Work is under way on a $571-million upgrade to a mountainous, five-mile stretch of Interstate 90 - Washington’s busiest east-west connector. Located miles from Seattle, the scenic highway, which is part of Snoqualmie Pass, weaves through the Cascade Range. The Washington State Dept. of Transportation’s comprehensive plan calls for widening the road from four lanes to six, repaving it with freeze- and thaw-resistant concrete, straightening curves, stabilizing rock slopes, and adding a chain-up area and 1,200-ft.-long snowshed. Moreover, WSDOT will add or replace four bridges and build four new ones bridges and culverts in an effort to improve fish and

During the dismantling of Gold Ray Dam, a 106-year-old timber cofferdam and 70-year-old concrete dam near Medford, Ore., the Rogue River blew through a sand spit, changing course and freeing the river�s run for the first time in over a century. Photo: River Design Group Oregon�s Gold Ray Dam is razed two weeks ahead of schedule after an unexpected breach. Photo: River Design Group Oregon�s Gold Ray Dam is razed two weeks ahead of schedule after an unexpected breach. Scott Wright, project manager for the Corvallis, Ore., office of design-build contractor River Design Group, says that the entire process actually

During the dismantling of Gold Ray Dam, a 106-year-old timber cofferdam and 70-year-old concrete dam near Medford, Ore., the Rogue River blew through a sand spit, changed course and ran freely for the first time in more than a century. Photo: River Design Group Oregon’s Gold Ray Dam is razed two weeks ahead of schedule after an unexpected breach. Scott Wright, project manager for the Corvallis, Ore., office of design-build contractor River Design Group, says the entire process actually sped up the crew’s work by almost two weeks. Crews built two temporary sand-and-gravel cofferdams—one in the river and one in

Tight working footprints and even cozier timelines highlight the ongoing reconstruction of Issaquah High School in Washington as Bothell-based Cornerstone General Contractors pushes through its summer rush, striving to complete the school’s classroom and core areas in time for the return of students this fall. The $84-million transformation of the high school is the flagship project of a $241-million 2006 bond that includes work on more than a dozen Issaquah School District projects. It changes the high school from one built in the mold of 1960s open-circulation designs into a larger, low-impact, modern campus. The 285,000-sq-ft school is being built

Earthquakes, wind and ice can make electric service transmission poles topple like dominoes, costing millions of dollars to replace. Illustration By Walter Konefal div id="articleExtrasA" div id="articleExtrasB" div id="articleExtras" Jon Rouse, a civil engineering professor at Iowa State University, hopes to eliminate that cost by incorporating hinges into the base of poles to deflect stress and bounce the poles back—like Weebles, the 1970s toys that “wobble but don’t fall down.” Currently, the industry relies on sturdy and costly “dead-end structures” every five to 10 miles to block poles from cascading. Rouse’s 110-kv poles, now being tested at the university, eliminate

A highway improvement project that runs through a national park is serving as a test case for formalizing a road rating system similar to the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design building rating system. Photo: David Evans and Associates The U.S. 97 Lava Butte-South Century Drive project in Oregon may be the first roadway to be officially rated “green.” The 3.8-mile, $16-million U.S. 97 Lava Butte-South Century Drive upgrade in central Oregon runs through the Newberry National Monument. It is the furthest along of three projects the Oregon Dept. of Transportation will evaluate to determine if it will adopt standards

Ahighway improvement project that runs through a national park is serving as a test case for formalizing a road rating system similar to the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design building rating system. Photo: DEA A road improvement project may be the first to be officially rated “green.” The 3.8-mile, $16-million U.S. 97 Lava Butte-South Century Drive upgrade in central Oregon runs through the Newberry National Monument. It is the furthest along of three projects the Oregon Dept. of Transportation will evaluate to determine if it will adopt standards set by Greenroads, unveiled by the University of Washington and CH2M

The only way the Washington State Dept. of Transportation can describe building a highway off-ramp in the wrong location: “Unfortunate and embarrassing.” Photo: WSDOT Demolition begins for the fix to a wrongly placed Tacoma, Wash., interchange ramp. Construction reached 90% completion on the eastbound ramp to Sprague Avenue as part of the $119.9-million Nalley Valley interchange that addresses traffic snarl where Interstate 5 meets State Route 16 in South Tacoma before the problem surfaced. Tearing out a portion of the ramp and changing the profile for 700 ft begins to right the wrong. Kevin Dayton, WSDOT regional administrator, says this

Causes and solutions are proving elusive on an Oregon bridge project in which two bents moved out of plumb during construction. Last winter, the trouble was noticed on the $215-million U.S. 20 Pioneer Mountain-Eddyville highway near the Oregon coast. Joe Squire, project manager for the Oregon Dept. of Transportation, says a lateral load from adjacent fill and subsurface ground pressure may have caused the shifts in two of the 20 bents on the 10-bridge project. The project consists of a six-and-a-half mile section of new road that bypasses a 10-mile stretch of substandard highway. Six of the 10 bridges are

The Washington State Dept. of Transportation describes the highway off-ramp improperly built on a new interchange in east Tacoma as “unfortunate and embarrassing.” It’s also expensive. A change order for nearly $900,000 —out of the project’s contingency fund at the cost of WSDOT—was worked out with project contractor Guy F. Atkinson Construction. The Broomfield, Colo.-based contractor already has started removing retaining-wall panels to flatten the ramp, which was mistakenly built at the wrong grade. Photo: WSDOT Demolition begins for the fix to a wrongly placed Tacoma, Wash., interchange ramp. The eastbound ramp of the $119.9-million Nalley Valley interchange—at which Interstate