PACIFIC NORTHWEST EDITION
A Supplement to:
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September 22 2024 Vol. VIII • No. 19
“The Nation’s Best Read Construction Newspaper… Founded in 1957.” Your Pacific Northwest Connection – Sharon Swanson – 1-760-518-4336 – sswanson@cegltd.com
Oregon’s $52.7M Jetty Repair Project Features Customized Excavator Lori Tobias CEG CORRESPONDENT
The town of Tillamook, Ore., is perhaps best known for its famous cheese, but around construction sites these days, it’s known for the excavator at work on the $52.7 million Tillamook South Jetty repair project. The customized excavator is believed to be one of just two in the world. “They’re unlike any excavators anywhere in the world,” said Colter Bennett, lead engineer of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Portland District. “The contractor is likely to use a Cat 6020. That’s a large excavator, classified as a hydraulic shovel. The contractor then gets the full front end — meaning the boom, the stick, the bucket and the thumb — customdesigned to have a longer reach capacity than the default
The CAT 6020 repairs a jetty.
configuration. They weigh about 560,000 lbs. and cost about $5 to $6 million. I’m sure there are hundreds of Cat 6020s in default configuration, but configured this way, they’re only two and they’re both in Oregon.” The Tillamook South Jetty is about 50 miles south of the Columbia River and one of two jetties at the entrance of the Tillamook Bay leading to the Pacific Ocean. The north jetty was built in 1914; the south jetty was built more than 50 years later, with work beginning in 1969. It was finished at its full length of 8,025 ft. in 1979. A jetty is designed to smooth the water at the bay entrance and to push river sediment into deeper water so it is easier and safer for boats to navigate. A jetty has a root — the place where it is tied to the land on at least one side; the trunk, where there is water on both sides; and the head, the large feature on the terminus of the jetty. see JETTY page 8
WSDOT Awards Third SR 167 Contract The future 6-mi. State Route 167 Expressway in north Pierce County is one step closer to completion as the Washington State Department of Transportation awarded the third of four contracts to build the tolled expressway. The contract was awarded to Guy F. Atkinson Inc. on Aug. 29, 2024, for $177.7 million, $8.7 million below the WSDOT engineering estimate. This is A rendering of the new SR 167/I-5 interchange to be the third SR 167 project contract awardbuilt in place of the now-closed 70th Avenue East ed to Atkinson. “Atkinson has been a great partner Bridge in Fife, Wash.
for us on previous stages of construction,” Puget Sound Gateway Program Administrator John White said. “We look forward to continuing to work together to build the new expressway and multi-modal improvements that will provide all travelers with more options.” In the third phase, Atkinson crews will widen SR 167 from SR 161/North Meridian Avenue in Puyallup to SR 410 near Sumner. Construction is set to begin in 2025 and finish in 2027. Work
includes: • A new diverging diamond interchange at SR 161/North Meridian Avenue • A new bridge over SR 161/North Meridian Avenue • A new bridge over Milwaukee Avenue East • Construction of a portion of the 12mile spuyaləpabš Trail (formerly known as the Tacoma to Puyallup Regional Trail). see SR 167 page 4