Residents and visitors to the Stanton Lake area on the Willow River will see increased levels of construction activity and truck traffic in the coming weeks as the damaged Willow River dam is removed and is replaced with a rock arch rapids. The dam, built in the 1940s, breached in July 2016 after a large flood overtopped the dam and eroded the adjacent embankment.

Earlier this month, workers temporarily diverted the river channel and dewatered the work area so they could remove the failed concrete dam. In the next phase of construction — expected to last into February — a series of steps and s...