Current Activity

     October/November 2011  

 

 

Wildish Construction Co. placed nearly 48,000 tons of asphalt on ODOT’s Highway 20 Albany-Corvallis project.  There are still nearly 200 driveways and 11 miles of shoulder rocking to be accomplished, as well as cast-in-place concrete median barrier to be placed. This job will wrap up the end of October.


Crews completed the City of Eugene’s 2011 pothole repair work using full depth reclamation and cement tilled grades topped with varying thicknesses of asphalt pavement. They completed a two week project in half the time allotted, and impressed residents by turning what was a nearly impassable street into a route they all admire.


Crews also completed the ODOT Enid Road Railroad Crossing project near the Eugene airport. Wildish had only a two week road closure period during which to widen a portion of Highway 99, reconfigure Enid Road at the rail crossing, schedule EWEB to relocate a telephone pole, and coordinate with Portland Western Railroad to remove and replace rails for hundreds of feet on both sides of the track.


The Alder Street project near the University of Oregon campus is finished.  A number of state and local officials, including the university president, mayor and ODOT representatives, gathered on site to celebrate not only the Alder improvements, but also Lane Transit District’s University District bus station project.  This job includes the unique integration of car, bus and bike lanes and back-in parking in an area that has much pedestrian, bicycle and auto traffic.


Crews are nearly finished with Pearl Street, another project that has been deemed a success by local business owners and governmental officials.  This main thoroughfare in the heart of Eugene is surrounded by downtown stores and office buildings that needed access to remain open during construction.


Crews finished the Willamette Street project in which the existing roadway was pulverized, cement was blended with the pulverized material to form the subgrade, and then it was overlaid with warm mix asphalt.  This was all accomplished within a 24 hour time frame.  Crews overcame some challenging slopes in replacing numerous handicap ramps with new ones that meet the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act. 


A pipe crew completed a storm sewer project in Charnelton Street at which the crew had to dig around several gas and water services for each of the houses they passed in a 200 foot stretch – and not one service was broken!  At Farwest Fabrication, crews constructed two new entrance ways to a warehouse one entry at a time in order to not interfere with forklifts that were moving products in and out of the building. 


The Pond Fill Mitigation project at the Eugene Airport is completed.  Because these ponds were about 400 feet from the runway and attracted birds, they were deemed to be a safety hazard and needed to be filled.  With the help of Wildish Sand & Gravel Co. truck drivers who hauled 30,000 tons of fill material, the project was completed in 12 days instead of the 15 days allowed.  Airport officials also asked if Wildish Sand & Gravel Co. could provide a fine sand intended to be spread on runways and taxiways when icy conditions occur.  The Federal Aviation Administration required the sand to be fine enough so that if it was drawn into an airplane engine it would not cause damage.  Additionally, the sand had to have moisture content less than one percent so that it could be spread with the equipment the airport owns.  Sand and gravel production crews provided the sand to the asphalt plant crew who ran the sand through the plant to dry it.  The hot temperature made the sand finer and lowered the moisture content to zero percent. 


A pipe crew is finishing work on the University of Oregon Casanova Center utility relocation project, and hoping to capture more portions of the upcoming $120 million football facility expansion. 


Another pipe crew continues working on storm drainage and grading for the ODOT River Road / 1st Street – Community Center sidewalk project in Elkton.  Approximately 3700 lineal feet of continuous sidewalk will connect the entire City of Elkton from east to west serving numerous residential customers, two schools, a community center, winery, RV Park, river access points and a city park.     


In Brownsville, personnel are progressing on the Highway 228 & Main Street sidewalk/landscape project.  This work consists of repaving the highway through town and installing a new storm drainage system, concrete sidewalks, ADA ramps, driveways, two gateway signs, a street lighting system and landscape improvements. 


At the Florence Airport expansion project, the crews have the new apron area paved and are preparing to repave the existing apron and taxiways after making some drainage and electrical improvements.  This $950,000 project should be finished by November.  


Wildish Building Co.
crews have poured all of the structural concrete for the Argyle Pump Station remodel project in Portland.  Masons have begun constructing the CMU block building, forms have been stripped inside the wet well and valve vault, and the crew is starting to install all the interior piping, structural steel and equipment. The remainder of autumn will see roofers, painters, HVAC installers, electricians and plumbers completing the building.


Work continues on the City of Riddle wastewater treatment plant.  Demolition of the old operation building has been completed, and masons have finished installing CMU blocks for the new operations blower buildings.  Concrete slabs and the first of four walls for two new clarifiers have been poured, and pours have also begun on the aeration basin modification and the new head works UV disinfection structures.  The pipe crew has been busy installing multiple buried piping systems throughout the facility.


The
prefabricated metal structure and masonry walls are currently being erected for the microfiltration building at the Winston-Dillard water treatment plant.  The crew has the concrete construction completed and are focusing on assembly of the process piping.  Some of the water process equipment has arrived and the microfiltration equipment, the heart of this facility, will ship mid-October. The building is to be enclosed before inclement weather arrives, and  a crew is completing the site piping and preparing the site for paving. The raw water storage tank, which is being constructed in an unusual manner from the top down using a sophisticated system of hydraulic jacks, is nearly complete as well. This 3.75 million gallon per day water processing facility is scheduled to be operational in January 2012.


As the Construction Manager/General Contractor to EWEB/CH2M Hill, Wildish Building Co. is continuing to provide assistance for the design of the Carmen-Smith improvements project.  This $60 million project entails modifications to the Carmen, Smith and Trail Bridge reservoirs including powerhouse intake modifications, water bypass structures and piping, a fish ladder, floating fish screen, and fish bypass piping.  The construction costs of two alternate locations for a tunnel through a ridge along the McKenzie River have been evaluated, and designers are studying earth loads on the entrance to the fish ladder.  Although the majority of the work on this project is slated for 2013, some work may begin in 2012.  


Wildish Standard Paving Co. successfully launched the covered bridge across the Coast Fork of the Willamette River at Cottage Grove.  Crews finished the framing and siding before the bridge was pushed across the river on beams with two fork lifts. Roofing, timber decking and timber bridge rail will now be installed, and remaining site work, hand railing, concrete work and landscaping will be completed by the end of November.  A large, authentic depiction of a train is located inside the bridge to remind everyone of the bridge’s historic significance.


Crews spent the month of September installing barrier rail and repairing the bridge columns and abutments on the eastbound I-105 bridge across I-5 that was raised in August.  Slope paving and median grading should be completed in October, bringing the project to a close. 


In Oregon City, the crews have been constructing debris containment enclosures above the bridge deck in preparation for more hydroblasting. Crews have been chipping concrete that encases the steel beams under the deck and replacing rivets as steel gets uncovered. Once inspection is completed, the concrete will be recast. Over 2400 lineal feet of utilities are being removed from the bridge one piece at a time.


One crew is working on the “bridge bumpers” or “strakes”. This entails drilling multiple holes into the steel arch, bolting on stainless steel brackets, and installing laminated layers of trex-decking type material on the up-river side of the bridge. This crew has also been installing falsework to support the connecting slabs between the arches to holds the slabs together while the hydroblast operation breaks the slabs free of the arch.  The slabs are then suspended on the falsework.


Other crews continue to manage the barges on the Willamette River. With hydroblasting on the Oregon City side of the bridge completed, crews have been setting up large tarps to contain blasting materials from the West Linn side.


Concrete repair on the West Linn approach of the structure continues. Crews are using manlifts, access decks and swing stages to remove delaminated concrete, weld in repair rebar and place new concrete.


Out near Biggs Junction south of I-84, the crew finished work on the Spanish Hollow bridges in September. Concrete repairs, removal of delaminated areas, and four deck overlay pours on two bridges have been accomplished. 


At the Deschutes River bridge, a crew installed “safe-span” in several locations to provide access for seismic work and crack injection.  Late in September coring holes were drilled through the deck into the exterior girders for installation of internal shear anchors.  These anchors are up to 92 inches long, and there are nearly 750 of them to place this fall.


At the 15-Mile bridge project at The Dalles, the crews are putting the finishing touches on the median barrier, installing the bridge drain and getting the last of the grading done before the completion date at the end of October.

 

 
 
 
 
Copyright 2006 Wildish  
 
 
3600 Wildish Lane
Eugene, OR 97408-4616
Phone: (541) 485-1700
  PO Box 40310
Eugene, OR 97404
Fax: (541) 683-7722