Photo Courtesy Sprague Theobald Russian trawler near Greenland finds ample open water in a formerly ice-bound channel. Video by Sprague Theobald Related Links: Foss Maritime The Port of Seattle this winter has been locked in a discussion about oil drilling in the Arctic after approving a short-term lease with Foss Maritime, whose clients include Royal Dutch Shell PLC, to use part of Terminal 5 to stage marine vessels.The agreement with Foss opens up the port to housing ships planned for Arctic oil-drilling exploration, environmental groups say.THEOBALDSprague Theobald, a two-time Emmy award-winning documentary filmmaker and expert sailor, has voyaged through the
Photo Courtesy of WSDOT Settlement of more than an inch has hampered excavation efforts to rescue TBM Bertha. Enlarge Related Links: Divers Searching for Way To Get TBM 'Bertha' Moving Again Seattle Tunneling Behemoth Bertha Awaits Repairs to Bearing Seals Differential settlement of more than an inch has temporarily shut down efforts on the already-stalled Alaskan Way Viaduct project under downtown Seattle. Excavation had been underway on an access pit that was designed to repair "Bertha," the stuck tunnel-boring machine (TBM), as crews continue to monitor the movement on surrounding buildings.The 57.5-ft-dia machine has been stuck since December 2013, just
Rendering Courtesy of Bend Park and Recreation District The project in Oregon will construct a safe-passage channel (top), white-water channel (center) and habitat channel (bottom). Related Links: Creative Dam Removal Based On Site's Unique Topography Elwha River Restoration Project Involves Largest Dam Removal Effort in U.S. History A dam upgrade in Bend, Ore., will provide three distinct river channels, all engineered to match differing—and often competing—needs.As part of an upgrade to the Deschutes River at the Colorado Dam, the Bend Park & Recreation District hired engineer Otak and contractor Hamilton Construction to turn some 500 ft of in-city river into
Related Links: Whooshh Pneumatic Fish Handling System Features VIDEO: John Oliver Discovers the Salmon Cannon (Youtube) Volitional fish Entry Feasibiliity Study Wild and hatchery-spawned fish are commingled in this fall's Chinook salmon run on the Washougal River in southwestern Washington state. The state Dept. of Fish and Wildlife wants them separated and has turned to an engineered solution for help.Whooshh Innovations, Bellevue, Wash., is trapping migrating salmon, manually culling marked ones from hatcheries and, from the river, shooting them live through a pneumatic tube, up a high bank and into tanker trucks. The peak so far is 400 fish a
Photo courtesy Samson Manitowoc partnered with Samson to design the first-ever synthetic hoist rope for mobile cranes. Photo courtesy Manitowoc The material costs about twice that of conventional wire rope but weighs 80% less, enabling cranes to do more while making rigging easier on the ground. Related Links: Wire Rope Does Double Duty at Orangutan Center New Rigging App Works as Load-Capacity Reference Because wire rope can be heavy and bulky and often spins under load, Mike Herbert, Manitowoc Inc.'s global product director for rough-terrain cranes, has long sought an alternative. Even with rotation-resistant designs, conventional wire rope produces some
Related Links: Wash. State Tackling Issues in NTSB's Skagit Bridge-Collapse Report Fast-Track Replacement Planned For Collapsed Skagit River Bridge The National Transportation Safety Board says a distracted pilot driver speaking on a hands-free cellular phone, inadequate clearance signage and a trucker unaware of lane rules share the blame for the span collapse of Washington's Skagit River bridge last year.The state's automated oversize-load permitting system also needs updating, says the NTSB's report on the May 23, 2013, incident, in which a truck hauling an oversize load struck the Interstate 5 Skagit River bridge, causing a span to collapse 38 ft into
Photo Coutesy Grant County Public Utility district Crew bores pilot hole in preparation for steel-strand tendons that will be anchored in bedrock. Related Links: Varied Approaches Wring New Power from Waters Feds OK Redesign To Boost Migrating Salmon Survival Early this year, workers at the Wanapum Dam in central Washington state discovered that a 50-year-old mathematical error, made during dam design, had caused a 65-ft-long fracture.The 8,367-ft-long Wanapum Dam, six miles downstream of Vantage, Wash., generates 1,092 MW of power.On Feb. 24, a hydroelectric mechanic walking the small road on the dam's spillway deck noticed a bowed curb, says Thomas
WSDOT Bertha's shield, pictured during assembly in Seattle in the summer of 2013. WSDOT Bertha's cutter head, pictured here prior to assembly in summer 2013, will be augmented by an improved main bearing and more robust seals, which repair crews will install this summer, according to the contractor. Related Links: Seattle Tunneling Behemoth Bertha Awaits Repairs to Bearing Seals Divers Searching for Way To Get TBM 'Bertha' Moving Again There will be no tunneling in 2014 of the new state Route 99 under downtown Seattle. The latest repair schedule, released on April 21, for North America’s largest tunnel-boring machine, dubbed
Photo Courtesy of kiewit Nicaraguan bridge marks a big firm's first foray with Bridges to Prosperity. Related Links: Bridges to Prosperity partner list Volunteers Building Other Critical Bridges Kiewit Corp. has joined a growing list of major engineering and construction firms volunteering with the group Bridges to Prosperity. Earlier this year, Kiewit completed its first project, a week-long effort to construct a steel-and- wood-deck suspension bridge 115 ft—with tower heights of 25 ft—across the El Limón River in Nicaragua.Kiewit isn't alone. Both CH2M Hill and PCL will volunteer for their first projects this year, while existing industry partners, such as
Photo courtesy of Washington state DOT Slide Zone Slope above the Stillagaumish River had been timbered several times, which weakened soil stability. Related Links: Lidar Mapping Offers Exacting Detail, a Better Landslide Awareness Tool Landslide Mitigation Measures Fail To Save Plan To Build Bypass Bridges in Oregon New unstable-slope rules, updated in 2011 by the Washington State Dept. of Natural Resources, and unheeded warnings about logging as far back as 1988, could not prevent the March 22 landslide near Oso nor keep victims out of its deadly path.The event has killed at least 24, with 22 missing, as of April
