: 183 miles (295 km)
Date impounded: 1954
Conservation pool elevation: 522 feet (159 m) msl
Flood pool elevation: 532 feet (162 m) msl
Top of Dam elevation: 537 feet
Operated by: United States Army Corps of Engineers

[edit] Recreation

The lake is very close to a large population base in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, so during the summer months, the lake can become extremely crowded, creating optimal conditions for boating accidents. For a number of years Lewisville Lake was ranked the most dangerous lake in Texas due to the number of accidents and fatalities which occurred. Most of the fatalities are from individuals enjoying the day at the many parks around the lake and going too far out in the water. The number of actual boating accidents on the lake is fairly low. Adding to the danger for boats and other recreational watercraft, the lake contains numerous shallow areas with exposed and submerged trunks and other water hazards. Other recreation around the lake also includes a few areas for public hunting of water fowl and feral hogs (archery only).

There are four marinas based on the lake and two bars.

Party Cove located in near the old dam is home to the weekend revelers.

[edit] Transportation

There are two bridges that currently cross the lake. The main bridge is on Interstate 35E, which crosses the lake on its western finger and is a notorious traffic bottleneck during rush hour. The other current bridge is on the eastern finger of the Lake through Little Elm, connecting two halves of Farm to Market Road 720, locally known as Eldorado Parkway.

The Lewisville Lake Toll Bridge, currently under construction, will be a toll bridge connecting Little Elm via Eldorado Parkway and Interstate 35E near Swisher Road.