PACIFIC NORTHWEST EDITION
A Supplement to:
®
August 7 2016 Vol. I • No. 16
“The Nation’s Best Read Construction Newspaper… Founded in 1957.” Your Pacific Northwest Connection – Patrick Kiel – 1-877-7CEGLTD – pkiel@cegltd.com
State Police, Officials Break Ground on Oregon’s Fallen Trooper Memorial
Excavators lower part of a turnout track near Nisqually as part of the new route trains will use in and out of Tacoma.
The memorial will feature a black basalt wall with the names of fallen troopers. In the center will be a map of Oregon with stars showing where each death occurred. An unfinished column will be placed in the middle to symbolize troopers who will never be able to finish their job.
By Lori Tobias CEG CORRESPONDENT
After five years of planning and fundraising, crews broke ground on June 14 in Salem for the Oregon State Police Fallen Troopers Memorial. The memorial will honor 33 Oregon State Police officers who lost their lives in the line of duty. “This is the most in-the-line-ofduty deaths of any law enforcement agency in the state of Oregon,” said OSP Lt. Cari Boyd, president of the committee charged with raising the $235,000 to fund the memorial. The memorial was inspired by the loss of the life of Senior Trooper William Hakim, who was killed in 2008 in a bomb explosion, Boyd said. At the time of his death, there
was a plaque outside the OSP headquarters honoring fallen troopers, but Hakim’s name could not be placed on the plaque because there was no room. “At the time, superintendent Tim McLain thought this was a huge injustice that Senior Trooper Bill Hakim could not be brought home,” Boyd told the gathering at the Flag Day groundbreaking. “He thought of the vision of having the foundation, and building this memorial to honor our fallen troopers. This memorial will show the dedication and honor our fallen troopers that have paid the ultimate sacrifice. Millions of people will get to see it every year as they come and visit the capital.” The memorial will feature a black
WSDOT, Tacoma VIPs Celebrate Station Construction Kickoff
basalt wall with the names of fallen troopers. In the center will be a map of Oregon with stars showing where each death occurred. An unfinished column will be placed in the middle to symbolize troopers who will never be able to finish their job. “We are so proud to be a part of this,” said Gene Bolante, lead architect at Studio 3 Architecture, designers of the memorial. White Oak Construction, based in Salem, was selected to construct the memorial. The memorial is unique in part because it is being built out of locally sourced materials, and it may be the only one of its kind, said White Oak Construction project manager Dan Wellert. “I’m not aware of anything that is
City, state and railroad officials celebrated the start of construction of the new Amtrak Cascades station in Tacoma’s Freighthouse Square with a construction kickoff ceremony on July 13. The 100,000-sq.-ft. (9,290 sq m) station will be a new structure that replaces an existing portion of the historic Freighthouse Square building. It is adjacent to Sound Transit’s Sounder station in the building and across the street from the Pierce Transit Tacoma Dome Station. The ceremony celebrates the station’s construction and a new era in train travel. The station was designed to align with ongoing transit-oriented development within Tacoma’s Dome District, aimed at further developing the area as a vibrant transit hub that includes retail and residential spaces. The ceremony will include speakers from Tacoma and the Washington State Department of Transportation, as well as congressional and community representatives. “This is an important milestone for Washington’s high-speed rail program and the city of Tacoma,” said Ron Pate, director of WSDOT’s Rail, Freight and Ports Division. “This station helps improve passenger train travel throughout the Amtrak Cascades corridor and we’re pleased to celebrate with community and state officials.”
see OSP page 12
see WSDOT page 13