The Ingeniero Ballester Dam is a

dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, aqua ...

on the

Neuquén River The Neuquén River () is the second most important river of the province of Neuquén in the Argentine Patagonia, after the Limay River. Rocks of the Neuquén Basin are fossiliferous, and the basin hosts what may become important fields of ...

, in the

Argentine Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...

Patagonia Patagonia () is a geographical region that includes parts of Argentina and Chile at the southern end of South America. The region includes the southern section of the Andes mountain chain with lakes, fjords, temperate rainforests, and glaciers ...

. The top of the dam doubles as a road

bridge A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...

. The dam is located near the town of Barda del Medio, province of Río Negro, downstream from the El Chañar Dam (the last part of the

Cerros Colorados Complex The Cerros Colorados Complex is a group of dams and hydroelectricity generation facilities on the lower valley of the Neuquén River, in Neuquén, Argentina. Overview The complex was started in 1969, and the first machine started functioning in 1 ...

), and from north-northeast from the city of

Neuquén Neuquén (; ) is the capital city of the Argentine province of Neuquén and of the Confluencia Department, located in the east of the province. It occupies a strip of land west of the confluence of the Limay and Neuquén rivers which form t ...

. Work began on the bridge on 1 January 1910. Completed in 1918, the dam is used to re-route part of the flow of the Neuquén River to a long

irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering of plants) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has bee ...

canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface ...

which flows east and then southeast passing by the cities of Barda del Medio,

Cinco Saltos Cinco Saltos is a city in the province of Río Negro, Argentina, located on the eastern side of the valley of the Neuquén River, near the Pellegrini Lake, about northwest of Neuquén and from Allen. It has 19,819 inhabitants as per the . T ...

Cipolletti Cipolletti ( or ) is a city in north of the Patagonian . With a population of 105 482 inhabitants at the , Cipolletti is the third-most populated settlement in the province, after San Carlos de Bariloche and General Roca. Together, with Neuquén ...

Allen Allen, Allen's or Allens may refer to: Buildings * Allen Arena, an indoor arena at Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee * Allen Center, a skyscraper complex in downtown Houston, Texas * Allen Fieldhouse, an indoor sports arena on the Univ ...

General Roca A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED Online. Ma ...

Ingeniero Luis A. Huergo Ingeniero Luis A. Huergo is a village and municipality in Río Negro Province in Argentina.Ministerio del Interior

, and

Villa Regina Villa Regina is a city in the General Roca Department, Río Negro, General Roca Department of the . The city is connected to the rest of the towns in the Río Negro (Argentina)#Alto Valle, Upper Río Negro Valley via National Route 22 (Argentina), ...

, and then emptying into the

flood plain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river. Floodplains stretch from the banks of a river channel to the base of the enclosing valley, and experience flooding during periods of high Discharge (hydrolog ...

of the Río Negro. A second derivation dam, downstream on the canal, sends water to feed the

reservoir A reservoir (; ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam, usually built to water storage, store fresh water, often doubling for hydroelectric power generation. Reservoirs are created by controlling a watercourse that drains an existing body of wa ...

of the

Pellegrini Lake The Pellegrini Lake is an artificial lake located on the Argentinian Patagonia, in the province of Río Negro, near the city of Cinco Saltos, at approximately and 270 m above mean sea level. This reservoir was originally a natural depressed area ...

. The Ballester Bridge over the dam is long and wide. National Route 151 crosses over it from Río Negro to the province of

References

Bridges in Argentina Dams in Argentina Buildings and structures in Río Negro Province Buildings and structures in Neuquén Province {{Argentina-bridge-struct-stub Dams completed in 1918