ACEC 2009 Engineering Excellence Awards
Light Rail Tunneling Earns Hatch Mott MacDonald/Jacobs Engineering Top 2010 Engineering Excellence Award
BELLEVUE, Wash.—Hatch Mott MacDonald/Jacobs Engineering took top honors for its deep tunneling design at the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) of Washington’s 42nd annual Engineering Excellence Awards ceremony on Friday, January 22, 2010. The ceremony honored 42 projects representing a wide range of engineering achievements and demonstrating the highest degree of skill and ingenuity.
The Platinum Award was presented to Hatch Mott MacDonald/Jacobs Joint Venture (HMMJ) for Structural Systems Engineering for Seattle’s Beacon Hill Station and Tunnels, Sound Transit Central Link Light Rail Section 710. The new Beacon Hill station is positioned in a neighborhood that previously was a somewhat isolated urban environment, but now provides residents fast, efficient access to both Seattle and SeaTac Airport. The depth and dimension of these tunnels far exceeded anything done previously in soft ground in North America.
The seven national-level awards (one platinum and six gold) will go on to compete in the ACEC national competition in Washington, D.C. in April 2010.
National Gold | State Gold | National Silver | State Silver | State Bronze
National Finalists
Platinum Award
Hatch Mott MacDonald/Jacobs Engineering Joint Venture (HMMJ) - Sound Transit Central Link Light Rail Section 710 Beacon Hill Station and Tunnels
Client: Central Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority (Sound Transit)
HMMJ’s challenge - build a deep-mined transit station and one mile of twin rapid transit tunnels under Beacon Hill as part of the region’s new light rail system extending from downtown Seattle to SeaTac Airport. The tunnel needed to be deep to avoid disrupting businesses and traffic on the surface, plus it would involve construction in extremely unstable soils, including stratified silt, sand and clay. The station was designed with two shafts, a transverse two-level concourse tunnel and two platform tunnels.
For the Beacon Hill Station and Platform Tunnels, HMMJ, in conjunction with the Dr. Sauer Company, employed a risk-based design approach in which the design team actually planned the complete excavation, including the initial and final support systems for the very large diameter shafts and very deep tunnels. In most projects of this size, the contractor hired to excavate designs the excavation plan. But in this case, the engineering design team used the Sequential Excavation Method (SEM) in order to carefully manage the multiple soil challenges. This approach to deep complex tunneling in very poor soils, at a depth and a diameter close to twice that previously done, resulted in the largest soft ground SEM tunnel in North America.
Initially, to confirm geotechnical assumptions made in the preliminary design, a 155-foot-deep small diameter test shaft provided a three-dimensional finite element analysis of the tunnel excavation and the initial support required for it, plus final decisions on shaft and tunnel design and construction methods. Test shaft construction also led to the successful use of Slurry Wall construction for the time-critical vertical access shaft, and guided decisions on how to proceed with SEM tunnels, the use of still fiber reinforced concrete for large diameter tunnels, and the use of fiberglass reinforcing in slurry walls. This process proved to be a significant advance in the design of SEM tunnels.
Other key innovations in deep soft soils SEM included the Dual Side Wall Drift technique for the concourse tunnel and a Heading Bench invert approach for the platform tunnels. Running tunnels were excavated by an earth pressure balance tunnel boring machine (EPB-TBM), and lined with a single pass, pre-cast concrete liner, fitted with gaskets to ensure water tightness.
Despite the poor soils, the tunnels were completed with virtually no ground settlement or disruption to businesses and transportation above, plus the design optimization reduced the amounts of construction materials used. “It is probably the most challenging construction project along the whole Link Light Rail line,” according to Larry Phillips of the Metropolitan King County Council. “The methods used to mine out this station have never been used at this depth. We are standing here in an engineering and construction marvel that will be known through the world.”
Gold Awards
Gold Award – Structural Systems
Cary Kopczynski & Company – Escala
Client: Mulvanny G2 Architecture
The goal with Escala, a 30-story luxury condominium tower in downtown Seattle, was to create large, open spaces, unimpeded by walls and columns. Cary Kopezynski & Company (CKC) worked closely with the owner, architect and contractor during conceptual design to create a structure that complemented the design, minimized construction costs, shortened the construction schedule and met the overall goals for this project.
CKC developed a dual system for seismic resistance that incorporates minimal shear walls at the stairs supplemented with ductile moment resisting space frames (DMRF). This non-conventional dual system worked perfectly with the architectural layout, without compromising the open and spacious unit plans that were key to the Escala vision. This seismic system required an exceptionally high concrete strength of 14,000 psi at the lower levels of the building. Working with the City of Seattle, CKC got approval to use reinforcing bar with a yield strength of 100 ksi, in lieu of traditional 60 ksi bar. Additionally, to allow private entries into each residence, double-door elevators were located at the building extremities. Escala became the first building in North America, and perhaps the world, to use 100 ksi steel for seismic reinforcing. The 40 percent reduction in steel requirements reduced rebar tonnage, congestion and field labor, allowed use of traditional vibrators for concrete placement, and helped accelerate the construction schedule. As high strength rebar becomes more widely available and its benefits more clearly understood, the value to the engineering profession will be enormous.
Gold Award – Water and Wastewater
HWA GeoSciences, Inc. (HWA) – Brightwater Marine Outfall
Client: Dayton & Knight Ltd.
Most people don’t know that there is a 13-mile-long underground pipeline that carries cleaned wastewater under neighborhoods and highways, from Woodinville all the way to Puget Sound. The Brightwater Marine Outfall (BMO) at Point Wells near Edmonds is the terminus of this pipeline. As part of its new $1.8 billion wastewater treatment system, King County’s Wastewater Treatment Division needed to ensure seismic stability of the submarine slopes under beach areas that would support the pipeline. HWA GeoSciences Inc. was the geotechnical consultant to the design/build team selected by King County and led by Triton Marine Construction.
HWA’s geotechnical analyses, focused on this primary seismic geotechnical challenge, showed that much of the granular slope deposits along the outfall alignment were susceptible to liquefaction flow failures. HWA's analyses showed that more than half of the slope could fail during earthquakes with magnitudes of up to 7.5 on the Richter Scale.
With its diffuser ports more than 600 feet below sea level, the outfall is one of the deepest in the world. Submarine flow failures would introduce instantaneous drag loading along the twin outfall pipes that could cumulatively range upwards of 2.8 million pounds. Since treatment and stabilization of the slope soils was impractical, the outfall pipeline required a seismic anchor/restraint system to maintain its integrity.
After considering numerous alternatives, HWA developed a simple and cost-effective seismic restraint employing sheet piling that would resist these extreme seismic loads and ensure operational integrity of the outfall during the design-level earthquake. The simplicity and constructability of the sheet pile anchor/restraint was influential in Triton's completion of the project two years ahead of the County's schedule and more than $8 million under the original $38 million estimate.
Gold Award – Structural Systems
Magnusson Klemencic Associates (MKA) – Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre
Client: Kendall/Heaton Associates
Just as actors transform for a role, the 12-story, 80,300-square-foot Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre (Wyly) morphs on cue into an endless variety of performance configurations. Part elegance, part machination, this addition to Dallas’ Arts District is a first-of-its-kind vertical theater functioning as a transformational backdrop – possible only through MKA’s structural and kinetic engineering solutions.
The program goals were ambitions. The architects envisioned a transparent “four-sided” performance zone at ground level, to blur the lines between inside and out, actor and observer. The owner’s program called for a 575-seat theater, but the site was too small. The resident theater group wanted a structure that was flexible and could be uniquely configured for each performance, but quickly, easily, and with minimal labor. And the outside theater consultant wanted top-of-the-line acoustics, sightlines and more.
In a groundbreaking solution that rethinks decades of theater design, the Wyly features an unprecedented vertical orientation, moving the traditional “back of house” to “above house” and “front of house” to “below house.” A one-of-a-kind structural system -- a “3-D composite global frame” -- creates a 27-foot high, ground-level, transparent zone with absolutely no structure beneath the building except at the perimeter. The system features just six perimeter concrete super-columns, four of which incline dramatically and asymmetrically to touch down in precisely predetermined locations. A three-story-high steel belt truss, augmented by smaller interior trusses, fills out the global frame, minimizing height while supporting a puzzle-piece assemblage of rooms so complex and interlocking that only one floor is contiguous.
Through engineering of new and adaptation of existing technologies, the theater offers the most flexible performance space ever. The stage, proscenium arch, floor platforms, balcony units, seating wagons, orchestra pit, and even walls all move – up, down, in, out, and around – to create a “building machine.”
This design solution brings new options to theater development, offering increased architectural design freedom, improved economic viability, expanded hosting options, maximized flexibility, and new levels of interaction between performer, audience, and passerby.
Gold Award – Water Resources
Magnusson Klemencic Associates (MKA) – Magnuson Park Wetlands and Athletic Fields
Client: Berger Partnership
Whether spying a Marsh Hawk soaring over wetlands, or scoring a goal on the sports fields, visitors to Magnuson Park might find it hard to imagine the site's previous life as an active military air base. Yet, in a remarkable transformation that improves upon nature, the site now boasts 28 acres of four different wetland habitats, five heavily used athletic fields, and a constant parade of visitors above, at, and below water level.
The City of Seattle's restoration plan called for a blend of active and passive uses - something the many interested citizen and environmental groups were doubtful could be accomplished without compromise. Rising to the challenge, the design team exceeded expectations in the form of high-end playing fields holistically integrated with pristine and level wetlands, a designation typically reserved for places untouched by humankind.
Critical to the transformation was a groundbreaking hydroperiod analysis developed by Magnusson Klemencic Associates (MKA) to address complex questions: How can storm water be made to flow across an almost flat site? What is the optimum number, size, depth, and location of ponds to attract and sustain the most diverse wetland habitats? Is it possible to collect, convey, and cleanse seven acres of off-site runoff before it enters the new wetlands? Will projected water-level fluctuations provide “edge habitat” sufficient to support a flourishing wetlands system?
The answer is a mix of naturalistic engineering solutions- “leaky berms,” “log weirs,” “rice paddies,” “willow-wattles” “sponges”- guiding a daisy-chain flow of water around 11 acres of new playing fields and through 63 interconnected ponds to Lake Washington’s shore. The project provides a groundbreaking example of the built environment co-existing with nature, a new model for collaborative water resource design, new analytical tools for sustainable water resource design, advanced applications of naturalist engineering interventions for water flow control, and a water management strategy that maximizes natural and human habitat.
The holistically integrated storm water solution created for Magnuson Park heals the site, increases sustainability, offers both aesthetic and active appeal, and far surpasses the City's wildest dreams.
Gold Award – Special Projects
Parametrix – Hood Canal Bridge Program Management
Client: Washington State Department of Transportation
The Hood Canal Bridge, the world's largest floating structure over a saltwater tidal basin, is the Olympic Peninsula’s economic and social link to the greater Puget Sound area. Opened in August, 1961, it is essentially two separate structures that carry 15,000 to 20,000 vehicles a day. In 1979, the west half of the bridge sunk during a severe storm. It was rebuilt and reopened in 1982. Then in 1997, the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) began working on replacing the east half of the structure, which was nearing the end of its useful structural life.
By 2004, the project was facing severe challenges- discovery of a Native American village at the Port Angeles graving dock where the floating pontoons were to be built; engineering documents that had been completed 20 years earlier during the west-half replacement and were now inadequate; potentially huge claims from the contractor if the project had to be rebid; and a shortage of labor and resources within WSDOT because of several other mega-projects currently underway in other parts of the State.
To solve the problems, manage and deliver the project, WSDOT and Parametrix formed a "blended team", a team approach that worked so successfully WSDOT implemented the approach on the SR520 and Seattle Alaskan Way Viaduct replacement projects. The team was a true blend of WSDOT and Parametrix staff co-located in an office, working side by side, allowing both owner and consultants to work as a single unit without regard to the traditional static lines of communication. For example, state inspectors reported directly to a consultant construction manager who in turn reported to the state project engineer. Each position was filled by the person who had the most experience with the type of work being performed, and who could provide the greatest contribution to the success of the project, regardless of being employed by WSDOT or a consultant.
WSDOT then negotiated a change order with general contractor, Kiewit-General, to complete the project under a “Target Pricing/Alliance Contracting" agreement, the first application of this approach in the United States by a public agency. Through this approach, the client, contractor, and consultant formed an alliance and worked together towards the ultimate success of the project.
In May 2009 the bridge was closed, old components were taken away, and new components were brought in and assembled in conditions that included 16-foot tidal swings and 3-knot tides. The discovery of the 2,700-year-old Native American village and burial ground posed a unique and difficult challenge, but WSDOT agreed to return the sacred ground to the tribe, and Parametrix helped expedite restoration of the site in support of tribal efforts to repatriate remains to the site.
On June 3, 2009, the new bridge reopened to traffic approximately one week ahead of schedule. The success of the project was due largely to the new teaming and contracting approaches that WSDOT was willing to try. The level of teamwork, problem-solving, and coordination set a high standard of performance that should be a benchmark for future projects.
Gold Award – Building/Technology Systems
Wood Harbinger – ShoWare Center
Owner: City of Kent, WA
The City of Kent's ShoWare Center, new home to the Seattle Thunderbirds hockey team, is the first LEED Gold Certified, multi-purpose events arena in the United States. Wood Harbinger was the mechanical engineer and an active participant in the LEED Certification process for this energy-efficient, sustainable, and cost-effective project. The facility can adapt for events ranging from concerts and theatrical performances to hockey games and motocross races.
Wood Harbinger focused on sustainability throughout the mechanical design process. As an entertainment facility, ShoWare required elements that are rarely conducive to energy efficiency such as high-tech lighting, ice-maintenance equipment, and complete air flushing for smoke or vehicle exhaust. For instance, during concerts that involve pyrotechnics or motocross races, the polluted air can be completely flushed from the facility. Also, waste heat from the ice refrigeration system is reclaimed and used to warm the ground beneath the ice rink to maintain the integrity of the foundation, and to melt ice collected by the Zamboni machine. Even the arena’s parking lot plays a role in helping the environment – a gravel layer beneath the parking lot acts as a sponge during heavy rain to control runoff, releasing the water back into a nearby drainage system. Wood Harbinger's creative applications of sustainable features in the heating, cooling, and lighting systems exceed national standards for low energy use by 37 percent, and provide lifetime cost benefits for the City of Kent.
Wood Harbinger's coordination with the owner, design team, and contractors supported this project in meeting strict schedule and budget goals. Facilities of this nature typically take about three years to complete; ShoWare took 27 months from start to finish. The City of Kent recognizes Wood Harbinger's mechanical design, stating that it "supported the City's commitment to green building and fiscally responsible facility construction."
Silver Awards
Six projects on the national track earned Silver Awards:
Silver Award – Studies, Research, and Consulting Engineering Services
Reid Middleton, Inc. – Rapid Transit Evaluation & Assessment Program (REAP)
Client: NAVFAC Northwest/Southwest
Silver Award – Building/Technology Systems
Wood Harbinger, Inc. – Savery Hall Renovation
Client: University of Washington
Silver Award – Environmental
Parametrix – Vancouver Lake Lowlands Aquifer Restoration Project
Client: Port of Vancouver, WA
Silver Award – Transportation
Puget Sound Transit Consultants – Central Link Light Rail Line
Client: Sound Transit
Silver Award – Energy
David Evans and Associates, Inc. – Pine Tree Wind Project
Client: Kiewit Pacific Company
Silver Award – Energy
Wood Harbinger, Inc. – MultiCare Central Energy Plant
Client: GBJ Architecture
Best in State Awards
Gold Awards
Original or Innovative Application of New or Existing Techniques
GeoEngineers, Inc. – 1918 Eighth Avenue Shoring System Design
Client: Schnitzer West, LLC
It was a classic “between-a-rock-and-a-hard-place” challenge. The 1918 Eighth Avenue building, a 34-story mixed-use office/retail tower with below-grade parking in downtown Seattle, was to be constructed on a site hemmed in on two sides by major downtown streets, and on the other two sides by high-rise condominium and office buildings. In order to buttress the construction of ground-level walls after the site had been excavated almost 75 feet down, there was a need for supporting tie-back anchors. Traditionally, buildings under construction are supported by tieback anchors that extend below adjacent buildings. However, on this site, the anchors would exceed the 65-foot right-of-way, or be impossible due to the proximity of the next-door condominium building. It was a challenge that threatened cost overruns and delays.
The building owner, Schnitzer West, brought in GeoEngineers, Inc. to solve the problem. And they did. Next to the condominium building to the east, GeoEngineers developed an unusual two-wall shoring approach implemented in two phases. First, two parallel walls were built, one along the property line and the second about 30 feet inside. The space between the two walls was filled with dirt which proved sufficient to anchor tiebacks for the inner wall while it served as the shoring wall for the first phase of excavation and construction. In the second phase, the inner wall was removed and the soil excavated, then a Peri-Formwork structure was installed to provide lateral support between the recently built building core and the outer shoring wall. Problem solved.
Shoring conditions for the other three walls were not quite as challenging as for the east side, but they still demanded inventive solutions. With cars whizzing by on the adjacent city streets, plus another office building under construction just 60 feet away, the critical shoring of walls would have to be approached in a non-traditional way. GeoEngineers created a “truncated no-load zone” which involved threading tiebacks through deep foundations supporting the commercial building next door and shortening the tiebacks to prevent them from crossing over one another underground. It was a perfect solution for the 1918 Eighth Avenue building, and it will prove invaluable for construction projects in other tight urban environments, advancing the state of the art for deep excavations in the Northwest.
Future Value to the Engineering Profession
HWA GeoSciences, Inc. (HWA) – Savery Hall Renovation
Client: University of Washington, Central Projects Group
At the southwest corner of the University of Washington’s Liberal Arts Quad sits the elegant Savery Hall, constructed in collegiate-gothic architectural style between 1917 and 1920. As part of its continuing effort to preserve and modernize their beautiful historic buildings, the University of Washington scheduled a major renovation of the building between 2006 and 2009. HWA GeoSciences Inc. (HWA) was selected to provide geotechnical engineering services, but as new challenges arose during the project, the company’s role expanded to include construction inspection and consultation.
Savery Hall was built on a series of unevenly space, heavily loaded column footings on very dense glacial till soils. Any small disruption in any footing during construction could have resulted in the destruction of the delicate building façade. Adjacent to these footings and also in need of renovations were a series of original underground utility tunnels, part of an elaborate system of tunnels that stretch for miles beneath the university. Renovations to Savery Hall required large excavations adjacent to and, in some cases, below the building’s column footings, which required the design of a shoring and underpinning system that would limit footing displacements to no more than the thickness of two sheets of paper. Plus, developing a solution had to happen quickly to avoid a delay in the construction schedule and the opening of the building for fall classes in 2009.
HWA and the design team developed an unusual shoring and underpinning system that involved a highly elaborate and necessary pre-stressing application, utilizing 6- and 8-inch (in diameter) micropiles and up to five 200-ton hydraulic jacks that applied footing loads simultaneously to each of the micropiles. The final design of 27 micropiles of varying dimensions provided vertical support for the footings and temporary lateral support for the excavations. This solution, which went from conception to construction in less than three weeks, enabled complete renovation to critical portions of Savery Hall without causing damage to the building or delays in the schedule.
Social, Economic, and Sustainable Design Considerations
Golder Associates – Rich Passage Passenger Only Fast Ferry Study
Client: Pacific International Engineering
For more than 20 years, the City of Bremerton, Kitsap Transit, and the State of Washington have worked on initiatives to provide passenger-only fast ferry (POFF) service between Seattle and Bremerton. Such a service, in a region dependent on waterborne transportation, was considered a cornerstone of economic development for Bremerton and for communities on the Kitsap Peninsula. However, a limiting factor in the development of this service in the past has been the potential of wake-induced erosion on the shoreline in environmentally sensitive Rich Passage, just east of Bremerton. In addition, local waterfront property owners were some of the most vocal opponents of new ferry service, having actually taken the State to court previously, succeeding in reaching a settlement over damages to their property caused by previous ferry operations.
Pacific International Engineering (PIE) retained Golder Associates, Inc. as the lead technical consultant in developing a study for Kitsap Transit that would establish a scientific basis to identify and minimize potential impacts of candidate vessels on the shorelines along the ferry route. Golder led a multi-disciplinary project team consisting of coastal engineers, geomorphologists, oceanographers, marine biologists, naval architects, shipbuilders, and others in developing broad physical data collection and analysis systems. Golder also coordinated the technical review and oversight in the development of a new low-wake, high-efficiency, foil-assisted catamaran with a sophisticated hull and hydrofoil monitoring system that would be the centerpiece of the new passenger-only ferry service.
“The Rich Passage Passenger Only Fast Ferry Study” has resulted in the compilation of a rich, detailed and long-term dataset, encompassing approximately 12 miles of Puget Sound shoreline, including winds, waves, wakes, currents, sediment characterizations, seasonal patterns of beach response and long-term historical changes. The data systems will not only provide important baseline data for future site-specific work, but they also will provide a valuable reference for other work in the Puget Sound.
Another important benefit from the Golder team efforts - they were able to tap into the concerns and experiences of the previously antagonistic waterfront property owners who now feel like they are an integral part of the process.
Complexity
Tetra Tech, Inc. – King County South Plant Administration Building and Water Quality Laboratory
Client: King County Department of Natural Resources, Wastewater Division
When King County decided to replace its South Plant regional administration and laboratory facilities – located in a collection of aged trailers and structures in Renton – they wanted the new structure to be environmentally friendly and energy-efficient, as well as functional and comfortable for the five working groups that would be housed there.
As the Lead Architect/Engineer, Tetra Tech met the challenge by designing an aesthetic and functional work space, including 21,000 square feet of office space and a 3,500 square-foot laboratory, all in a modest footprint designed for energy savings and employee comfort and productivity:
Light – Increasing natural light to the workspaces through daylighting techniques was a primary design objective. In the new building, over 83 percent of the spaces are daylit and 99 percent have access to views. Integrated daylight and occupancy sensors reduce lighting energy on an as-needed basis.
Structure – By building on the site of the existing facilities, 20- to 30-foot-deep site fill was reused, providing great cost savings and allowing the project to avoid the use of piles for new construction. Also, prior to demolition, the existing buildings were carefully surveyed and usable cabinets, masonry and stainless countertops were removed for use in other facilities.
Water – Reclaimed water from the adjacent treatment plant was used throughout the building for water closet and urinal flushing. Together with water-efficient flush and flow fixtures, this led to a 76 percent water use reduction and a 100 percent reduction of potable water used for landscaping.
Energy – A 1,000-square-foot black solar panel integrated into the south wall of the building will provide approximately 15 percent of its total heating energy. Additionally, extensive building energy modeling, extra insulation, variable speed drive hydronic pumps and fans, high efficiency lighting and glazing, exterior sunshades, and daylight and occupancy sensors will optimize building performance and energy conservation.
Finally, 58 percent of the materials used to construct the new building were extracted within 500 miles of the site and 13 percent of the materials included recycled content. Low VOC (volatile organic compounds) adhesives, paints and carpets were used, as was wheatboard, a rapidly renewable resource. And more than 85 percent of the construction waste was diverted from landfills. The new South Plant Administration Building and Laboratory clearly exemplifies King County’s commitment to sustainable design solutions for their infrastructure needs.
Exceeding Client/Owner Needs
Reid Middleton, Inc. – Alaska Airlines Maintenance & Engineering Building Seismic Upgrade
Client: Alaska Airlines
Alaska Airlines’ SeaTac-based maintenance facility is critical to the airline’s regional and national 24/7 operations. Crews use the facility to maintain and repair the airline’s aircraft fleet so departures around the nation are not delayed. After the February 28, 2001 Nisqually Earthquake, the airline commissioned a seismic screening and evaluation study of the facility to ensure that the building would remain functional after the next major earthquake. A seismic upgrade was the ultimate solution, and Reid Middleton was brought on board to provide structural engineering expertise. In addition, the design and construction team was to be constrained by the requirement that the facility remain open and functional throughout the upgrade.
Typically, during an earthquake, the energy generated in a building is dissipated through the yielding of braced or moment frames, or the yielding of reinforced steel in shear walls. But these methods of dissipating energy can cause significant damage to structures. So Reid Middleton designed a system using state-of-the-art energy-dissipating seismic friction dampers – a series of plates tightly clamped together that absorb earthquake energy by rubbing together and generating heat, much like the brakes on a car dissipate energy in the form of heat. The dampers allow a building to move only in specific locations, dissipating energy through friction in the damper rather than damaging the rest of the building. This approach extends the useful life and reduces the overall life-cycle costs of the building, and reduces the demand for natural resources that would be required to build new structures.
Reid Middleton installed 56 friction dampers at 28 strategic locations throughout the building. Where dampers were installed at existing braced frame locations, they could quickly and easily be installed without modifications to the existing gusset plate connections or foundations, allowing the contractor to move quickly in and out of spaces and minimizing the interruption to the building occupants.
Few structures today contain friction dampers, so the Alaska Airlines maintenance facility’s seismic upgrade will provide important information in future earthquakes since building displacements can easily be measured from paint scratches that result when friction dampers rub together.
Best in State Silver Awards
Silver Award – Category 1
BergerABAM – Sauk River Bridge
Client: Snohomish County
Silver Award – Category 2
Jacobs Engineering Group – King County Pump Station Main
Client: King County Wastewater Treatment Division
Silver Award – Category 3
Otak, Inc. – Boeing Creek Basin Infrastructure Improvements
Client: City of Shoreline
Silver Award – Category 4
Skillings Connolly, Inc. – Chumstick Creek Fish Passage Improvements
Client: Chelan County Natural Resources Department
Silver Award – Category 4
Otak, Inc. – Community Transit Swift BRT
Client: Community Transit
Silver Award – Category 5
Welch Comer & Associates – Colville Truck Route, Phase 3
Client: City of Colville
Silver Award – Category 5
FSi Consulting Engineers – Charles Luke Milam Bachelor Housing
Client: Belay Architecture
Bronze Awards
BHC Consultants, LLC - Fire Training Academy MBR Reclaimed Wastewater Treatment
Client: Washington State Patrol – Property Management
David Evans and Associates, Inc. - Wapato Creek Relocation and Restoration
Client: City of Fife
GeoEngineers, Inc. - Hazel’s Creek Regional Stormwater Facility Feasibility Evaluation
Client: City of Spokane
GeoEngineers, Inc. - Knapp-Wham Irrigation Diversion Improvement
Client: Cascadia Conservation District
HDR Engineering - City of Redmond Well Source Improvement Project
Client: City of Redmond/Public Works Department
HDR Engineering - Springbrook Creek Wetland & Habitat Mitigation Bank
Client: Washington State Department of Transportation
INCA Engineers, Inc., A Tetra Tech Company - Burien Transit Center
Client: King County Metro Transit
J-U-B Engineers, Inc. - Crawford Reconstruction and Roundabout
Client: City of Deer Park
J-U-B Engineers, Inc. - Wilbur Municipal Airport Safety Area Grading and Runway Extension
Client: Town of Wilbur
Notkin Mechanical Engineers - Gray Wolf Hall
Client: LMN Architects
Notkin Mechanical Engineers - New Lynnwood High School
Client: Bassetti Architects
Parsons Brinckerhoff - Sound Transit Beacon Hill Tunnel
Client: Sound Transit
Perteet Inc. - SR 167 – HOT Lanes Pilot Project
Client: Washington State Department of Transportation
RH2 Engineering, Inc. - Riverside Drive and Piere Street Improvements
Client: City of Wenatchee
Ridolfi, Inc. - Sha Dadx Site
Client: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Sparling - Swedish Orthopedic Institute Reactor
Client: NBBJ
WHPacific, Inc. - North Bend Way and Cedar Falls Way Roundabout
Client: City of North Bend
Judges
Entries were evaluated by a distinguished panel of judges including: Jeffrey Hamlett, AIA, Callison and President, AIA Washington Council; Carl Molesworth, Pacific Builder & Engineer, Freelance writer; Thomas E. Moore, PE NAVFAC, Capital Improvements BLC, Chief Engineer; Kristina Nelson, PE Senior Program Manager-Engineering, Kitsap County Department of Public Works; and Scott Rutherford, PE, PhD, Professor, University of Washington, Civil & Environmental Engineering.
