WSDOT’s expansive portfolio of projects—from the mega to the miniscule—are keeping Northwest contractors busy.

Projects totaling more than $1.3 billion are revamping major sections of highway throughout the Phoenix metropolitan area.

Brian Witte was just a freshman in high school when he launched his infrastructure career. “It was a small town in Iowa, and the teacher’s neighbor was the town engineer for a dozen communities,” recalls Witte, vice president of construction engineering for Parsons Corp. “They needed help.

The current work includes widening six miles of the westbound interstate and constructing and installing sound reduction walls. 

A $14.8-million, 400-ft two-span steel girder bridge over I-29 now connects the existing 64th Avenue South east of the interstate with new construction to the west, improving system linkage, safety and efficiency in the rapidly growing southern neighborhoods of Fargo.

Building Information Modeling (BIM) is a concept reaching near ubiquity in the construction industry, with organizations like the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)promoting the use of BIM for Infrastructure and BIM for Bridges to their member agencies.

Cargo transfer operations at the Port of Long Beach are poised to become both greener and more efficient over the next decade with the $1.567-billion Pier B On-Dock Rail Support Facility.

Winding along the edges of steep slopes deep in the eastern forests of British Columbia, a stretch of Highway 1 offers stunning vistas for commuters and visitors as they traverse Kicking Horse Canyon.

For decades, commuters, holiday trippers and truck drivers have contended with a twisting eight-mile uphill stretch of Interstate 17, with ascents to 6.17% and seasonal temperatures regularly exceeding 100 degrees.

The Oregon Dept. of Transportation began its multi-phase Interstate-205 corridor improvements project near Portland this summer with a seismic upgrade to the 2,727-ft-long Abernethy Bridge.