Pacific Northwest 1, January 1, 2023

Pacific Pile & Marine Demolishes Pier 63 at Waterfront

Construction crews from Pacific Pile & Marine LP and the Office of the Waterfront & Civic Projects have reached an important milestone on the $728 million Waterfront Seattle initiative: the removal of Pier 63.

For the last several months, crews and equipment operators have been working to permanently remove the pier. To accomplish this goal, approximately 50,000 sq. ft. of decking and 894 creosote-treated timber piles were removed.

“We often speak about all the waterfront improvements focused on all the people who walk and roll, but we are equally excited to be building a more welcoming waterfront for our local fish communities to thrive,” said Angela Brady, Waterfront Seattle program director. “The removal of Pier 63 layers upon other program work to enhance the salmon migration corridor.”

Pier 63 was closed in 2017 due to safety concerns and the city has no plans to replace it. Now that it is no longer casting a shadow over the marine habitat below, more plant life will grow, improving nearshore habitat for salmon and other marine life.

In addition to allowing for more light to penetrate through the water at Pier 63, the city also laid down varying sizes of rock sediments to create shallow water habitat next to the seawall in multiple locations to make the area more hospitable for marine life.

Pier 62, the adjacent pier to Pier 63, was rebuilt and opened to the public in 2020. Friends of Waterfront Seattle has been hosting programming and events on Pier 62 ever since, already welcoming more than 600,000 people so far.

Pacific Pile & Marine LP and the Office of the Waterfront & Civic Projects have reached an important milestone on the $728 million Waterfront Seattle initiative: the removal of Pier 63.

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Officials Laud Oregon’s New Truck-to-Rail Shipping Facility

A group of proud ribbon-cutters gathered between two shipping containers to mark the grand opening — and completion — of the Mid-Willamette Valley Intermodal Center recently in Millersburg, a small community in the heart of western Oregon’s agricultural country.

Nearly 200 supporters attended the celebration for the project, which will serve as an intermodal center for the valley’s natural resource-based economy. Trucks will bring cargo in international containers to the facility so it can be transferred to rail cars, which then head north to marine terminals in Seattle and Tacoma — bypassing busy Interstate 5 congestion along the way.

ODOT's Connect Oregon program provides funding for non-highway projects that bring multiple benefits to an area. The $35.5 million, 64-acre Mid-Willamette Valley Intermodal Center will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by taking trucks off the roadways and using rail instead. It will give farmers and others another option for getting goods to market and may reduce shipping costs, while also giving the local economy a boost with potential for new businesses and services.

“In 2017, we chose four projects to receive ODOT's Connect Oregon funding, based on the multiple benefits these projects would bring us,” Gov. Kate Brown said. “I’m proud to say we made a great choice — the right choice. Working together, we have created a success we can all be proud of.”

Several guest speakers shared their perspectives, including Roger Nyquist, Linn County commissioner and board vice chair of the Linn County Economic Development Group, which led the way in getting support for the project.

“Our region has a long history of producing products that are beneficial to people around the world — from two-by-fours to the food people put on their dinner plates,”

Nyquist said. “This intermodal facility ensures the products will have ample transportation access to those markets long into the future.”

Nyquist added, “We are grateful to all involved who have helped make this happen. I want to thank Governor Brown and former State Rep. Andy Olson for their leadership in making this project a reality.”

ODOT Director Kris Strickler added his congratulations and emphasized the unique aspects of the project.

“We’ve never developed a major freight intermodal transfer hub. Connect Oregon has never taken a site used for something else and turned it into a non-highway-funded transportation facility,” Strickler said. “I’m particularly proud of this project because of what it demonstrates: that the public and private sectors can do great things when we

work together for good,” Nyquist said.

ConGlobal is the terminal operator at the new center and CEO Brandt Ring credited the array of partners involved for completing the project.

“Our team of experts at ConGlobal has enjoyed working with the team that planned, designed and built the Mid-Willamette Valley Intermodal Center,” Ring said. “The end result is a facility with exceptional capabilities.”

Ryan Calkins, co-chair of The Northwest Seaport Alliance, noted his organization is ready to support operations.

“The Northwest Seaport Alliance is glad to partner with the Union Pacific Railroad, ConGlobal and Linn Economic Development Group to support the Intermodal Center and rail service, which will move exports through marine terminals in Seattle and Tacoma to overseas markets,” said Calkins. “We are excited for the launch of this new export initiative and for the economic benefit it will bring to both Oregon and Washington state.”

Mid-Willamette Valley Intermodal Center customers through our innovative freight rail franchise,” he said. “Moving MidWillamette Valley products by rail will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and prevent further congestion on Oregon and Washington highways.”

Hunt added, “Freight railroads account for 40 percent of U.S. long-distance freight volume — more than any other mode of transportation. Yet they account for just 0.5 percent of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, according to EPA data, and just 1.9 percent of transportation-related greenhouse gas emissions.”

Much of the celebration focused on recognizing the many partner groups and individuals who helped get the facility ready to serve.

“The project team wishes to thank the public and all companies involved in completing construction of this site,” said Don Waddell, executive director and project manager of Linn Economic Development Group. “The team now shifts its focus to successfully beginning operations to achieve the expected public and economic benefits of the MVIC.”

Potential shippers using the facility include Karla Chambers and her family’s company, Stahlbush Island Farms Inc. Chambers spoke at the ribbon-cutting and emphasized how important the facility is going to be.

Freight railroads account for 40 percent of U.S. long-distance freight volume — more than any other mode of transportation. Yet, they account for just 0.5 percent of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, according to EPA data.

Aaron Hunt, senior director of public affairs of Union Pacific, commented on the many benefits the project will bring.

“Union Pacific looks forward to serving

“The vision for this project was to make exporters and importers more cost- and equipment-efficient; to get trucks and freight out of Portland traffic; and to be more competitive moving freight to the Midwest and East Coast U.S. buyers,” Chambers said. “This rail facility will also help us as we experience high diesel costs and truck driver and labor shortages.”

(All photos courtesy of ODOT.)

The $35.5 million, 64-acre Mid-Willamette Valley Intermodal Center will serve as a center for the valley’s natural resource-based economy. Trucks will bring cargo in international containers to the facility so it can be transferred to rail cars, which then head north to marine terminals in Seattle and Tacoma — bypassing busy Interstate 5 congestion along the way

Nearly 200 supporters attended the celebration for the project, which will serve as an intermodal center for the valley’s natural resource-based economy.

Officials Approve World’s Largest Demolition Plan in History

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) U.S. regulators approved a plan to demolish four dams on a California river and open up hundreds of miles of salmon habitat that would be the largest dam removal and river restoration project in the world when it goes forward.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s unanimous vote on the lower Klamath River dams is the last major regulatory hurdle and the biggest milestone for a $500 million demolition proposal championed by Native American tribes and environmentalists for years. The project would return the lower half of California’s second-largest river to a free-flowing state for the first time in more than a century.

Native tribes that rely on the Klamath River and its salmon for their way of life have been a driving force behind bringing the dams down in a wild and remote area that spans the California and Oregon border. Barring any unforeseen complications, Oregon, California and the entity formed to oversee the project will accept the license transfer and could begin dam removal as early as this summer, proponents said.

“The Klamath salmon are coming home,” Yurok Chairman Joseph James said after the vote. “The people have earned this victory and with it, we carry on our sacred duty to the fish that have sustained our people since the beginning of time.”

The dams produce less than 2 percent of PacifiCorp’s power generation — enough to power about 70,000 homes — when they are running at full capacity, said Bob Gravely, spokesperson of the utility. But they often run at a far lower capacity because of low water in the river and other issues, and the agreement that paved the way for the vote was ulti-

mately a business decision, he said.

PacifiCorp would have had to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in fish ladders, fish screens and other conservation upgrades under environmental regulations that were not in place when the aging dams were first built. But with the deal approved, the utility’s cost is capped at $200 million, with another $250 million from a California voter-approved water bond.

“We’re closing coal plants and building wind farms and it all just has to add up in the end,” he said of the demolition. “It’s not a one-to-one. You can make up that power by the way you operate the rest of your facilities or having energy efficiency savings so your customers are using less.”

Approval of the order to surrender the dams’ operating license is the bedrock of the most ambitious salmon restoration plan in history and the project’s scope — measured by the number of dams and the amount of river habitat that would reopen to salmon — makes it the largest of its kind in the world, said Amy Souers Kober, spokesperson of American Rivers, which monitors dam removals and advocates for river restoration.

More than 300 mi. of salmon habitat in the Klamath River and its tributaries would benefit, she said.

The decision is in line with a trend toward removing aging and outdated dams across the U.S. as they come up for license renewal and confront the same government-mandated upgrade costs as the Klamath River dams would have had.

Across the U.S., 1,951 dams have been demolished as of February, including 57 in 2021, American Rivers said. Most of those have come down in the past 25 years as facilities age and come up for relicensing.

Commissioners called the decision “momentous” and “historic” and spoke of the importance of taking the action during National Native American Heritage Month because of its importance to restoring salmon and reviving the river that is at the heart of the culture of several tribes in the region. 

(All photos courtesy of Facebook/Caltrans.)

ITD’s ICONIC Program Looking for Construction Workers

Of

ITD’s workforce development program ICONIC (Idaho Career Opportunities — Next In Construction) is seeking the next batch of construction operators to take part in a month-long training in Lewiston this spring. Heavy equipment operators, cement masons, carpenters, truck drivers

and mechanics are some of the main skills that are taught during the course.

Of the 105 class graduates in the past few years, 80 percent have found careers in the highway construction trades within 45 days of course completion. On average in Idaho, the starting wages in the

construction industry is typically around $40,000. Having experience in a construction trade can increase your annual earning by at least 20 percent.

The Lewiston training course, available to 20 people, will take place from April 17 to May 19. Although the class will be held in

On average in Idaho, the starting wages in the construction industry is typically around $40,000. Having experience in a construction trade can increase your annual earning by at least 20 percent.

Lewiston, enrollment is available to anyone statewide who meets the criteria — at least 18 years of age, having a valid driver’s license and able to pass a drug test. ITD also offers housing assistance to those coming from out of the region.

For more information, contact ITD’s Office of Civil Rights at

civilrights@itd.idaho.gov Call/text to 208/908-2190. For more information, visit https://itd.idaho.gov/wpcontent/uploads/2022/11/OJTBrouchure-2023.pdf

Transportation Department.)

(All photos courtesy of Idaho

The Lewiston training course, available to 20 people, will take place from April 17 to May 19.

the 105 class graduates in the past few years, 80 percent have found careers in the highway construction trades within 45 days of course completion.

Measured by the number of dams and the amount of river habitat that would reopen to salmon, this makes it the largest demolition of its kind in the world.

Crews Remove 50,000 Sq. Ft. of Decking, 894 Timber Piles

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These projects are part of the massive investment Seattle is making, a city plan to build a park promenade that began construction after removal of the Alaskan Way Viaduct, a double-decked, elevated freeway that carried a portion of State Route 99. It was demolished in 2019 as part of a multibillion-dollar tunnel replacement.

In addition to the pier work, Waterfront Seattle, which is scheduled to run through 2024, also includes construction of an elevated connection from Pike Place Market to the waterfront and improvements to the east-west connections between the city's downtown and Elliott Bay.

Pier 58 Construction

Construction began in the fall on the new Pier 58 on the Seattle waterfront two years after the old structure collapsed. Pacific Pile & Marine LP was awarded a $34.5 million contract in May 2022.

The former Pier 58, also known as Waterfront Park, was removed in spring 2021 after significant deterioration led to its collapse in September 2020. Two construction workers fell into the water and were injured during the incident.

Crews will remove the remaining piles and install new steel piles using a vibratory method. Finally, crews will build the bridge deck and a playground, among other features.

Pier 58 construction is expected to be completed in 2025.

Once finished, the new pier will feature a plaza and event space that can be used for concerts and other outside events, an elevated seating area, a lawn and a viewing area with views of the bay and the Olympic Mountains. The Fitzgerald Fountain will also be restored and integrated into the new pier. 

(All photos courtesy of Waterfront Seattle.)

PIER

In addition to allowing for more light to penetrate through the water at Pier 63, the city also laid down varying sizes of rock sediments to create shallow water habitat next to the seawall in multiple locations to make the area more hospitable for marine life.

To accomplish the removal, approximately 50,000 sq. ft. of decking and 894 creosote-treated timber piles were removed.

Pier 63 was closed in 2017 due to safety concerns and the city has no plans to replace it.