I don't have an answer for the question, but my thoughts are that Wolf Creek Dam is the most monitored (instumentarized) dam in the world. Even with the walls that were installed in it -- the 1970's wall and the new one that goes down to the bedrock, it is not foolproof.

The Army Corps of Engineers wants the traffic of US 127 off of the dam. They were also against the idea of a bridge for 127 to cross upstream from the dam because of the loss of water storage capacity a bridge would cause. Looking at the new bridge at Burnside I can't see where that would be a huge problem. I expect if the dam were to fail on its own it would be somewhat gradual, giving enough time for at least a little warning for people downstream to get out of the way.

My concern of a failure would be sudden catastrophic failure such as the type that would be caused by something like a bomb. The loss of a bridge 2 or 3 miles in comparison pales in comparison to the loss of lives of people in the Cumberland valley downstream from the dam. Burkesville would be wiped out, Nashville would be flooded, plus all the other towns downstream from the dam. So my concern for the loss of a bridge is way less than other losses that would occur if the dam failed.