KENAI, Alaska — The Department of Transportation plans to begin a project in 2020 to reroute the Sterling Highway and construct what would be Alaska's largest bridge. The Peninsula Clarion reported the Sterling Highway MP 45-60 Project will include installation of the bridge running across Juneau Creek Canyon. Transportation department officials and engineering firm HDR Alaska have spoken with ... Read More

Trucking companies involved in the 2013 I-5 Skagit River bridge collapse are on the hook to pay for the damage, while taxpayers are not, the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday. The court majority, in a 5-4 split, found that a succession of state laws governing load sizes since 1937 were intended to protect the state, when oversize vehicles collide with highway structures. Justice Steven ... Read More

Oct. 11--OLYMPIA -- Instead of settling their five-year dispute, lawyers for Washington state took the offensive Thursday by asking a jury to award $57 million from its Highway 99 tunnel contractors for delays caused when tunnel-boring machine Bertha stalled in 2013. Attorney David Goodnight, in his opening statement, sought to bury Seattle Tunnel Partners (STP) with allegations that its ... Read More

Sep. 12--An grand jury in Anchorage on Tuesday indicted Baker Hughes oilfield service companies and a Baker Hughes manager on several counts of assault after five workers with a construction crew said they were injured in a chemical release during an incident that is alleged to have taken place in Kenai in 2014. The 25 felony counts in the indictment include 10 counts of first-degree assault. ... Read More

Sep. 5--The Seattle City Council will consider a ban on natural gas for newly constructed homes and buildings, favoring the use of electricity for heating and cooking. Councilmember Mike O'Brien plans to introduce legislation this week that would prohibit natural-gas piping systems in new structures, starting next summer. The ban would take effect for permitting on July 1, 2020, according to a ... Read More