News & Resources
Sunday Drives
Throughout my career as a transportation engineer I have always been intrigued at the prospect of being able to drive through a project that I had a hand in designing and experiencing the improved conditions firsthand. There is a feeling…
Covenant House Alaska: An Adaptive Reuse of an Urban Building. Part 2 of 2
If you read Part 1 of David Stierwalt’s Covenant House Alaska article, you’ll recall David was in the very unusual and exciting position of providing the structural engineering for both the design of Covenant House Alaska’s (CHA) new facility, and for…
Covenant House Alaska: Fulfilling the Need for Growth. Part 1 of 2
It’s a rare event when a single person gets to be involved in both the design of a new building for a client that has outgrown its old one, and to repurpose the building left behind. When Covenant House Alaska…
The Unknowns Underground: Planning for Construction Surprises
In an ideal world, every underground utility is accurately identified, located, and mapped before project design and construction. The reality is that this approach can be costly, and sometimes the site conditions aren’t suitable even without budget constraints. Unless absolutely…
Hazards vs Risks – What’s the Difference?
We live in a world full of hazards that have the potential for causing injuries, damage to property, loss of materials, or reduce our ability to perform. The key word is potential for hazards. We hardly recognize many significant hazards…
Recovering from Fire on the Mountain
Site visits for engineers can be a bit of a mixed blessing. Sometimes you get to inspect an interesting structure on a beautiful day, but frequently you find yourself in a damp underground utility vault, crawling in a dusty attic,…
Preserving the Past & Protecting the Future – Taking Care of the USS TURNER JOY
Walk the storied halls of the USS TURNER JOY (decommissioned in 1982), a Navy Destroyer that was reborn as a floating museum and is anchored in the heart of the Bremerton waterfront. Join the other 40,000 people who visit the…
Re-Reconnaissance Rendezvous: Visiting Chile 7 years after the Earthquake
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. George Santayana The above quote explains why our structural engineering team has been active in post-earthquake reconnaissance efforts after many large earthquakes and tsunamis that have occurred around the world. Failure teaches…