Seattle Public Utilities – 1st Quarter Consultant
Business Opportunities Event
Thursday, February 16th - 9:30 AM to 12:30 PM
Seattle City Hall - Bertha Knight Landes Room
The purpose of this event is to provide the consultant community with information about upcoming opportunities to do business with Seattle Public Utilities (SPU). Contract Managers will present information on these projects:
- North Transfer Station
- Morse Lake Pump Plant
- Landsburg Facilities and Chlorination
Information will be presented on the City’s contracting processes, contract requirements and introduce business tools. There will be time for questions and to meet with SPU staff and other consultants. Download the event flier with the agenda.
Registration
Due to room size advance registration is requested to guarantee admittance. Registration will also help us develop a distribution list for future events. Click here to Register.
Questions?
Kathy Peterson - (206) 684-5084 - Kathya.peterson@seattle.gov
Vicky Schiantarelli - (206) 684-7821 - Vicky.schiantarelli@seattle.gov
Event Location
Seattle City Hall
Bertha Knight Landes Room
600 4th Avenue -1st floor
On 4th between Cherry and James
For directions to City Hall, information on parking and public transit, click here.
Engineering Excellence: Best In State Gold Awards
Gold Award – Social/Economic Value
KPFF/ Hart Crowser – Place of Circling Waters
Client: Port of Tacoma
Motorists in the Tacoma traveling on Marine View Drive past Hylebos Creek used to look out on a 30-acre wasteland left by a former gravel mine and waste disposal site. Although it was home to a proliferation of blackberry bushes, knotweed and other invasive weeds, what you couldn’t see was actually the most dangerous part of the site – contaminated soil containing high concentrations of petroleum hydrocarbons, arsenic, lead and other toxic metals. These contaminants had already entered the underlying groundwater and threatened to discharge into Hylebos Creek where they would wreak havoc with fish and other aquatic organisms.
The Port of Tacoma hired a team of problem solvers, headed by KPFF, with Hart Crowser providing critical geotechnical and environmental engineering expertise. The complex solution involved a 255,000-ton remedial excavation clean-up and the intricate restoration of what was once a large, vibrant natural habitat.
The project included permit/regulatory issues in five separate mitigation areas, discoveries of additional contamination that increased the site dimensions, plus – because the site was located at the base of a large hill – creating a rock buttress for stabilization and drainage. The team also designed a view deck, new parking lot and access for the public so they could enjoy the site and learn close up about the new tidal marsh area.
Officials of the local Puyallup Indian Tribe call this new site “kal’-ka’lukw’al’kwo,” or, “Place of Circling Waters,” since at high tide, water flows from the creek into the new intertidal zone and stream channels, creating resting and feeding areas for young salmon as well as habitat for native plants, water birds and other wildlife.
Gold Award – Energy
MWH – Lake Chelan Hydro Modernization Project
Client: Public Utility District No. 1 of Chelan County
Electrical power to the people of Chelan County is provided by the Lake Chelan Hydroelectric facility, located approximately 32 miles north of the city of Wenatchee near the geographic center of Washington state. The facility includes a 40-foot-high, 490-foot-long dam plus a large powerhouse that was built in 1927 and had become deteriorated and inefficient. MWH was brought in to conduct a comprehensive modernization of the powerhouse that included extending the life of the equipment, increasing efficiencies, and eliminating the need for almost constant maintenance.
The project began with intensive computerized as well as physical modeling conducted in Grenoble, France, at the generating equipment supplier’s hydraulic laboratories that showed major performance improvements were achievable. Replacement of the original generator stators and refurbishment of the generator rots, coupled with turbine improvements, indeed, resulted in significantly more energy production with no increase in water usage. Installation of modern digital controls provided automation and improved monitoring, which lowered the facility’s operation and maintenance costs.
Significant environmental gains were also achieved in the modernization. The original low-pressure oil turbine operating system was replaced with a high-pressure system. The turbine guide bearing, which had been oil-lubricated, was changed to a water-lubricated bearing. These changes reduced the amount of oil needed by the hydraulic turbines by a factor of 10, resulting in far less oil released into the environment through leakage or spills. Also, the turbine grease lubrication system was completely eliminated through the application of self-lubricating materials, eliminating any future grease contamination of water flowing into the Columbia River.
The modernization bumped the estimated service life of the facility up to 40 years, increased turbine peak efficiencies dramatically and eliminated constant maintenance. Perhaps one of the best parts of the whole project was the additional revenue from the turbine performance – gains that essentially financed the entire modernization program!
Gold Award – Technical Value
Perteet – Pioneer Way Improvements Project
Client: City of Oak Harbor
The City of Oak Harbor, named for the Garry Oak trees that grace its skyline, is Whidbey Island's largest incorporated city. Its history goes back to the early 1850s, reflected in the city’s historic downtown corridor, Pioneer Way. Over the years, however, the main street had deteriorated needed major upgrades that needed to be contained in the original footprint.
The city hired Perteet to do a “green overhaul” of Pioneer Way to improve the roadway, re-locate utilities, upgrade the storm drainage and sewer systems, and improve pedestrian access, all the while ensuring an environmentally sound finished product. The project required effective communication with all stakeholders, including the merchants and property owners along the street who would be most affected by the construction disruption.
The first step in paving was to pulverize the old asphalt and recycle it as base material for the new road, which was built with a 40-year instead of 20-year design life. Then entire pavement replacement used “warm mix asphalt” that decreased asphalt temperatures by a minimum of 50 degrees Fahrenheit, saving energy and lowering emissions during paving operations. New low-impact storm water treatment vaults provide enhanced water quality to 95 percent of roadway runoff, saving the city in excess of $300,000 in costly end-of-pipe treatment drains. Decorative LED lighting reduced electrical consumption by 39 percent and requires little-to-no ongoing maintenance. Plus, Perteet designed an electric vehicle charging station with the conduit infrastructure to expand when demand increases.
The $8.3 project, completed ahead of schedule and under budget, is the one of the first applicants for certification through the Greenroads Foundation, an international program that provides a quantitative framework for evaluating the sustainability of transportation projects.
Gold Award – Originality/Innovation
Sparling – UW PACCAR Hall AV Design Consulting
Client: UW Foster School of Business
The University of Washington’s Foster School of Business is one of the highest ranking business schools in America, but being handicapped by the university’s analog AV system. So in the first phase of designing the new PACCAR Hall, the school, hired Sparling to design a state-of-the-art digital audio-visual systems for the 5-story, 133,000-square-foot building.
Sparling worked with the University to establish new requirements for the classroom AV standards with the goal of making the new PACCAR Hall the first classroom building that is fully digital. The technology improvements included “classroom capture” to bring classroom audio and video directly to the computer to be recorded for future broadcast or streamed live to locations off campus, improving interactive capabilities among students and between students and professors. The new technology also provided new distance-learning capabilities that connect students in remote colleges and rural areas to world-class teaching and allows the university to tie multiple campus classrooms together through sophisticated video conferencing.
In addition they designed digital remote monitoring of classroom facilities for maintenance purposes, and real-time room scheduling through LCD or touch screens mounted at the entrance to lecture halls and conference rooms. Since collaboration is key in universities, Sparling created collaborative software to allow large, flexible rooms to be divided into smaller breakout rooms, plus the ability to connect numerous student laptops to a wired or wireless network so that they can work together on a large screen. The systems provide digital media presentations, room scheduling displays that provide class information and allow students to schedule breakout rooms with MS Outlook reminders and collaboration between instructors and students that is just a click away.
Because of budget constraints, universities continue to face the challenge of providing students with the tools and technology that is commonplace in business today. However, by networking all of the AV systems, components can be monitored and powered down when not in use to save energy and reduce costs and setting a new standard for the University of Washington.
Gold Award – Client Expectations
WHPacific – Granite Falls Alternate Route
Client: Snohomish County
The Mountain Loop Highway, “Gateway to the Cascade Mountains,” begins in Granite Falls, about 17 miles northeast of Everett. For many years, increasing traffic in Granite Falls’ downtown core, especially truck traffic to and from the nearby quarries, has caused congestion, noise and dust, generating a growing concern for safety and the local quality of life. During the busiest periods, for instance, one truck on average drives through downtown every 30 seconds.
Snohomish County’s solution was The Granite Falls Alternate Route (GFAR), a new principal arterial that would connect the Mountain Loop Highway on the east side of town with State Route 92 on the west side. A good solution in theory, but the new highway would have to be built over wide-ranging soils and wetlands, and through a heavily wooded area that closely bordered residential neighborhoods and schools.
The county chose WHPacific as its lead consulting engineer to provide design, surveying and construction management for the new highway. WHPacific engineered textured concrete block noise walls of varying heights and offsets, providing a noise barrier to nearby residents. They also designed several different types of retaining walls including mechanically stabilized earth walls, gravity block walls, and soldier pile walls in steep slope areas where there was evidence of previous landslides, and walls to stabilize embankments while minimizing impacts to wetlands,. Also, the project’s low-impact development techniques provide unique stormwater management strategy that controls, cleans and distributes stormwater along the route in a way that mimics natural conditions.
The highway gradually slopes downward to the west, allowing loaded westbound trucks leaving the quarries to use gravity and less gas. Three roundabouts – in contrast to the three stop signs and one traffic signal on the old route – dramatically reduce stop-and-go situations so that truckers save time and gas, reduce engine emissions and have a smoother ride, while residents and visitors now enjoy a safer, more pedestrian-friendly downtown.
The new $13.9 million, 1.9-mile two-lane arterial not only improves traffic safety by routing truck traffic around Granite Falls, moving freight and goods more efficiently, and reducing dust, noise, vibrations and traffic congestion it was built for less than $11million than the original estimates.
Wood Harbinger: Engineering Excellence Gold Award- Industrial & Manufacturing Processes & Facilities
Wood Harbinger – 767 Production Line Relocation
Client: The Boeing Company
When Boeing began thinking of creating a new 767 production line, plans were to build a completely new building for it. Instead, space in an existing facility was repurposed, saving considerable design and construction costs and keeping tons of construction materials out of the building stream. Wood Harbinger was the prime consultant for design and construction of the new production line location and for ensuring a seamless transition from old to new – Boeing demanded that the current production of the 767 could not be halted, even for one day. It seems simple, but the reality was anything but.
The new location had never been used for aircraft production before and needed architectural renovations for a new hangar door on the north side of the facility along with significant infrastructure additions. Wood Harbinger’s team designed an in-slab vault and trench system, new industrial ventilation systems, a vast network of test equipment and new electrical, pneumatic and hydraulic utilities. WH also created infrastructure for a new jacking system that streamlines aircraft production.
One of the major technical challenges WH faced was the installation of a hydraulic power unit and 400 Hz generator in the midst of an extremely vibration-sensitive specialty machine shop where mere footsteps could create enough vibration to interrupt operations. WH designed a complex vibration and sound isolation system that allowed operations to continue and the equipment to function. Another challenge involved re-routing of mechanical ductwork. At Boeing, assembly space is precious, especially up high where the space is populated by more than 40 miles of crane rail. So designers had to created tall, skinny ducts tucked up into the structure to keep them away from the constantly moving cranes.
WH instituted a time-saving system for performing tests on the aircraft once it was assembled. In the past, the exhaustive battery of tests was performed using portable equipment that had to be moved constantly from area of the assembly floor to another. WH created a system of “pop-up” hatches in permanent locations where the testing equipment and cabling remains protected until it is needed, allowing a smaller space for the assembly process.
WH satisfied Boeing’s goal of seamlessly shifting the production of 767 aircraft from one location to another without any delay or schedule extensions. Boeing was able to start making airplanes on the new production line the same day the old production line was taken out of service.
URS Corporation: Engineering Excellence Gold Award- Water Resources
URS Corporation – The Elwha River Restoration Project
Client: National Park Service
The Elwha River Ecosystem and Fisheries Restoration Act of 1992 required “full restoration of the Elwha River ecosystem and native anadromous fisheries” along the Elwha River in Clallum County, Wash. In order to do this, the National Park Service needed to remove two hydropower dams (Elwha and Glines Canyon) built in the early 1900s, and in the process, protect down-river businesses, property and people from the more than 18 million cubic yards of sediment trapped behind the dams. URS Corporation was brought in to design and construct the Elwha Surface Water Intake and the Elwha Water Treatment Plant.
A key stockholder in the project was the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe. The Elwha River ecosystem holds extraordinary spiritual and cultural significance for the tribe, and their reservation is currently located near the mouth of the river. Tribe members historically fished in the river and relied on the salmon to support their families, so restoration of the river represents a significant step toward restoring the tribe’s historical livelihood and traditions.
Among the project’s complex web of environmental considerations, very stringent water quality and slurry waste handling requirements had to be addressed at the treatment plant. URS developed an elaborate chemical treatability study and toxicity testing, proving that water and residual sediment treated with coagulants and pH-adjusting chemicals are not harmful to freshwater or marine organisms. They also applied a brand new ballasted sedimentation process for treating raw water that intensive testing had shown would meet all drinking water quality standards.
URS designed an advanced “engineered riffle” that provides safe fish passage and numerous resting places for migrating fish. Also, a 180-cubic-feet-per-second intake facility was constructed on a steep slope beside the flood-prone Elwha River so URS conducted geotechnical investigations, including borings from a barge in the river and designing rock wall anchor stabilization. The company designed a diversion channel by the water intake facility that could reroute the entire flow of the Elwha River during construction periods. The large peak water flows and sediment loads required URS engineers to push the limits of technology, but ultimately, the problems were solved with treatment processes arranged in parallel that could be brought on and off line individually, plus the installation of both high- and low-flow pumps.
The dam removal project is the largest of its kind in the United States, and the second largest National Park Service restoration project in U.S. history, behind the Everglades National Park in Florida. URS’s water treatment facilities and the surface water intake structure will ensure a clean water supply for humans and a healthy environment for endangered fish and other wildlife over the five-year dam removal process.
Parsons: Engineering Excellence Gold Award- Transportation
Parsons – SR 532 Corridor Improvements
Client: Washington State Department of Transportation
State Route 532 is the only connection from Camano Island to the mainland, carrying 30,000 vehicles a day, and it is the primary route to I-5 for residents of Stanwood and surrounding communities. But population has grown dramatically in the area and this access route had become overwhelmed and unsafe. So the Washington State Department of Transportation hired Parsons as the designer and lead partner in a multi-faceted and complex project to fix the problem.
The new project’s cornerstone is a new three-span, 400-foot-long bridge spanning the mouth of the Stillaguamish River that meets modern earthquake standards, requires less maintenance and provides wide shoulders to accommodate disabled vehicles and emergency responders. The 190-foot main span clears the river’s natural banks, greatly reducing environmental impacts, and the new bridge is designed to withstand a 1,000-year seismic event despite deep on-site alluvial fills that have a high potential for liquefaction during a significant earthquake.
Environmental concerns were of critical importance from the beginning since the project area contained 64 different wetlands and 16 different jurisdictional ditches. To protect wildlife, Parsons purposely designed the bridge’s wide center span so that piers could be driven primarily into dry soil rather than into the active channel of the Stillaguamish River. And because fewer piles were required in the design, there was less injury to fish by eliminating the need for an impact pile hammer in water deeper than two feet.
Public understanding and support was also critical for this project since the improvements crossed a wide swath of businesses and homes, and created major traffic management problems during the construction process. Parsons combined one-on-one outreach to community members with a broad-based media outreach addressing key stakeholder concerns, and met personally with every business owner and homeowner directly impacted by construction.
The project was completed seven months ahead of the anticipated schedule, with every one of the project goals met. The new bridge opened to traffic on August 17, 2010.
CH2M Hill: Engineering Excellence Gold Award- Waste & Storm Water
CH2M Hill – Brightwater Treatment Plant
Client: King County Wastewater Treatment Division
With population growth and the requirement to add capacity to its regional wastewater system by 2011, King County embarked on the journey to develop the Brightwater Treatment Plant, a state-of-the-art, advanced wastewater treatment and reclamation facility in Woodinville, Washington. CH2M Hill’s involvement with Brightwater began with siting studies and environmental impact statement assistance during the initial stages of project planning in 2002, and ultimately became the prime consultant during design.
The heart of the new plant is the split-flow liquids treatment process, incorporating chemically enhanced primary clarification (CEPC) ahead of the largest membrane bioreactor (MBR) in North America, at 39 million gallons/day (mgd) peak monthly capacity. The process protects the membranes from excessive flows, which reduces the annual mass discharge of biochemical oxygen demand and total suspended solids into Puget Sound by more than one million pounds when compared to traditional secondary treatment. The split-flow process also uses new energy-efficient direct-drive turbo blowers for the aeration basins which minimize the facility’s carbon footprint while reducing costs.
Odor control was a key concept incorporated into the earliest designs. Facilities at Brightwater are completely enclosed and coupled to multiple-stage odor treatment systems with 13 parallel treatment trains, each rated for 40,000 cubic feet per minute of foul air flow. The odor control system provides an unparalleled 99.97 percent removal efficiency of hydrogen sulfide, resulting in less than one part per billion at the property line. This is good news for the hikers and joggers who use the three miles of trails built on the site.
An interesting challenge arose well after the initial siting and design of the plant. New data suggested that an active earthquake fault crossed the north portion of the site, so CH2M Hill conducted extensive seismic trenching at the site. Subsequently, Brightwater is designed to resist larger ground motions than any other wastewater facility in the Puget Sound region.
Magnusson Klemencic Associates: Engineering Excellence Gold Award- Structural Systems
Magnusson Klemencic Associates – Aqua at Lakeshore East
Client: Loewenberg/Magellan Development Group
Imagine an 87-story, 868-foot-tall building designed to look like the wind is blowing waves across its surface – each floor sporting graceful, thin curved balconies that look like fins between the floors. An architectural achievement, perhaps, but definitely an engineering challenge. “Aqua” at Lakeshore East is the latest addition to Magellan Development Group’s 28-acre live/work community in downtown Chicago, and although the building is aesthetically fascinating, it required phenomenal structural engineering creativity and talent to bring it to life.
Magnusson Klemencic Associates (MKA)was chosen to turn architect Jeanne Gang’s vision of “a vertically deployed landscape” into reality. Ultimately, the challenge required several major engineering innovations, starting with a custom floor plate design to create the unusual wave-like facade. Most high-rise structures are comprised of one typical floor plate that is duplicated over the height of the structure, but Aqua has 78 individually curving floor plates with graceful cantilevered balconies that purposefully extend up to 12 feet, both for looks and to capture the best views. Dozens of sophisticated computer models were created to analyze the strength and deflection of these unique floor slabs and their eight miles of continuously varying edges. In a wind analysis, Aqua’s balcony design actually seemed to “confuse” the wind, reducing forces rather than creating additional pressures or suction.
MKA also needed to develop a new structural system to enable the construction of such a unique building. The new system combined a concrete core, stepped concrete shear walls, outrigger walls at Levels 55-58 and 81-82, belt walls at Level 57, and building columns, all on top of 31 drilled rock caissons. The core and shear walls incorporate four different concrete strengths to optimize performance and consolidate strength while the strategically located outriggers and belt walls broaden the stance of the building and engage the building’s exterior columns to resist sway.
The 2.3-million-square-foot building houses 264 condominiums, 481 apartments, 325 hotel rooms, two large ballrooms, offices, retail, five levels of parking, health and fitness facilities and an 80,000-square-foot garden roof that cleans storm water on site, creates a habitat for native flora and fauna, reduces heat loss, and improves air quality by removing airborne particles. Aqua is an extremely successful example of sustainable urban high-rise living.
Anchor QEA: Engineering Excellence Gold Award – Special Projects
Anchor QEA, LLC – Percival Landing Major Rehabilitation Project
Client: Olympia Parks, Arts & Recreation Department/City of Olympia
Percival Landing Park is a popular waterfront park in the heart of downtown Olympia, Washington. The park is named after an old commercial steamship wharf originally built by Sam Percival in 1860, and rebuilt as a park between 1978 and 1988. Unfortunately, the park was designed for a 25-year life, and by 2007 most of the facilities were in need of major rehabilitation, including some of the over-water walkways that had been closed due to structural safety concerns.
Olympia’s Parks, Arts & Recreation Department hired Anchor QEA LLC to lead the 30 percent level design and permitting of the entire facility, plus the City of Olympia mandated that the renovation (1) provide facilities with a 50-year design life and low maintenance needs, (2) make the new park and its structures energy-efficient, and (3) accommodate the potential for a rise in the sea level.
The complex project required waterside demolition, new waterfront construction, new utility installations, replacing the existing public restroom and bathhouse, design for a new parking lot and street revisions. Complicating the new construction was the amount of buried material in the shoreline excavation area, including the discovery of large deposits of petroleum-contaminated soil and even a buried pipeline still full of fuel from a previous tank farm. This added the extra step of remediation of the site before construction could begin.
Despite these challenges, plus shorter work windows caused by tides and permit restrictions, the project was completed on time and on budget. “This project sets the standard for future projects in Olympia and future projects in the region,” Olympia Mayor Doug Mah said. “It’s that good.”
Giant Flood Surge Barrier Earns Tetra Tech INCA Top Engineering Excellence Award
Tetra Tech INCA took top honors for its design of a giant flood surge barrier wall at the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) of Washington’s 44th Annual Engineering Excellence Awards ceremony on Friday, January 20, 2012. The ceremony honored 50 projects representing a wide range of engineering achievements and demonstrating the highest degree of skill and ingenuity. ACEC Washington’s top seven awards (one platinum and six gold) will go on to compete in the ACEC national competition in Washington, D.C. in April 2012.
The Platinum Award was presented to Tetra Tech INCA for design of the Inner Harbor Navigation Canal/Lake Borgne Surge Barrier – a 10,000-foot-long, 26-foot-high concrete barrier wall extending from the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet to the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. The $1.1 billion barrier wall is the central feature of the US Army Corps of Engineers’ efforts, since Hurricane Katrina, to mitigate the risks of massive flooding in vulnerable areas of southeastern Louisiana. It is the largest civil works design-build project ever in the history of the USACE and the largest surge barrier of its kind in the world. The barrier wall has essentially moved the first line of defense against storm surges 12 miles away from the heart of New Orleans.
Tetra Tech’s design included two 150-foot-wide gates at the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, a 56-foot-wide vertical lift gate with a vehicular bridge, and the capability to create a complete floodwall closure of the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet. Key to the success of the project was extensive early modeling and testing of the proposed design to confirm its strength and capabilities in the face of hurricane-force waves.
The proposal to build a surge barrier rather than raise and strengthen the existing 30 miles of levees and floodwalls was not well-received by the people of southeastern Louisiana initially, but a public outreach effort involving 250 tours of the barrier site by 3,000 visitors helped restore confidence that, indeed, something bigger and better was being constructed. Also, the project engineers kept environmental sustainability at the forefront of their efforts, including installing fish ramps through one of the gates, minimizing the project’s ecological footprint, and protecting endangered species, especially the manatees, during construction.
The project, completed a year early (May 2011), means that New Orleans is better protected from flooding than at any time in its history.
Platinum Award: Tetra Tech INCA for the Inner Harbor Navigation Canal Lake Borgne Surge Barrier Project (Water Resources)
Client: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Asphalt Pavement Training Conference – WSDOT/WAPA
From Mike Mariano, of Mariano & Associates Design:
The training geographically covers the state and is low key--1-day and $65. The real value goes beyond the technical aspects in that it helps foster a better understanding of how to improve cost effectiveness in the design, construction, and operational challenges of paving projects. And of course it creates a better understanding of the WSDOT and private sector business models and fosters improved relationships.
A little background: Bob Glenn is ideally suited to facilitate the session in his role as a Division Manager for Lakeside Industries. He and Lakeside Industries have co-sponsored the training course for Asphalt Paving with WSDOT for a number of years now. This is a great training session and many WSDOT and Contractor employees have benefited greatly from it. This year he received a few requests from consulting engineers to attend. As a result the sponsors of the training decided to make this course available to Consulting Engineers. Mariano & Associates Inc. (M&A) was asked to help make this available to the consulting community.
Download, complete, and send in the following form: Consulting Engineers Registration Forms. Please note, this is not an ACEC Washington event. Do not send registration forms to ACEC Washington.