Inside/Out Newsletter | Summer 2014 | Issue 54

INSIDE/OUT ISSUE 54

SUMMER

NEWSLETTER

JULY 2014

Celebrating the Launch of RapidRide F Line in Renton On Friday, 6 June, King County hosted a public celebration at the Renton Landing to commemorate the opening of their new RapidRide service for riders traveling between Burien, SeaTac, Tukwila, and Renton. The new F Line officially commenced service on Saturday, 7 June. As with King County’s other five RapidRide lines, F Line will provide more frequent and all-day bus service. The 12-mile-long route will link communities and riders to Westfield Southcenter Mall, The Boeing Company, The Landing and downtown Renton, and major transit hubs, including Sound Transit’s Link light rail and Sounder rail stations.

“RapidRide is helping us build the most efficient all-day transit network, one that offers a great customer experience and better positions King County for the growth coming to our region,” said King County Executive Dow Constantine.

“I’m grateful for the state and federal funding that allowed us to expand this increasingly popular service.”

BergerABAM led the design, permitting, construction document preparation, and construction support for all of the bus zone improvements for the F Line. Services included surveying, basemapping, obtaining private license agreements and temporary construction licenses, civil and electrical design, permitting, utility research and coordination, final bid documents, specifications, cost estimates, bid services, and construction support.

The improvements along the F Line corridor include new and upgraded bus shelters, technology pylons, blade

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Mayor Jim Haggerton speaks at celebration to commemorate the opening.

markers, pedestrian and Americans with Disabilities Act improvements, storm drainage requirements, illumination, benches, curbs, sidewalks, ramps, and pavement improvements.

Voters approved King County’s RapidRide service in 2006.

The program has 113 red and yellow low-floor buses in six corridors throughout some of the most populated cities in King County. RapidRide A to F Lines carry more than 50,000 riders a day – more than 12 percent of Metro’s 400,000 daily total ridership.

“This new route helps meet the need to improve access in our diverse neighborhoods to more opportunities while leaving more cars at home,” said Councilmember Dave Upthegrove. “The RapidRide program is better for the environment and the health of our communities.”

Bob Mast Named

Professional Engineer of the Year

Bob Mast

Bob Mast, PE, SE, BergerABAM senior principal, has been named Washington Society of Professional Engineers - Professional Engineer of the Year for 2014 by the Puget Sound Engineering Council (PSEC) at its 56th Annual PSEC Engineering Awards Banquet held in Seattle earlier this year. This prestigious award is given to recognize many years of skillful engineering work, dedication to the highest ethical standards, contributions in advancing state-of-the-art civil and structural engineering, and lifelong service to the profession, community, state, and the nation.

Bob’s long history of engineering contributions spans more than a few decades.

The “M” in BergerABAM, Bob has been with the company for 55 years, serving as president from 1972 to 1985, subsequently as chairman, and now as senior principal. Starting as a young engineer fresh from the University of Illinois, he joined Anderson, Birkeland, and Anderson because he heard they were “doing some pretty interesting things with prestressed concrete,” a new, revolutionary construction material at that time. Though prestressed concrete allowed engineers to build structures with larger, unsupported spans, this advantage wasn’t enough to convince most American contractors to use it.

However, Bob, Hal Birkeland, and brothers Tom and Art Anderson’s pioneering work with this material led to its widespread use in the industry today.

This ambition and thirst for knowledge soon found Bob moving into the role of partner in the firm; as a result, Anderson, Birkeland, Anderson, and Mast was born, later being abbreviated to ABAM. By 1972, he became president, retaining the position until 1985, when he became the chairman of the company.

A man who is willing to think outside of the box—or in the case of Disney World’s Space Mountain, a dome—Bob was always willing to be creative and to experiment to help clients realize what had been thought to be impossible. When plans arose for this theme park attraction, discussions settled on a dome design as the only option available. “The Disney people really wanted a cone shape. I told them we could do that, and we did,” he said.

Of greater importance to the engineering community, Bob generated the idea of shear friction, a key concept for designing with prestressed and reinforced concrete, in a collaborative effort within BergerABAM. It became widely used by 1971, and is now relied on by engineers worldwide.

In addition, Bob has contributed to professional activities serving more than 30 years on the American Concrete Institute (ACI) building code and Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute (PCI) design handbook committees.

He served as president of the Structural Engineers Association of Washington (SEAW) and was elected to the National Academy of Engineering. He was awarded the American Society of Civil Engineers(ASCE) OPAL (Outstanding Projects and Leaders) award for design, and the PCI Medal of Honor.

Bob’s achievements at BergerABAM and in the engineering world reflect his attitude that everyone is an agent of change and that each person can have an influence. “When I was 12, I saw a movie that made me see that every life is important and that we all change the world whether we realize it or not. That movie was called “It’s a Wonderful Life,” he says. “It gave me something to live by. You can change the world and do your best to make people’s lives better. My goal in life was to change the world, and I did.”

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Inside/Out Newsletter

Project Garners APWA Award State Project of the Year

On 22 May, BergerABAM and Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) were honored at the annual American Public Works Association Public Works Award and Scholarship luncheon held at the downtown Bellevue Hilton Hotel. BergerABAM and WSDOT received the top award in its category for the Interstate 5 (I-5)/State Route18 (SR 18) /SR 161 Triangle Interchange Improvements project in Federal Way, Washington.

BergerABAM led a multidisciplinary team of engineers and scientists to deliver Phase 1 of this interchange reconstruction project for WSDOT. Phase 1 replaced the old full-cloverleaf design that was originally built in the 1960s. WSDOT uncovered dangerous limitations of the full-cloverleaf design in responding to the area’s unprecedented commercial and residential growth of recent decades. Heavy traffic volumes, coupled with short weaving segments, forced drivers to perform abrupt weaving and merging maneuvers on and off the freeway, causing severe congestion and potential for highway collisions. Based on current design standards, the original loop ramps were either substandard or categorized as high-accident locations.

Phase 1 converted the full-cloverleaf design to a partial clover (Parclo B) with the construction of two new flyover ramps. Improvements included a new two-lane, 1-mile-long collector distributor and flyover ramp for the westbound to southbound movement; a 0.5-mile-long flyover for the eastbound to southbound movement; a new off-ramp/exit connecting SR 18 to SR 161; and two additional directional ramps. The aptly named “flyover” ramps take vehicles directly from one highway to the other, providing a nonstop, controlled transition that facilitates merging.

The interchange reconstruction project, referred to as the “Triangle,” because of where SR 161

Project team members from WSDOT, BergerABAM, and Hart Crowser attended the awards luncheon.

(Enchanted Parkway), SR 18, and I-5 converge, is expected to improve existing and future traffic flow by improving the connection of some of the state’s most heavily traveled areas: Federal Way, Kent Valley, and I-5. It will also reduce the number and severity of accidents in the vicinity and offer key environmental benefits to the well-established fish habitat.

Construction began in summer 2010 and was completed six months ahead of schedule. The new interchange was completed and open to traffic in July 2012.

The Triangle project took the first-place prize in the Transportation category’s highest division: Projects more than $75 Million. This project also received American Council of Engineering Companies’ (ACEC) prestigious Silver Award for complexity in January of this year at the annual ACEC Engineering Excellence Awards held at the Bellevue Westin.

For more information on this project visit WSDOT’s project web site at http://www.wsdot. wa.gov/projects/i5/sr18sr161ic/.

Editors / Writers Jana Roy Dee Young Karen Harbaugh Ping Liu Nora Bretaña Diann Scherer Design and Production Jana Roy

To update your contact information, please e-mail newsletter@abam.com

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Rebuilding Together Seattle

Staff Members Take Part in Rebuilding Day BergerABAM staff members, Ross French, Jake Lewing, Jose Suazo, and Veronica Vong, along with other members of the civil engineering community, took part in Rebuilding Together Seattle’s (RTS) Spring Rebuilding Day this past April. The activities on this nationwide day of service provide much-needed upgrades to local homes and nonprofit facilities, with 25 projects in the Seattle area alone.

This year’s project, sponsored by ASCE, benefited a home managed by Parkview Services, which provides affordable housing for developmentally disabled adults. The project team took on a large variety of tasks, Members of the civil engineering community come including installation of porch railing, installation of together to provide much-needed upgrades. wainscoting, removal of carpet and installation of vinyl flooring, shed rehabilitation, and painting. Ross French, in his second year of managing the yearly ASCE project, led the group through safety briefings, coordinated trips to acquire additional supplies, assigned team members to new tasks once others had been completed, arranged for a backyard lunch of burgers and hot dogs, and communicated with the Parkview representatives to minimize disruption to the lives of the residents. Jose served as assistant project manager and coordinated the estimation and acquisition of materials. Jake made multiple runs to Home Depot and provided that most critical of home improvement elements: a pickup truck. Veronica worked on handrailing for the front porch and vinyl tile installation. The work was challenging but rewarding, and everyone pitched in to provide a safer and more usable home environment.

Spring Rebuilding Day is held every year, on the last Saturday in April. RTS partners with corporate sponsors and over 1,500 volunteers to repair homes on this day. For more information, visit their website at http://www.rtseattle.org/spring_rebuilding.php.

M. Lee Marsh Recognized as Outstanding Alumnus BergerABAM President Dr. M. Lee Marsh (Lee) was honored as Outstanding Alumnus at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, College of Engineering’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering 2014 Spring Honors Banquet. The banquet is held each spring to recognize students, faculty, and staff of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Lee Marsh

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The Outstanding Alumnus Award is given each year to an alumnus of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering who has excelled in professional practice. Lee was a stellar student at both undergraduate and graduate levels while at the University. He was supported in his graduate work by an American Institute of Steel Construction Graduate Fellowship from which he produced two articles in refereed technical journals, a practice he has continued throughout his career.

Inside/Out Newsletter

Making the Connection

Southwest 27th Street/Strander Boulevard Extension Opens

As the population and businesses continue to grow in South King County, much-needed access to local jobs, services, and amenities also continue to grow. To that end, the cities of Renton and Tukwila determined that a connection between the two cities was needed to benefit both communities.

While the City of Tukwila is currently obtaining funding for its portion of the project, the City of Renton retained BergerABAM to provide construction administration and inspection, and design construction support services for this federally funded $11.3 million railroad grade-separation project. On 24 June 2014, the completion of Renton’s side of the extension (Phase I) was celebrated with a joint ribbon-cutting ceremony by Renton’s Mayor Denis Law and Tukwila’s Mayor Jim Haggerton.

The extension of Renton’s Southwest 27th Street to Tukwila’s Strander Boulevard is a complex project that will connect these two streets in a future phase. The phase just completed allows buses and vehicles to connect from Strander Boulevard north to the Sounder Tukwila Station parking lot. To do this, the project constructed a two-lane roadway under the BNSF Railway tracks and a new BNSF bridge to accommodate the roadway. Critical project elements included phased construction of the BNSF railroad bridge; pump station construction; relocation of AT&T, Sound Transit, and BNSF fiber-optic lines; relocation of Puget Sound Energy aerial and buried power lines; construction of railroad shoofly tracks, tied back sheet pile walls, and pile-driving operations; excavation for a railroad underpass; embankment construction; complete storm system and pump station installation; surfacing; hot-mix asphalt paving; sidewalks; roadway lighting; channelization; and landscaping.

The first phase involved detouring the BNSF railroad tracks in order to construct the railroad bridge, constructing two travel lanes, pedestrian path, water line, temporary illumination, and acquiring right-of-way. Additional elements of this project included two railroad bridges, a pedestrian bridge, complete storm system, water line, temporary illumination, and acquiring right-of-way. The future phase will include a railroad bridge for the Union Pacific Railroad (UPRR), a pedestrian bridge, a joint-use trail connecting to the interurban trail, a traffic signal, water lines, illumination, fiber-optic relocation, revisions to the stormwater pump station, and enlarging and enhancing water quality and detention facilities.

In addition, the project was a collaboration with multiple public and private agencies: the cities of Renton and Tukwila, The Boeing Company, BNSF Railway, UPRR, Sound Transit, the State of Washington Transportation Improvement Board, Freight Mobility Strategic Investment Board, WSDOT, and the U.S. Department of Transportation.

After the final phase is complete, the Strander Boulevard/ Southwest 27th Street connection will allow individuals and businesses from both communities direct access to major retail and entertainment venues, and industry to the west in Tukwila, including the Seattle District of the Federal Reserve Bank; high-tech and manufacturing jobs, as well as growing retail and wholesale businesses in Renton; and increased access to mass transit.

Though the immediate effect of this project will help relieve the heavy congestion on local roads, on both I-5 and SR 167, and allow access to mass transit, the project will also facilitate freight mobility and ease access to important local and international shipping to businesses in the area, as well as allowing access to currently undeveloped areas of Tukwila and Renton. As these two cities are large centers and hubs for aerospace, software, and agricultural products, and are at a key junction of two major highways, the cooperative Southwest 27th Street/Strander Boulevard Extension project that creates a short—but important—link between them brings opportunities to increase the economic health of their businesses and citizens.

Officials from the cities of Renton and Tukwila celebrated at a joint ribbon-cutting ceremony in June.

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