Related Links: Whooshh Pneumatic Fish Handling System Features VIDEO: John Oliver Discovers the Salmon Cannon (Youtube) Volitional fish Entry Feasibiliity Study Wild and hatchery-spawned fish are commingled in this fall's Chinook salmon run on the Washougal River in southwestern Washington state. The state Dept. of Fish and Wildlife wants them separated and has turned to an engineered solution for help.Whooshh Innovations, Bellevue, Wash., is trapping migrating salmon, manually culling marked ones from hatcheries and, from the river, shooting them live through a pneumatic tube, up a high bank and into tanker trucks. The peak so far is 400 fish a
Photo courtesy Samson Manitowoc partnered with Samson to design the first-ever synthetic hoist rope for mobile cranes. Photo courtesy Manitowoc The material costs about twice that of conventional wire rope but weighs 80% less, enabling cranes to do more while making rigging easier on the ground. Related Links: Wire Rope Does Double Duty at Orangutan Center New Rigging App Works as Load-Capacity Reference Because wire rope can be heavy and bulky and often spins under load, Mike Herbert, Manitowoc Inc.'s global product director for rough-terrain cranes, has long sought an alternative. Even with rotation-resistant designs, conventional wire rope produces some
Related Links: Wash. State Tackling Issues in NTSB's Skagit Bridge-Collapse Report Fast-Track Replacement Planned For Collapsed Skagit River Bridge The National Transportation Safety Board says a distracted pilot driver speaking on a hands-free cellular phone, inadequate clearance signage and a trucker unaware of lane rules share the blame for the span collapse of Washington's Skagit River bridge last year.The state's automated oversize-load permitting system also needs updating, says the NTSB's report on the May 23, 2013, incident, in which a truck hauling an oversize load struck the Interstate 5 Skagit River bridge, causing a span to collapse 38 ft into
Photo Coutesy Grant County Public Utility district Crew bores pilot hole in preparation for steel-strand tendons that will be anchored in bedrock. Related Links: Varied Approaches Wring New Power from Waters Feds OK Redesign To Boost Migrating Salmon Survival Early this year, workers at the Wanapum Dam in central Washington state discovered that a 50-year-old mathematical error, made during dam design, had caused a 65-ft-long fracture.The 8,367-ft-long Wanapum Dam, six miles downstream of Vantage, Wash., generates 1,092 MW of power.On Feb. 24, a hydroelectric mechanic walking the small road on the dam's spillway deck noticed a bowed curb, says Thomas
WSDOT Bertha's shield, pictured during assembly in Seattle in the summer of 2013. WSDOT Bertha's cutter head, pictured here prior to assembly in summer 2013, will be augmented by an improved main bearing and more robust seals, which repair crews will install this summer, according to the contractor. Related Links: Seattle Tunneling Behemoth Bertha Awaits Repairs to Bearing Seals Divers Searching for Way To Get TBM 'Bertha' Moving Again There will be no tunneling in 2014 of the new state Route 99 under downtown Seattle. The latest repair schedule, released on April 21, for North America’s largest tunnel-boring machine, dubbed
Photo Courtesy of kiewit Nicaraguan bridge marks a big firm's first foray with Bridges to Prosperity. Related Links: Bridges to Prosperity partner list Volunteers Building Other Critical Bridges Kiewit Corp. has joined a growing list of major engineering and construction firms volunteering with the group Bridges to Prosperity. Earlier this year, Kiewit completed its first project, a week-long effort to construct a steel-and- wood-deck suspension bridge 115 ft—with tower heights of 25 ft—across the El Limón River in Nicaragua.Kiewit isn't alone. Both CH2M Hill and PCL will volunteer for their first projects this year, while existing industry partners, such as
Photo courtesy of Washington state DOT Slide Zone Slope above the Stillagaumish River had been timbered several times, which weakened soil stability. Related Links: Lidar Mapping Offers Exacting Detail, a Better Landslide Awareness Tool Landslide Mitigation Measures Fail To Save Plan To Build Bypass Bridges in Oregon New unstable-slope rules, updated in 2011 by the Washington State Dept. of Natural Resources, and unheeded warnings about logging as far back as 1988, could not prevent the March 22 landslide near Oso nor keep victims out of its deadly path.The event has killed at least 24, with 22 missing, as of April
Photo by AP/Wideworld Only charred steel and scaffolding remain after a San Francisco construction-site fire. Photo by AP/Wideworld Related Links: California Crews Scramble To Repair Busy Route After Fire Sandy Blamed for Boardwalk Fire at the New Jersey Shore A five-alarm fire at a construction site in San Francisco pulled in over 150 firefighters on March 11. The crews battled flames spewing from a 172-unit apartment complex owned by BRE Properties and successfully prevented the fire from jumping to other construction projects in the growing Mission Bay area of the city.Though, immediately afterward, the site remained too dangerous for investigators
Image Courtesy GDOT Related Links: Transportation's Next Chapter: Maintenance, Mobility, Money Airports Emphasize Flexibility In New Designs GDOT's Complete Streets Manual The National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) would like to see transportation-design policy start at the city and state levels, not the federal level. With that in mind, the Washington State Dept. of Transportation is adopting the group's new "Urban Street Design Guide."The guide includes a chapter on interim design strategies before a major buildup; a discussion of design controls; showing the street as a physical place; and real-life examples of the impacts of design decisions on that
Photo Courtesy of WSDOT Seals surrounding a tunnel-boring machine's main bearing were manufactured in Japan and are now damaged, but the project contractor believes the actual bearing is still sound. Related Links: Divers Searching for Way To Get TBM 'Bertha' Moving Again http://enr.construction.com/infrastructure/transportation/2013/1213-divers-searching-for-way-to-get-tbm-bertha-moving-again.asp Bertha, the 57.5-ft-dia tunnel-boring machine attempting to dig a 1.7-mile state Route 99 tunnel underneath Seattle, is stuck again, having progressed 4 ft after a delay in December. Now, Seattle Tunnel Partners (STP), a joint venture of Dragados USA and Tutor Perini Corp., have decided to build a shaft in order to reach the TBM after discovering
