Kitsap County’s Washington Boulevard Landslide Stabilization Project Honored at AWPA’s Spring Conference

Aspect joined staff from Kitsap County Public Works (County) at the American Public Works Association (APWA) Spring Conference in Tacoma to celebrate the County’s Washington Boulevard Landslide Stabilization project, which earned the APWA’s 2022 Public Works Project of the Year award in the Disaster or Emergency Construction Repair (less than $5 million) category.

Members of the Washington Boulevard Stabilization team accepting their award (from left to right): Andrew Nelson, Kitsap Public Works Director; Tina Nelson, Kitsap Senior Program Manager; Joe Rutan, Kitsap County Engineer; Tim Beachy, Kitsap Project Manager; David Dinkuhn, Parametrix Civil Engineer; Andrew Holmson, Aspect Consulting; Steve Nichols, Kitsap Construction Manager; Tom Abplanalp, Sound Pacific Construction; Phil Struck, Struck Environmental; Paije Abplanalp, Sound Pacific Construction.

Washington Boulevard traverses a steep coastal bluff along the eastern Puget Sound shoreline in Kingston, Washington, leading into the town center and regional ferry terminal. Part of the road crosses a large deep-seated landslide complex that for decades suffered failures after heavy rains, frequently cutting off the sole access to the town and emergency services for 22 homes along the road. The Washington Boulevard Landslide Stabilization project constructed a horizontal drain system, stormwater improvements, and mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) slope to stabilize the roadway and provide a reliable path to the town and services for residents.

Roadway damaged after slope movement in 2011.

Temporary roadway protection measures in place.

In the winter of 2006, a period of extreme rainfall triggered significant landslide movement and damage to the roadway. Kitsap County engaged Aspect to complete detailed geologic investigations to characterize the nature of the landslide, conduct emergency monitoring, help the County decision-makers understand the risks the landslide posed to the roadway, and to develop viable stabilization alternatives. After over a decade of active monitoring and management, the increasingly frequent road closures and need for repairs due to landslide movement prompted County decision-makers to start design and construction of the preferred stabilization alternative.

Horizontal Drain Drilling (HDD) near the steep bluff.

Aspect led design of the horizontal drain system to dewater the body of the landslide, roadway stormwater improvements to enhance collection and conveyance of stormwater on/near the roadway, and a mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) slope to achieve grade transitions at the landslide headscarp and support the roadway embankment. This solution struck an elegant balance between effective stabilization targeting the root cause of instability (elevated groundwater), an environmentally permittable, sustainable, and beneficial design, and cost.

Roadside Drainage Improvements and Roadway Base Preparation.

Final paving of road reconstruction with guardrail.

Aspect and the County worked in close collaboration with Parametrix for civil design and Struck Environmental for environmental permitting to deliver a pragmatic design meeting the project objectives, schedule, and budget. The project was successfully constructed by Sound Pacific Construction with key support from Jensen Drilling, Inc.

Senior Associate Geotechnical Engineer Andrew Holmson, PE, who has worked on the project since 2008 alongside over a dozen Aspect geologists and engineers, joined Tim Beachy, Tina Nelson, Andrew Nelson, and Joe Rutan from Kitsap County; David Dinkuhn from Parametrix; Phil Struck from Struck Environmental; and Tom and Paije Abplanalp from Sound Pacific Construction for the awards ceremony.

The full list of this year’s APWA Washington Project of the Year winners and project photos are available on their website.

Lake Crescent Roadway Stabilization Project Honored with ASCE Award

The American Society of Civil Engineers’ (ASCE) Seattle Section honored Aspect’s Lake Crescent Roadway Improvement Project at their recent Local Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement (LOCEA) Awards ceremony. The project won this year’s award for Geotechnical Engineering, recognizing Aspect’s innovative moment slab design that widened and stabilized a key stretch of Highway 101 along Lake Crescent in Olympic National Park.

The two-lane stretch of Highway 101 and its varying geologic conditions prior to moment slab construction.

Principal Geotechnical Engineer Erik Andersen walked the group of 60 people watching online through the project and how Aspect got involved. A 400-foot-long section of two-lane road on the shore of Lake Crescent was in need of a permanent solution to address ongoing instability and widen the road. The Federal Highway Administration’s Western Federal Lands Highway Division (FHWA), who have jurisdiction over this part of Highway 101, recommended the unstable shoulder fill be removed, and a mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) wall be constructed at or above the lake level.

Complex Geology + Unstable Shoreline = Great Engineering Challenge

This recommendation presented a host of challenges to an already complex site with varying geology and an unstable shoreline. Constructing the MSE wall would require blasting bedrock in some areas and constructing concrete beams in other areas where bedrock was below the lake elevation, which would be difficult to execute within the 4-hour windows they were permitted to have both lanes of the highway closed. Blasting the rock and construction near the lake would greatly disturb wildlife, fish, and the lake itself. Strider Construction, tasked with building the MSE wall, determined this concept was too difficult and risky. They turned to Aspect to develop a safer and more constructible alternative. Erik and Staff Engineer Henry N. Haselton brainstormed with Strider and FHWA to develop a moment slab design.

Rebar reinforces the moment slab that extends over the shoreline but doesn’t impact the water.

Henry and Ken Wilson from Integrity Structural Engineering joined the presentation to discuss the analysis and design for the slab. The heavily reinforced concrete slab was designed to be supported on the shore at one end and suspend (or cantilever) over the embankment. It required significantly less excavation and blasting from the site, eliminated the need for temporary shoring, and could be completed without disturbing the pristine waters of Lake Crescent. With the easier design in place, construction moved at a more predictable pace. Ultimately, work was completed three weeks earlier and saved the project over $100,000, as compared with the original MSE wall concept.

Bellingham Waterfront Project Also Honored

Aspect contributed to the success of another of the night’s honorees. Project Geologist Matthew von der Ahe provided hazardous material mitigation during construction of KPFF’s Granary Avenue and Laurel Street Project. This roadway/bike lane/sidewalk project for the City of Bellingham improved access into Waypoint Park (itself a winning project) on the former industrial site that housed the Georgia-Pacific Tissue Mill.

Photo from City of Bellingham website.

This year’s other LOCEA winners are:

• Small Projects and Non-Construction Study: CSO 171 Outfall Project (HDR and team)

• Transportation and Development Engineering:  NE 45th Street East Approach Seismic Retrofit Project (HDR and team)

• Water Resources and Environmental Engineering: Meydenbauer Bay Park Project (Anchor QEA and team)

• Ports and Waterways Engineering: WWPS043 Emergency Force Main Replacement Project (Staheli Trenchless Consultants and teams)

Bellingham's Waypoint Park Wins Local and National Awards

Waypoint Park touts a playground, a pier, access to the beach along the Whatcom Waterway, and now, several awards. The project recently won the American Shore and Beach Preservation Association (ASBPA)’s award for Best Restored Beach in the U.S.; and the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Seattle Section’s 2019 Local Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement Award.

The park sits upon the site of a former Georgia-Pacific pulp mill. Aspect was a part of the team that spent seven years cleaning up the contaminated industrial area and providing geotechnical and environmental consultation throughout the design, permitting, and construction. It opened to the public last summer, and there are more redevelopment projects planned in the vicinity to continue the transformation along Bellingham’s waterfront.

Congratulations to the City and Port of Bellingham, prime firm KPFF, and the whole project team for your award-winning vision and work for this project!

Aspect’s Principal Geotechnical Engineer Erik Andersen strolls amongst the bubbles during the Waypoint Park opening celebration last summer. He developed foundations recommendations for the repurposed 400,000-pound industrial acid ball tank turned public art piece titled “Waypoint.”

Aspect Honored to Be Part of Several APWA Projects of the Year

Aspect was honored to be involved with several projects that won top honors at the 2017 APWA-WA Conference in Tacoma, Washington.

In the Structures category, Kitsap County Public Works’ Bucklin Hill Bridge and Estuary Enhancement won Project of the Year in Washington State as well as a National award from the APWA. The City of Wenatchee’s 2016 Pedestrian Safety Improvements project also won Project of the Year in the Environment category.

See Kitsap County's time-lapse construction footage below.

The Bucklin Hill Bridge Project - It's more than a bridge! from Kitsap County on Vimeo.

The Bucklin Hill Bridge/Estuary Project rehabilitated the Clear Creek estuary to allow for smoother fish passage and also widened the road to reduce traffic congestion. Working with the OTAK-led project team from 2010-2016, Aspect performed the geotechnical work to replace the 72-inch-diameter culverts with a four-lane bridge.

For the Wenatchee Pedestrian Safety Improvements project, Aspect worked with the City of Wenatchee and WSDOT to collect and review the logs of subsurface explorations previously completed near the project area for other studies.  Using this data allowed the City to save money by forgoing additional explorations and Aspect to develop geotechnical recommendations to support design and construction of a large cantilevered signal pole for pedestrian crossings.

Aspect Honored with ACEC Award for Port Angeles Landfill Project

The American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) honored Aspect’s Port Angeles Landfill Stabilization Project in both Washington and Oregon at the organizations’ annual Engineering Excellence Awards.

The Port Angeles Mechanically Stabilized Earth (MSE) Slope Stabilization received a Grand award at the ACEC Oregon’s awards program in Portland, with Aspect’s Pete Stroud and Mark Swank in attendance. ACEC Washington recognized the project as a whole with a Silver Award for Social Economic and Sustainable Design Considerations at its Awards Gala in Bellevue.

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Aspect was part of a large multidisciplinary team supporting the City of Port Angeles with environmental and geotechnical services on the $17 million project that moved 400,000 cubic yards of refuse away from a 140-foot bluff overlooking the Strait of Juan de Fuca while building Washington’s tallest reinforced soil slope. Slope construction was completed in 2016, and we will continue support with groundwater quality and seawall fluid reporting, landfill gas system evaluation/optimization, and monitoring of the MSE slope and landfill cover.

Aspect also played a role in several other projects honored by ACEC Washington. We served as lead geotechnical engineer on the Lodge Creek Culvert Replacement for Kittitas County, which received the Silver Award for Successful Fulfillment of Client/Owner Needs. The University Link Extension, which Aspect led the design team on exploration, engineering geology, and hydrogeology to build Sound Transit’s light rail tunnel from Capitol Hill to the University of Washington, received a Gold Award for Transportation. We also were the lead geotechnical engineer on two Best in State Bronze Award-winning projects: NW Bucklin Hill Bridge & Estuary Enhancement in Kitsap County and the Dungeness River Railroad Trestle Replacement for the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe.

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The Seattle and Oregon editions of the Daily Journal of Commerce have an overview of this year’s AECE Washington and ACEC Oregon winners. 

ACEC Washington Best in State Silver Award Winner: Riverside Property Cleanup

Mark Sadler (2nd from right), City of Everett, joined Aspect project team members at the awards banquet.

For our technical guidance on the Riverside Property Cleanup, Aspect received a Best in State Silver Award for Social/Economic Sustainability at the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) Washington 2013 Engineering Excellence Awards banquet on January 18.

The cleanup of the 90-acre Riverside property on the Snohomish River in Everett was conducted collaboratively through a public-private partnership between the City of Everett and Kimberly-Clark Worldwide - the Riverside Environmental Team (RET). With the RET relying on the technical analysis to drive the process, Aspect's deep understanding of MTCA regulatory requirements and strategic application of cleanup design and engineering steered the comprehensive cleanup of the former industrial property.

Aspect worked with the RET and Ecology to develop an efficient, focused approach and practical, cost effective engineered solutions that went beyond conventional industrial cleanup. Employing innovations including backfilling with available dredge sands and installing a subsurface drain system for use in groundwater treatment, Aspect oversaw a cleanup program of complete soil removal and active groundwater treatment that resulted in non-detect contaminant levels and six No Further Action (NFA) determinations for soil and groundwater.

Achieving unrestricted cleanup standards at the former Sawmill site preserved opportunities for a full range of future redevelopment options, not limited by capped contamination or deed restrictions.

The project was previously recognized with a 2011 Association of Washington Business (AWB) Environmental Excellence Award for Kimberly-Clark.