8th Street Bridge Replacements and Corridor Study
City of Port Angeles
Port Angeles, Washington
Exeltech provided alternatives analysis, bridge and roadway design, public involvement services, and environmental documentation and permitting for the replacement of two timber-trestle bridges eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. Exeltech’s highly coordinated efforts kept the stakeholders informed and minimized impacts to the community, resulting in this project becoming a tremendous source of community pride.
Two structurally deficient timber-trestle bridges spanned Valley Creek and Tumwater Creek on the heavily traveled 8th Street corridor through the center of Port Angeles. With limited funding available, the City needed two new bridges, ideally highlighting this gateway corridor while minimizing impacts to the community, particularly the residents living on a virtual island between the two bridges. Exeltech’s design mitigated cost impacts to the City and simplified and standardized construction when material prices were at their highest. Through careful consideration of site constraints, constructability, and construction phasing, Exeltech was able to create an identical bridge design for both locations, saving considerable design efforts and lowering the construction cost. The two new 758-foot-long, five-span precast prestressed concrete girders avoided the environmentally sensitive creeks and spanned a city street, state highway, and existing utilities, while providing an aesthetically pleasing, cost-effective structure.
The project required extensive roadway, drainage, and streetscape design. Exeltech provided preliminary evaluation of the entire 8th Street corridor between C Street and Race Street, determined right of way, developed channelization plans, and designed 1,550 feet of roadway improvements and improved bridge approaches to the existing city cross-streets, as well as bike lanes, sidewalks, channelization, streetscape design, and paving; innovative and sustainable LID stormwater solutions; utility relocation and coordination; illumination; and signing.
Environmental analysis included NEPA Documented Categorical Exclusion and SEPA Mitigated DNS for approval by the City, WSDOT, and FHWA. Environmental monitoring during construction ensured compliance with regulatory commitments including Endangered Species Act Section 404 permit, Hydraulic Project Approval, and programmatic agreements concerning cultural resources with the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe. Exeltech prepared the wetland mitigation and riparian restoration plan in accordance with US Army Corps of Engineers requirements and Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan pursuant to the NPDES construction stormwater permit.
The largest challenges on this project were posed during construction. Extensive coordination and planning was required to ensure safe, successful delivery of the 155-foot girders from Tacoma to Port Angeles and demolition of the existing structures.
The project was awarded the 2011 ACEC National Silver Award (Transportation) and was ranked No. 8 of the nation’s top ten bridge projects for 2008 by Roads and Bridges magazine.
2011 ACEC National Silver Award - Transportation
Top 10 Bridge Projects of 2008: Roads and Bridges magazine