Eight I-15 Bridges Open in Idaho, Project Still Ongoing
By Lori Tobias CEG CORRESPONDENT
A $112 million Pocatello, Idaho, interstate project under construction for more than two years reached a milestone this fall as crews opened all eight bridges in the rebuild.
“We’re really excited to finally have all the I-15 traffic moved to the new mainlines,” Idaho Department of Transportation (ITD) Project Engineer Greg Roberts said. “We can’t express enough thanks to the community for their patience as we’ve worked through the logistics of such a large project.”
The ITD awarded the bid for the System Interchange project to the joint venture firm of Sundt-Cannon. The project includes the construction of eight new bridges, transitioning parts of Interstate 15 to collector-distributor lanes, the construction of 10 retaining walls, and the addition of a 1.3-mi. pedestrian and bike path. The bulk of that work is complete,
see BRIDGES page 6
An overview of a portion of the Interstate 15 project.
A Cat wheel loader works on the I-15 project.
Mount Rainier National Park Unveils
Two Major 2025 Construction Projects
Two major Mount Rainier National Park construction projects starting in 2025 will improve travel through the park on State Route 123 and replace decades-old crumbling infrastructure in the park’s popular Ohanapecosh Campground. Both projects address important deficiencies and will improve the visitor experience once completed. However, construction activities will cause temporary roadway and/or facilities closures.
The State Route 123 construction project is a two-year effort that will rehabilitate a 2.8-mi. section of roadway between Laughingwater Creek and Panther Creek along the park’s eastern boundary. This project is funded through the Federal Highway Administration.
Contractors and construction costs weren’t announced. Construction impacts are projected to be as follows:
Construction Year One (2025)
A 2.8-mi. section of roadway will be under construction from April-October 2025.
A full road closure of a portion of the roadway between Stevens Canyon Road and Panther Creek will take place Sept. 2-30, 2025. The roadway will be bisected to install two large box culverts which will be more resilient during high flows and flooding, thus reducing the risk of road washouts and costly repairs and annual maintenance needs. They also should improve the habitat for amphibians and fish.
Construction Year Two (2026)
There will be no full closures of the roadway during the 2026 construction season.
A 2.8-mi. section of roadway will be under construction from April-October 2026.
“We are grateful to have the opportunity to make muchneeded improvements to the Ohanapecosh Campground and State Route 123,” Supt. Greg Dudgeon said. “There will be
State Road 123 near Mount Rainier National Park is susceptible to landslides.
some temporary inconveniences next year, but we know that this critical investment in our facilities will help ensure recreational opportunities for visitors for decades to come.”
The Ohanapecosh Campground rehabilitation project will provide significant upgrades to the campground in the southeast corner of the park. This effort will rehabilitate the campground’s 185 campsites and nine bathrooms, replace the aging wastewater collection system, upgrade electrical and water systems, and support improvements to campground accessibility.
The project will be completed during the 2025 visitor season. The improved campground will reopen to visitors in time for the 2026 camping season.
The Ohanapecosh Campground project is partly funded through the Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA), Recreation Fee revenue and the National Park Foundation. (All photos courtesy of the National Park Service.)
Clearwater Memorial Bridge Project Nears End, Opens to Traffic
The Clearwater Memorial Bridge project on U.S. 12 in Clearwater County, Idaho, is mostly complete and opened to both vehicular and pedestrian traffic on Dec. 4, 2024, according to the Moscow-Pullman Daily News.
“We’re really excited and just in time for holiday traffic,” Mark Pfeifer, a spokesperson of the Idaho Transportation Department in Lewiston, told the Daily News.
Construction on the federally funded project began in 2023 at an estimated cost of $38.3 million. Project contractors were Wadsworth Brothers Construction Co., of Draper, Utah, the paper reported.
Pfeifer said the project is designed to improve safety on the bridge built in 1951.
Travelers will be using wider travel lanes, shoulders, median and sidewalks. In addition, the bridge was updated to current standards, meaning reduced weight restrictions for heavy loads no longer exist, according to a news release from the ITD.
The revamped bridge will maintain the same number of traffic lanes but will feature wider shoulders and sidewalks, along with a painted median. The traffic lanes will increase from 62 ft. to more than 79 ft.
A deck seal and additional light construction are scheduled for early summer in 2025, the Daily News reported.
The construction began on the bridge’s east side, leaving the west side operational for traffic. That was switched in June to allow for west side construction, according to the Idaho Transportation Department website.
(All photos courtesy of the Idaho Transportation Department.)
Mount Rainier
A rendering of the Clearwater Memorial Bridge upon completion.
A cross section of the Clearwater Memorial Bridge.
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System Interchange Project Part of $400M in I-15 Work
but work will continue through the winter into next summer for the reconstruction of Chubbuck Road, which runs beneath the interstate.
The project addresses two issues, ITD spokesman Justin Smith said.
“The bridges were getting to be about 80 years old and at the end of their design life,” he said. “At the same time, the design didn’t meet modern standards or driver’s expectation. The redesign takes away the merge from the left and makes everything merge from the right.”
The biggest challenge was keeping traffic moving while work was under way.
“We have 30,000 to 50,000 vehicles a day in traffic volume so keeping traffic moving has been a large struggle for us,” Smith said. “We were really lucky. We had another project called Northgate and that project was a new interchange just a couple of miles north of System. We were able to use that. In some cases, we closed ramps or we created temporary ramps.
“It was quite the dance to get everything built and still keep everybody moving around. We’ve had to do some innovation. We used a conveyor system to move dirt rather than trucks to make it safer so we don’t have trucks coming on and off the Interstate as often.”
But the dirt also posed a bit of a challenge at times. Crews call it “moon dust,” Smith said. If the water content is too low, it becomes a fine powder, an extremely fine silt; if the water content is too high, it becomes slime.
“If it’s just right, it compacts really nicely,” Smith said. “We’ve got a water truck, and we’ve been putting down lots of water to keep the dust down around the construction site. The construction managers are continually monitoring it to see that we have the right amount of water.”
Continuing work will include a new detour for traffic using the Pocatello Creek on-ramp to head west toward Chubbuck. Traffic will be routed through the Northgate Interchange while crews rebuild the old mainline roadway to match the grade of the new road. That work will continue into early spring. Chubbuck Road is scheduled to open partially to traffic in late December.
The System Interchange project is part of about $400 million worth of projects in the I-15 corridor, the primary route
from Idaho to Montana and originally built 80 years ago. The projects are funded under the Transportation Expansion and Congestion Mitigation Plan (TECHM) funded by the Idaho Legislature in 2017.
“The object was to get shovel-ready jobs running as quickly as possible,” Smith said. “We were able to take jobs already on the shelf and get them going. Idaho is a place a lot of people would like to live. We’ve seen a lot of growth throughout the state, and with that comes a lot more traffic.”
Some trivia about the new bridges from ITD:
• 24 steel girders (12 built in Montana, 12 built in Utah), 6 girders per bridge
• The girders traveled approximately 21,000 mi. to get to the job for all sections.
• Each girder is 7-ft. tall and 2-ft., 4-in. wide. The top and bottom flanges range from 1-in. thick to 2¾-in. thick with the “web” being 5/8-in. thick.
• Each girder weighs between 132,000 and 199,000 lbs. for the 414-ft. length.
• Three different sections per girder with the longest at 144 ft. and the heaviest section at 80,431 lbs.
• 414 ft. total length of girders
• Bridge width is 58 ft., 10 in.
• 16,896 7/8-in. bolts connecting the girders
• Total steel weight of approximately 4.32 million lbs., not including rebar.
(All photos courtesy of Idaho Transportation Department.)
Two Cat excavators move a retaining panel into place.
An Interstate 15 bridge nears completion.
A Cat excavator moves dirt.
Snow didn’t stop pillar construction on I-15.
Steel beams are lowered into place.
BRIDGES from page 1
AN MGL conveyor works in tandem with a Cat dozer.
ITD Maintenance Team Prevails at National Snow Roadeo
The largest group of competitors ever (about 330) at the Snow & Ice Conference and National Snow Roadeo in Loveland, Colo., couldn’t slow down the Idaho Transportation Department maintenance team, which won the national “Top Agency” title for the third time in the last four years.
ITD took six competitors to the event: TJ Gibson, Sheldon Jones, Jed Gregersen, Dakota Morgan, Jed Henderson and Brandon Steffens.
This year, ITD also had the first individual champion (Gibson in Loader) since Jarrett Porter did it in the same
event back in 2001. In fact, ITD swept the top three places in the Loader event, with Morgan taking the runner-up slot and Gregerson finishing third.
The duo of Steffens and Gregerson also won this year’s Single Axle Snowplow team event, while Steffens was second in Skid Steer. The team of Gibson and Henderson came in second in Snowplow Tandem Axle.
Henderson and Steffens have been members of all three national title-winning teams.
“In Idaho, our first priority is work zone safety and, by being the best in maintenance equipment safety operations,
we minimize time in work zones for employees and the traveling public,” ITD Chief Deputy Director Dan McElhinney said. “ITD is very proud of our six-member team for winning the 2024 National Maintenance Safety Equipment Rodeo, proving our commitment to be the best of the best in the nation, which we have been now three of the last four years.”
In addition to another team title, the ITD squad delivered top finishes in various events as mentioned earlier. The ITD contingent has performed well over the years in Colorado, with 50 Top 10 finishes on various pieces of equipment.
(All photos courtesy of the Idaho Transportation Department.)
Skanska Names Trevor Wyckoff VP, GM for Ore., SW Wash.
Global construction and development firm Skanska named Trevor Wyckoff, a 24year company veteran, as executive vice president and general manager overseeing its building operations in Oregon and southwest Washington.
In this role, Wyckoff will develop and implement Skanska’s business plan in Oregon, driving strategic growth statewide and throughout the region, while remaining committed to excellence, safety, integrity, sustainability and creating places that make a positive contribution to our communities.
“Trevor brings a wealth of both operational and strategic experience to his new role,” said Jim Link, regional executive officer, Skanska USA Building. “Throughout his career, he has consistently proven himself to be a strong communicator and partner, qualities that will serve him well as he steps into this leadership role. I am confident Trevor will continue to build on the legacy we’ve established in Oregon and the Pacific Northwest as a whole, and we are excited to see where he will lead us.”
Wyckoff’s work with key business leaders in the construction and built environment community has solidified his reputation in the industry, earning him the respect of major decision-makers who are shaping the
future of the city. As a Portland native, Wyckoff has a deep understanding of the community’s needs and is fully committed to improving the neighborhoods in which Skanska does business.
“Skanska has been my home for almost 25 years and as someone who started my career here as an intern, I can’t think of a more exciting job than leading this office into the future,” Wyckoff said. “We have a fantastic team here in Oregon and, as I take on this new role, I look forward to helping us grow and build new opportunities for our organization.”
In addition to Oregon, Wyckoff has managed projects in Arizona, California and Washington and as an active member of Skanska’s Healthcare Advisory Council and the National Operations Leadership Council, he has developed a solid reputation across the company.
Wyckoff started his career as an intern in Skanska’s Portland office in 1998 before joining the company full time as a project engineer in 2000. He most recently served as senior vice president and account manager for Skanska in Portland, spearheading several marquee projects for key Skanska clients in the health care, education and commercial sectors, among others.
The Idaho Transportation Department winning team consisted of (L-R): TJ Gibson, Sheldon Jones, Jed Gregersen, Dakota Morgan, Jed Henderson and Brandon Steffen.
An ITD snow plow
Skanska USA Building photo
Trevor Wyckoff
503.252.5933 Mount
Portland, OR 19255 NE Sandy Blvd Portland, OR 97230
