The dam serves to provide flood control, water supply, navigation and hydroelectric power generation.

[2] State Highway 71 runs across the top of the dam.

The dam was approved by Rivers and Harbors Act of 1946 and construction began in December 1956.

[3] The cost of the project, completed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, was $121,735,000.

[3] Heavy rains in the spring of 2015, caused Eufaula Lake to rise so rapidly that the Corps of Engineers had to open the flood gates and release water at rates as high as 48,000 cubic feet (1,400 m3) per second.