Inspiring Young Minds with the Power of the Elwha River Restoration

Watching nature reclaim its natural habitat is awe inspiring. The Elwha River restoration—kicked off by the largest dam removal project in the world—is literally recreating the landscape along its path through the wild Olympic Peninsula. Through video, narrative, and photos, this recent Seattle Times story describes the status of the project in compelling detail.

Aspect is excited to see this worthy story get the attention it deserves, particularly because we know first-hand the power of the Elwha to inspire young minds. Aspect has been a long-time sponsor of NatureBridge, a nonprofit that gives students an up-close and personal introduction to environmental education. NatureBridge has been using the Elwha River restoration project as an outdoor lab to inspire and educate the next generation of environmental stewards.  When your classroom is a roaring river and your desk is a log along a newly formed streambed, the possibilities for learning seem endless.

The New Sound Transit U-Link Rail Extension: Understanding Seattle’s Geology

The U-Link light rail extension will open on March 19th—a full six months ahead of schedule and $100 million under budget. This new car-free transportation option for the Seattle area creates a previously unheard of eight-minute UW-to-downtown ride and an under an hour trip from Husky Stadium to Sea-Tac.

This transit game-changer was made possible by routing the light rail through two parallel three-mile-long, large-diameter, soft-ground rail tunnels. The tunnels extend from downtown Seattle, beneath Capitol Hill with a deep station in the Broadway area, then cross beneath the Montlake Cut and run to another underground station near Husky Stadium on the University of Washington Campus.

In an article on MyNorthwest.com, Sound Transit spokesperson Bruce Gray said: "This project has gone fantastic for us. This is one of those projects where we had time and budget built in for a lot of risks that were out there before we started construction and things went smoothly and we didn't have to dip into that time or money to deal with any of the risks. Things went as well as they possibly could have." 

With an underground project of this size and scope, understanding subsurface conditions early and clearly conveying risk was key to project success. With that in mind, Aspect was hired to lead the geologic analysis and hydrogeology disciples, and provide planning and field support for the exploration program.  Our knowledge of regional geology and expected variability in soil properties allowed us to implement a risk-based approach in collecting additional subsurface information. Results of this approach were used to target explorations to areas where additional subsurface information would significantly reduce design and construction costs and contractor contingencies.

Aspect’s approach resulted in significant cost and schedule savings compared to previous exploration approaches that relied on more numerous and costly uniformly spaced explorations.

It is projected that this $1.9 billion project will add 71,000 riders to the light rail system by 2030.

READ MORE HERE

New Geologic Map Unveils Port Ludlow's Underground

Aspect Staff Geologist Jesse Favia is a co-author of the recently published geologic map of the Port Ludlow area in Kitsap and Jefferson Counties. The map—officially the Geologic Map of the Port Ludlow and southern half of the Hansville 7.5-minute quadrangles, Kitsap and Jefferson Counties, Washington, Map Series 2015-02 by M. Polenz, J. G. Favia, I. J. Hubert, G. L. Paulin, and R. Cakir— was a joint effort between the Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and the United States Geological Survey. Much like a dictionary is an official reference point for language, geologic maps are the official references in the field of geology, and it is thought an honor to have a hand in creating one.

Jesse worked on the map through an internship with Michael Polenz at DNR. They started in July of 2014, when Jesse, Michael, and Ian Hubert set out to map the quadrangle, which covers Port Ludlow and about 50 square miles around it that includes parts of Kitsap and Jefferson County. The group spent the summer exploring the land—sometimes in a truck on rural roads, sometimes on foot through the forest, sometimes by boat floating by bluffs on the coastline. They looked for cut banks and slopes, any place where soils were exposed and allow them a peek below the ground surface. Some days were slow; some days they’d stumble upon a huge exposure where the layers of soil deposits were clearly visible and they could easily take samples to date and analyze.

When fall arrived, Jesse spent from November 2014 to May 2015 in Olympia conducting the “mini science experiment” that would ultimately make the map. They ran lab tests on the approximately 200 soil samples they collected, worked with DNR’s editing section to display the deposits, and wrote the corresponding report.

The result of their efforts created an updated geologic map that will be used by everyone from government agencies to local engineering firms to inform them about what’s underground around Port Ludlow. 

Click image below for full resolution. 

Duwamish Alive!

Last Saturday morning, a small fleet of kayaks gathered on the shore at Seattle’s Terminal 107 Park, slipped into the Duwamish River, and spread out in search of garbage. Aspect’s Mark Bruce and Steve Germiat were aboard two of them as part of the Duwamish Alive! biannual restoration and cleanup event.

Mark, Steve, and other volunteers plucked 286 pounds of litter and debris from the river itself. A total of over 400 volunteers on land at other sites along the river cleared blackberry, knotweed, nightshade, and other invasive weeds from 18,870 square feet of restoration area and planted 40 plants, including 12 trees.

The cleanup was led by the Duwamish Alive Coalition, a collaboration between local nonprofits, municipalities, and businesses within the Duwamish River Watershed that work to preserve and enhance its ecological health. This was the 10th anniversary of the Duwamish Alive! restoration events. Aspect staff have participated since 2012.

We’re Gonna Need a Bigger Port

The Port of Tacoma is preparing to berth some of the biggest ships in the world. Container ships are quickly outgrowing the U.S. ports that serve them – a trend that shows no sign of slowing down. These enormous container ships enable liners, shippers, and cargo owners to ship more goods at a lower unit cost. The newest of these ultra-large container ships carry more than 18,000 TEUs (20-foot equivalent unit containers), significantly exceeding Panamax dimensions (i.e., the largest ones that can pass through the Panama Canal, about 4,000 TEUs in 1985 and about 12,500 TEUs planned in 2015). These ultra-large container ships currently serve only the Asia-Europe trade routes, and exceed the capacity of U.S. ports. The average size ship calling on U.S. ports is still below 6,000 TEUs, but California ports have begun berthing 12,000 to 14,000 TEU ships. The increasing size of these ships puts pressure on ports to remodel, and fast, or else lose business to a competing port. Ports need to modify their channels and piers to accommodate these behemoths and upgrade their infrastructure to quickly unload, stage, and transport these containers to the hinterlands. See the trend in Vessel size over time in the graphic below. 

Source: Sisson, M. (2013). “Impact and Opportunities from Global Change.” Presented at AAPA Facilities Engineering Seminar on November 6, 2013

The Port of Tacoma is redeveloping the Husky Terminal to allow the simultaneous berthing of two 18,000 TEU ultra-large container ships, which are about 1,300 feet long and 205 feet wide. This project involves the reconfiguration and construction of Pier 4 to align with Pier 3, creating a 2,954 feet long pier that can accommodate up to six 100-foot cranes capable of loading ships that are 24 containers wide. The project enables the Port of Tacoma to be one the first U.S. ports capable of berthing these ultra-large container ships, allowing the port to remain an economic engine for the Pacific Northwest.

Although a natural deep water port, this project involves the dredging of approximately 500,000 cubic yards of sediment, including about 45,000 cubic yards of tributyltin (TBT) contaminated sediment that will be dredged during Phase I of the project. TBT is a marine biocide that was commonly used in ship paint to kill mollusks, but is now globally banned. Aspect engineers Alan Noell and Tom Atkins worked with lead-engineering firm KPFF to evaluate TBT treatment technologies and to design a water treatment system capable of treating millions of gallons of TBT-contaminated dredge return water. Phase I of the project is currently underway with scheduled completion by April 2016, and soon after, the Port will move towards completing Phase II and begin berthing these ultra-large container ships. 

Welcome to Water Year 2016!

While the hydrologic cycle pays no heed to dates, hydrologists mark the start of the water year (WY) on October 1. The United States Geological Survey designates the start of the water year on this date, as it is typically in the lowest flow period of the year in the US, thus making things relatively quiet hydrologically.

WY 2015 is a good one to saying goodbye to in the Puget Sound region. A warm but normal precipitation winter resulted in incredibly low snowpack, followed by a long dry summer. Here’s the year-end water supply summary from Seattle Public Utilities. Check out the flat snowpack in the figure below and 4 months of almost no rain.

Please join us in giving a cold, wet and hopefully soon snowy welcome to WY 2016. Let’s give three cheers for WY 2016 being predicted to be NOT AS BAD as WY 2015!

And may the Pacific Decadal Oscillation and El Nino/Southern Oscillation (PDO/ENSO) cycle be ever in your favor!

Walking and Talking the Seawall

One way Aspect encourages cross-pollination of ideas across the company is our monthly firm-wide “Technical Exchanges”. One part deep-dive into the technical challenges that face our clients and one part team-building opportunity, these meetings give us a chance to gather and talk shop with colleagues. September’s exchange was led by Principal Geotechnical Engineer Henry Haselton, who covered the history, design, and current status of the Seattle Seawall replacement project. Prior to his position at Aspect, Henry served as the deputy Project Manager during the planning and preliminary design stages of the Seawall from 2009 to 2013. 

As the largest infrastructure project in Seattle’s history, this massive undertaking is striving to protect the “front porch” of Seattle. Henry’s presentation covered both the history of the original Seawall and the design and ongoing construction of the current one.

The original seawall was built between 1916 and 1934, mostly supported by wooden piles. This timber was all that stood between the waterfront and Puget Sound. As the years progressed, it was in increasing need of repair as sinkholes, tidal influences, waves, and marine foes like gribbles taking millions of tiny bites out of the wood took their toll. The 2001 Nisqually earthquake caused the adjacent Alaskan Way Viaduct to settle and increase pressure on the already stressed wall, thus spurring the City of Seattle to make seawall replacement a priority.

The new Seawall has a complex mix of pieces and players to coordinate: design and construction of a brand new earthquake-resistant seawall; navigating around a complicated lattice of preexisting in-water structures—including around 30,000 wood pilings—and utilities; enhancing marine habitat and environmental quality; and addressing public safety. They had to do this atop one of the busiest waterfronts in the country while managing and minimizing impact to tourism, businesses, roadways and bike/pedestrian passages—and taking into account concerns from a vocal roster of affected parties.

After Henry’s presentation, he took the Aspect crew on a walking tour to see the ongoing work. Here are a few of the project’s innovations we saw in action. 

Jet Grouting

Jet grouting is currently happening between Marion Street and Yesler Way, including the section in front of the ferry terminal. Jet grouting can effectively improve ground around obstructions like utilities, sewer outfalls, and the some 30,000 piles that are still in place from previous waterfront structures. 

Freeze Walls

Freeze walls minimize the groundwater entering the construction area by literally freezing the soil. They require a large amount of refrigeration—hence the frost that gathers around the pipes. 

Fish-Friendly Corridor

This corridor will one day be traveled by fish making their way through Elliott Bay. Young salmonids thrive in shallow waters with minimal light contrasts. The corridor will direct them into these friendlier waters separate from the deeper, darker Elliott Bay. Bumps and grooves on the inside wall are conducive to algae growth, so the fish can stop and snack during their trip. The small “speed bump” in the middle of the picture above accommodates the University Street Combined Sewer Outfall. 

Light Penetrating Surfaces

Closer to the Seattle Aquarium, the new seawall is in place and the sidewalks are already in use. These little windows in the waterfront promenade will allow sunlight to reach the young salmonids and other marine life in the fish corridor below. 

Learn more about the project's background, current status, and next steps at Waterfront Seattle. 

Powering the New South Lake Union Substation

Laying the Groundwork – Enabling Development

Seattle City Light's Denny Substation near South Lake Union is approaching the final phase of design—and oh what a beautiful design it is. The proposed multi-use structure is a sleek, modern building that speaks to the neighborhood’s evolution from its industrial past to its tech-friendly present—with a walking loop, art installations, and interpretive features about the electrical substation housed inside. Rising above it all will be a sculpture that fuses a transmission tower with an old growth tree.

From property acquisition through preliminary design – Aspect has played a part in this exciting transformation of our City’s newest lakefront neighborhood. Our environmental scientists and geotechnical engineers supported the due diligence phase of the project to vet the former Greyhound Bus Maintenance site and successfully acquire the property. We then provided remediation, geotechnical design and dewatering design services to prep the site for construction, and are currently performing remediation and construction oversight and support of the substation design.

Take a tour of the station in Stephen Fesler's article in the "Urbanist," in which he explains, "In a world that's often become too focused on utility over design and context, Seattle City Light shows that things can be done differently."

A Geologist's Thoughts on the Pacific Northwest Mega-Quake Story

As the aftershocks of Kathryn Schulz’s article The Really Big One in The New Yorker continue to reverberate across western Washington, Aspect is fielding questions from concerned family members, friends, and clients. Will everything west of I-5 really be “toast”? Should I be worried about a landslide on the hill in my backyard? Is my house going to hold up against a 9.0 quake?

Read More

Geology Field Trip!

More than 30 members of Aspect’s technical staff participated in a regional geology workshop. The workshop was led by Puget Lowland geology guru Kathy Troost of the University of Washington and Troost Geosciences.  Friday morning was devoted to lectures and discussion of the geology of the area, and in the afternoon participants got their hands dirty practicing identifying and classifying samples of local soils. Saturday, Ms. Troost led the group to the classic field locations for regional geology: Alki Point, Mee-Kwa-Mooks Park,  Herrings’s House Park on the Duwamish, Discovery Park, and ended with an overview at Kerry Park on Queen Anne. 

Water!

The Aspect sponsored Vuelta Grande water project in Guatemala was completed last week with water lines installed to approximately 40 homes.  For homes located at higher elevation above the water line several additional taps were installed and community pilas built. 

Aspect funded this project through making, donating, and giving each other items and experiences. See our previous post about the project.

For more information on water supply projects in the mountain villages of Guatemala, visit: http://www.handsforpeacemaking.org/clean-water

Seahawks 2014 Superbowl Parade!

View From Second and Jackson

9-10 am: Crowds gathering

We are hunkered down here . . .hope we have enough provisions to see us through the day . . . ‘cuz if we go out, it’ll be hard to get back  . . . cell service spotty at best . . .

11-12 am: Waiting for the parade
It's not a seahawk or any bird perched right outside the window . . .

12-1 pm: Still waiting . . .
View from the roof . . .

1-2 pm: More waiting . . .
still no sign of live Seahawks – or a parade . . . crowd thickens . . . inside watchers get restless waiting . . .

1-2 pm: Everyone loves a parade . . .

2-3 pm: After the parade has passed . . .View to 2nd and Jackson

A Gift of Water

43 families in the small mountain village of Vuelta Grande in northwest Guatemala will turn a tap and have water pour from a faucet in their home for the first time.  In the spirit of holiday giving, Aspect funded both the pipeline from a spring source into the village, and pipes and spigots in each home.

At the annual company holiday party, staff contributed to the project by buying raffle tickets for themselves or as a thank you to a fellow worker. Lucky raffle winners went home with Aspect staff-made gifts and experiences including mountain cabin weekends, a waffle breakfast at work, private yoga instruction, knit caps, bicycle tours of Skagit Valley or Vashon Island, a watercolor painting or an oil change.

For more information on water supply projects in the mountain villages of Guatemala visit: http://www.handsforpeacemaking.org/clean-water

Earth Day 2013: Mulching for the Duwamish

Workdays Aspect is focused on environmental restoration and protection of our region’s earth and water. But our environmental and community engagement doesn’t end Friday at 5. Environmental stewardship permeates our off-hours –- as it did on a recent Saturday when Aspect staff shouldered shovels and pitchforks for a Duwamish Alive!-sponsored Earth Day project at T-107 / Herring’s House Parks.

Joining 95+ fellow volunteers from Women in Environment (WIE), Boeing, Microsoft, Starbucks, and other groups, Aspect helped remove sod and spread mulch to prepare park areas for the installation of native plants. The two lower Duwamish shoreline areas provide public access at one of the last oxbows remaining from the original river. The historic marsh/channel previously had been filled and developed as an industrial site, but restoration in the early 2000s removed industrial debris and contaminated soil, and restored intertidal habitat.

The 13,000 square feet (sf) of invasive plants removed, 8,000 sf mulched, and 125 native plants installed for Earth Day by Aspect and others will help maintain this section of the restored river for years. The 13 bug bites, 8 blisters, 4 bruises and 2 sore backs on Aspect staff healed in days.

Celebrating Summer with Service

August 3, 2012.

Aspect again celebrated summer by combining our annual picnic/bbq with civic service. This year we sent volunteer crews out to two projects. Our beach crew worked with Puget Sound Restoration Fund sorting oysters growing on the organization’s Bainbridge Island community shellfish farm.

Our trail crew built a boardwalk at Heritage Park in Kingston to finish trail work we had first undertaken at our 2010 summer event.

With dogged perseverance under the midday sun, Aspect volunteers had the shellfish sorted and back in their grow bags well before the high tide came in to cover the farm area.

Meanwhile, the trail crew overcame creative differences in design to construct 50’ feet of 6-foot wide boardwalk over a streambed to replace a muddy section of the trail.

After successful completion of the projects, both groups convened in a backyard overlooking the Sound for a summer bbq of lobster, tri-tip, and (of course) fresh oysters.