Bellevue Project Wins PCI Design Award

The Bellevue, Washington office was awarded first place in the Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute (PCI) Design Award program for Bridges with Spans between 65 and 135 Feet, for the Pacific Avenue Overpass for the City of Everett and Sound Transit.

Pacific Avenue Overcrossing is a 750-foot long, 8-span bridge combined with a 2-span 207-foot ramp to form an elevated intersection and railroad grade separation. The structures are constructed from 58 precast, prestressed & post-tensioned concrete tub-girders with a composite cast-in-place concrete deck meeting the demanding geometric, aesthetic, construction and economic requirements of a busy urban crossing.

As the prime engineering consultant for Pacific Avenue Overpass, MACTEC provided a Type, Size and Location (TS&L) report, plans, specifications & estimates (PS&E), and construction management of the downtown bridge structure. This involved coordination with Sound Transit's commuter rail design group, coordination and permitting from BNSF, public involvement, right-of-way acquisition, design of the arterial approach roads, grade separation design, drainage design to connect with the existing storm drainage system, traffic signal and illumination design, design of parking facilities and incorporation of local artist's work. Environmental permitting was also necessary for the project and included a SEPA checklist, and Endangered Species Act (ESA) analysis.

This project also required extensive community involvement and coordination with the Everett Station design team and inclusion of "art features." Since the Everett Station was being designed by a different consultant, this coordination was crucial to ensure that the construction of these two projects could be accomplished with minimum conflict and very low cost overruns.