MIDDLESEX TWP — Residents could be fishing in a restored Glade Run Lake by the summer of 2017.

Bids will be sought in mid-March to repair the lake’s faulty dam, according to Jerry Woomer, a project manager at the state Fish and Boat Commission, and Glade Run Lake Conservancy President Siggy Pehel.

The lake was drained in 2011 for safety reasons because the dam was structurally insufficient.

Woomer said the state Department of Environmental Protection and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have approved drawings for the dam repair and refilling of the lake. That approval allowed the project to move to the bid phase.

He said the state Department of General Services will handle the bidding process. Bids would likely be awarded in mid-April.

“That’ll tell us how much it’s going to cost,” Woomer said.

It has been estimated at $4.3 million.

He said the work to repair the dam likely will begin in mid-June. After the construction is done, it likely will take six to eight months for the streams and tributaries to refill the 52-acre lake.

Woomer said the lake will be allowed to refill at a rate of 2 feet per week so engineers can check for dam seepage and other possible problems as the water rises.

Pehel said changes to the lake in the new plans include the digging of five channels that will each be 10 feet deep and 20 feet wide. The goal is to add an extra 2,200 feet of space for water to increase the fish population by up to 35 percent once the dam is refilled.

Eric Levis, Fish and Boat Commission spokesman, said the lake could be ready for boating and kayaking by the late summer of 2016, but will not be stocked with fish until the opening day of fishing season in the early summer of 2017.