| OTIA III State Bridge Delivery Program |
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| Web Brief (Jul 05) |
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Innovation Accelerates Construction of the Coast Fork Willamette River Bridge
ODOT has pioneered a streamlined approach to environmental permitting, and it’s already paying off. Using the new programmatic permits, the agency shaved more than 90 days off of the normal permitting process for its Coast Fork Willamette River Bridge project. As a result, the agency may save as much as $1 million.
Developing a set of environmental standards before bridges are designed is one of the innovations of the OTIA III State Bridge Delivery Program. ODOT worked with 11 state and federal regulatory agencies to combine numerous regulatory requirements and environmental performance standards into a single set of permits that could be used program wide. Now, because designers are equipped with all environmental, cultural, and historic data and requirements before they begin, the design process is dramatically shorter.
“If we had used the original permitting process, we wouldn’t have been able to start design on this project until 2007,” said John Dudasch at CH2M Hill, the Design-Build contractor on the Coast Fork Willamette River Bridge. “Due to the streamlined permitting process, and the high degree of collaboration between us, ODOT, and Oregon Bridge Delivery Partners, the bridge program management firm, we will start and finish the project in 2005.”
Not only is the new process cost effective and efficient, it also protects and conserves natural resources. The shortened construction period made possible by faster permitting resulted in welcomed environmental benefits. The river is the habitat for Oregon chub fish, an endangered species found only in Oregon’s Willamette Valley. Steelhead, Chinook, and Coho salmon inhabit the area, as do rainbow trout. And because the completion timeline was shortened, CH2M Hill was able to reuse the temporary detour bridge used on the Coast Fork Willamette River Bridge construction at two other sites.
The construction of the Coast Fork Willamette River Bridge is a model of ODOT’s Context Sensitive and Sustainable Solutions (CS3) approach and demonstrates how being sensitive to the project context and sustainability can deliver success on many levels. Many bridges facilitated through the streamlined permitting process are under way throughout Oregon.
"Because of the programmatic permitting process, the Coast Fork Willamette River Bridge was completed in one season instead of two,” said Ron Reisdorf, the ODOT consultant project manager for the bridge. “With each new project completed, contractors are refining the process. Going forward, it will continue to get better, saving more time and money.”
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