| OTIA III State Bridge Delivery Program |
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| Web Brief (Nov 06) |
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CH2M HILL's Salem office focuses on innovation for ODOT's bridge program
CH2M HILL is a long-standing economic success story in Oregon. Founded in 1946 in Corvallis by three Oregon State University students and their civil engineering professor, the company now employs more than 18,000 people worldwide.
Recognized internationally as an innovator in engineering design, CH2M HILL was a natural choice as a prime contractor on the Oregon Department of Transportation’s OTIA III State Bridge Delivery Program, which is repairing or replacing hundreds of aging bridges on major corridors throughout Oregon.
CH2M HILL brings its expertise in the design-build method to the bridge program. In this form of contracting, a single team designs and constructs a project, so building can begin before design is concluded. This cost-effective and efficient method is saving the 10-year bridge program both time and money.
“When we learned that much of the bridge program work would be design-build contracts, we knew we needed to create a branch focused on that initiative,” said Doug Johnson, regional design-build business development manager with CH2M HILL and a 20-year veteran of the construction industry.
CH2M HILL first established a Salem office in June 2003. It started with just two people and has expanded to 15 full-time employees. During that time, the company won two prominent design-build contracts on the bridge program—Interstate 5: Clarks Branch to Tunnel Mill Race and I-5: Sutherlin to Roseburg—together worth nearly $90 million.
“We’re very proud of our work on these two projects,” Johnson said. “The nature of the work, combined with the challenges of timing and mobility, really compelled us to come up with unique solutions.”
CH2M HILL is accomplishing its work in innovative, sustainable ways. On the I-5: Clarks Branch to Tunnel Mill Race project, the firm is repairing two bridges and replacing 10 on I-5 between Eugene and Myrtle Creek, a major undertaking. Besides reusing 80 concrete box beams on several temporary detour structures, the company was the first to permit its project using ODOT’s new streamlined environmental permitting process.
“Permitting typically takes between three and six months. Through the streamlined environmental permitting process, we were able to finalize everything in 45 days,” Johnson said. “The quick turn-around let us begin construction very quickly the first year and achieve a critical construction milestone. Missing that milestone would have added an extra year to the project.”
Johnson believes that having a separate office centrally located in Salem has been one of the contributing factors to the company’s success on the bridge program. It can hire interns from the pool of engineering students at local universities and operate from a location near many upcoming projects along I-5.
“In Salem, we are close to the action around the state, and we have a group of people constantly striving to create new and valuable solutions to the construction projects we are taking on,” Johnson said. “We’re delighted to be here."
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