The successful completion this spring of twin 2.1-mile-long bored tunnels in Seattle marks a literal breakthrough in that city's troubled history of light-rail construction. It also represents the halfway mark in the 3.15-mile, $1.9-billion project to connect downtown with the University of Washington.The 21-ft-dia tunnels run between Capitol Hill and the university. A Traylor Bros. Inc. and Kemper-Frontier Constructors Inc. joint venture worked under a $309-million contract.

Photo courtesy of Barnard Construction Crews working from a barge began removing portions from the middle section of Glines Canyon dam on Sept. 15 Contractors have started chipping away on the Glines Canyon Dam in Port Angeles, Wash., one of two dams on the Elwha River that are scheduled for removal as part of the largest project of its kind in the U.S. 

The 210-ft-high Glines Canyon dam and the 108-ft-high Elwha Dam are the two highest dams ever to be removed in the U.S. The project includes the removal of 24 million cu yd of sediment and debris and

A joint venture led by Dragados USA, New York City, and Tutor Perini Corp., Sylmar, Calif., is now able to begin revising its best-value winning bid to build a 1.7-mile, 55-ft-diameter deep bore tunnel beneath downtown Seattle. Tunnel Partners, which also includes Frank Coluccio Construction Co., Tukwila, Wash.; Mowat Construction Co., Kent, Wash.; HNTB Corp., Kansas City; and Spanish firm Intecsa, Madrid, submitted the favored best value proposal with a $1.09 billion bid plus technical credits that totaled 71,577,000, for a resulting best value score of 1,018,123,002, the Washington State Dept. of Transportation announced Dec. 9. Photo: WsDOT Seattle tunnel’s

Northwest Construction’s annual awards competition honors the best in design and construction over the past year. Diverse categories, from engineering design to worship, acknowledge the excellent work and the variety of disciplines in the industry today.

Adormant nuclear powerplant near Olympia, Wash., may never generate power, but the Laborers’ International Union of North America is putting a lot of energy into adapting the site’s abandoned 1,500-ft-long tunnel as a training tool. Located at the former Washington Public Power Supply System site, which was abandoned in 1982 after it defaulted on bond payments, the tunnel now serves the union’s new tunnel safety school. It is the only one in North America that targets construction, the laborers say. Augmenting the instruction is $130,000 worth of tunnel-boring machine (TBM) components donated by local contractors. “With multiple tunnel projects on

Washington State University is constructing new veterinary buildings at its Pullman Campus that will improve animal care and an applied science building at its Vancouver campus that will further semiconductor research. The $35-million Global Animal Health Building and the $96-million Veterinary Medical Research Building in Pullman are the second phase of a planned seven-building veterinary sciences education complex. On the Vancouver campus, the $41-million Applied Sciences Building will allow students and faculty to research and build experimental semiconductors. All three projects are being built using GC/CM contracts. In order to accelerate the schedule and take advantage of the dry summer

The largest project in Seattle University history, the 120,000-sq-ft renovation and expansion of the Lemieux Library, officially opens this month. Image courtesy Mithun Mortenson Construction, Bellevue, started construction on the $34-million project in June of 2009, including renovating the decades-old, six-story building, plus seismic upgrades and renovation of the mechanical and electrical systems. Mortenson also added a three story, 33,000-sq-ft learning commons on the east side of the existing structure. “The entire contents [of the library] were moved into a temporary structure while construction took place,” says David Bonewitz, a Seattle-based project management consultant and the owner’s representative on the

Despite the recession, there are some promising construction projects in Seattle, including renovation of Pike Place Market, an infill project in the Rainier Valley and new digs for Amazon.com. The huge headquarters projects for Amazon.com in the South Lake Union area and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation near Seattle Center hold about the only tower cranes on the skyline, which was crowded with them two years ago. Phase one of the $500-million Gates Foundation includes two six-story buildings totalling 900,000 sq ft, being constructed by Seattle-based Sellen Construction. The Seattle office of NBBJ designed the expected LEED gold first

Project managers are struggling with how to remove �Rainier,� a tunnel-boring machine that is stuck 330 ft underground since last year. Until the rig is moved, the area�s $1.8-billion Brightwater treatment plant can�t be finished. Image: ENR/King County The tunnel�s original contractor and owner have parted ways after TBM bogged down and are currently negotiating a claim while a replacement team drills ahead. Photo: John J. Kosowatz / ENR One of the Brightwater tunnel boring machines is seen here fitted with cutter head.  “As of May 1, we have no way to remove it and are still working on a