Tim Newcomb

Tim Newcomb is a newspaper and magazine journalist based in Western Washington, covering design and construction in buildings and transportation around the Northwest.

Best Projects

Project of the Year: CalPlant Is World’s First Rice Waste to MDF Site

The plant refines waste rice straw fibers, which have the same properties as typical wood-based MDF fibers but without added chemicals

Tim Newcomb

September 27, 2021

No Comments

The key new construction industry product resulted from a two-decade engineering push that culminated with a green manufacturing facility in Willows, Calif., a small town in the heart of the Sacramento Valley.

Sound Transit Light Rail To Open Seattle Extension With Two Underground Stations

Tim Newcomb

September 22, 2021

No Comments

Northgate Link Extension is set for Oct. 2 opening as part of Puget Sound light rail expansion.

Federal Construction

Missing Link Propels $17B Bechtel Cleanup Complex Toward Startup

Tim Newcomb

August 23, 2021

One Comment

Crews finish 3,500-ft pipeline at federal Hanford site to move long-buried radioactive wastes to giant treatment plant 20 years in the making, with no DOE update on status of big operations contract award

MudHoney TBM Launches in Seattle

Tim Newcomb

August 17, 2021

No Comments

The Seattle tunnel-boring machine dubbed MudHoney has launched to create a combined sewer outflow tunnel.

Dam Relicense Effort in Washington State Met With Local Resistance

Tim Newcomb

July 23, 2021

One Comment

Local groups dispute the impact of the dams on salmon spawning.

Mass Timber Roof Tops Portland Airport Core

The airport’s $2-billion makeover tops off with a locally sourced, 18-million-lb mass timber roof

Tim Newcomb

July 12, 2021

3 Comments

Nearly every aspect of Portland International Airport is getting a redo as the $2-billion PDX Next project redevelops or expands two concourses, adds parking, updates operations and features a core terminal redevelopment.

Jobsite Fatality

Construction Worker Killed on SR 520 Highway Site in Seattle

Tim Newcomb

June 3, 2021

No Comments

Worker, whose identity and jobsite role were not disclosed, died on State Route 520 Montlake Phase project after being pinned between a semi-truck flatbed and an 11,000-lb steel beam.

Energy

Jacobs Team Beats Four Others for $6.4B DOE Cleanup Contract in Idaho

Tim Newcomb

May 28, 2021

No Comments

Firms will secure 10-year contract to manage nuclear waste cleanup and storage at Idaho National Lab and Fort St. Vrain waste site in Colorado.

Washington State Convention Center in Seattle under construction

Digging Deeper | Convention Center

Addition Pulls Daylight Into Convention Center

Unique horizontal building process speeds up work on key addition to the Washington State Convention Center in Seattle

Tim Newcomb

May 26, 2021

No Comments

The $1.2-billion contract to build a separate addition to Seattle’s Washington State Convention Center has required crews to work under an active downtown street, build components while hanging over sidewalks and the freeway, create fresh approaches to bringing natural light into the building and employ a billboarding construction method to keep everything on schedule.

Seattle to Mitigate Bottleneck With I-5 Widening

Tim Newcomb

May 18, 2021

No Comments

Construction will start in downtown Seattle on May 24 to lessen the state's worst highway congestion.

5 Proven Strategies to Mitigate Risk and Keep Data Center Construction on Track

Data center construction comes with tight deadlines and little room for error. Between supply chain disruptions, labor shortages, and unexpected risks, staying on schedule and on budget requires a proactive approach. We'll break down five proven strategies that top data center teams use to identify and mitigate risks before they escalate.

Tim Newcomb

ARTICLES

Project of the Year: CalPlant Is World’s First Rice Waste to MDF Site

Sound Transit Light Rail To Open Seattle Extension With Two Underground Stations

Missing Link Propels $17B Bechtel Cleanup Complex Toward Startup

MudHoney TBM Launches in Seattle

Dam Relicense Effort in Washington State Met With Local Resistance

Mass Timber Roof Tops Portland Airport Core

Construction Worker Killed on SR 520 Highway Site in Seattle

Jacobs Team Beats Four Others for $6.4B DOE Cleanup Contract in Idaho

Addition Pulls Daylight Into Convention Center

Seattle to Mitigate Bottleneck With I-5 Widening

2025 ENR Award of Excellence: Mark Pestrella Acceptance Speech

N.C. Brewery Defies Weather Challenges.

ENR 2024 Global Best Projects Awards Program

Custom-Engineered Daylighting. Single-Source Structures.

Award of Excellence Winner Mark Pestrella: Public Service Savant Leads in Time of Crisis

Clay Paslay on Executive Program Management for Airports

The latest news and information

#1 Source for Construction News, Data, Rankings, Analysis, and Commentary