Roads, Freeways and Bridges

GeoEngineers’ national construction design team specializes in a suite of interdisciplinary engineering design services for heavy civil contractors. Their work includes temporary structural design, geotechnical investigation and design, temporary excavation support, soil-structure interaction, seismic modeling and dewatering—all under one roof. This approach gives contractors a single point of contact and more predictable pricing for complex and fast-paced infrastructure projects across the United States and abroad.

GeoEngineers’ construction design team delivers designs for the temporary structures needed during construction—trestles, piers and earth- and water-retaining systems. In addition to designs, GeoEngineers helps our clients understand how proposed structures and soil will behave under a variety of conditions and stresses—especially for projects in soft soils that are more vulnerable to seismic risks. Our engineers tailor their structural designs to each site and project-delivery method, including using performance-based engineering over traditional factor-of-safety methodology when appropriate.

Our experienced design-build team is ready to take on your transportation project. As the team responsible for all aspects of geotechnical characterization, analysis and design, we have a broad array of expertise with various infrastructure components. We often act as the geotechnical design manager or environmental compliance manager on design-build projects, and work integrally within the design-build team. Our experience in water resources, geologic reconnaissance and interpretation, and engineering design is also a valuable contribution for water passage and culvert design-builds.

GeoEngineers performs feasibility studies at the beginning of many of our projects to identify the most efficient methods and routes. We look for critical areas, such as wetlands or endangered species habitats, geological hazards, such as areas with landslide and seismic risks, infrastructure to avoid, and work with clients and regulators to evaluate the feasibility of various approaches. By evaluating potential hazards and potential approaches to each project through due diligence studies, GeoEngineers strives to reduce our clients’ risks.

GeoEngineers integrates geotechnical engineering and design with ecological and hydrologic expertise to protect sensitive fish populations in the Pacific Northwest and beyond. Many stream crossings include small culverts or other infrastructure that can accelerate water flow and effectively block fish like salmon and steelhead from accessing upstream spawning and rearing habitat. GeoEngineers is working with large state agencies like the Washington State Department of Transportation, county governments and local municipalities to replace these crossings with fish-friendly designs. As a multi-disciplinary consulting firm with fish biologists, water resource engineers, hydrologists and geotechnical engineers, GeoEngineers has the right mix of experience and expertise to design sustainable, fish-friendly stream crossings. Over the past decade GeoEngineers has performed fish passage barrier removal work across Western and Central Washington—and developed relationships with important stakeholders like the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife along the way. GeoEngineers helped set the bar for culverts and fish habitat by crafting many of Washington’s official fish passage standards. More than a decade of fish passage barrier removal and habitat enhancement work has taught us how to efficiently and sustainably help our clients meet their design requirements—and revitalize fish populations in the process.

We provide stormwater control and quality testing, along with expertise in federal and local stormwater discharge regulations and investigation of subsurface water flow. We reduce and control stormwater runoff during project construction, and design permanent stormwater management strategies for transportation infrastructure, from port terminals to highway culverts.

GeoEngineers uses a combination of methods to improve soil stability, including the design and installation of drains and various preloading strategies. We specialize in ground-improvement programs in soft soil and earthquake-prone areas. Our Performance-Based Engineering Team performs seismic analyses and numerical modeling to predict the interaction between soil and foundation structures during specific types of seismic events.

Geotechnical and environmental support for the regular maintenance of asphalt, and creative solutions for implementing new pavement technologies, such as permeable surfaces.ur pavement rehabilitation designs have included pavement condition surveys and analysis of a variety of rehabilitation alternatives for both flexible and rigid pavements. We provide specific design recommendations that align with state DOTs and American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) plans and specifications, and municipal design and construction criteria. Whether it’s specific pavement thickness design and life-cycle cost analyses (LCCA), hot mix asphalt (HMA) pavement, or Cement Recycled Asphalt Base Stabilization (CRABS), our engineers can provide cost-effective design options.

In today’s regulatory framework, most transportation projects demand integrated federal, state, and local permitting. GeoEngineers’ permitting professionals are here to help you create and implement realistic strategies that will help your project move forward in a sustainable and compliant way.

We help your project stay compliant, and coordinate conversations between the public and the many stakeholders typically involved in large-scale transportation projects. Our permitting support includes critical areas ordinances, EIS, NPDES and state discharge, dangerous/hazardous waste, NEPA/SEPA, FERC compliance, Clean Air Act, Endangered Species Act, fisheries and hydraulic projects, water rights, and water quality permitting.

Many of our transportation projects have been certified by The Greenroads Foundation, an organization promoting sustainable environmental practices. GeoEngineers provides added benefit to the client and community by designing habitat restoration into our projects. Bridges and pedestrian pathways that integrate natural features and usable habitat can provide more long-term value while mitigating any negative impacts from the project on the environment.

When everything is on the line, GeoEngineers will do whatever is necessary to restore transportation arteries following a release or other incident. Our combination of environmental remediation and transportation expertise is critical when time is a factor. GeoEngineers is ready to characterize any environmental impacts, mitigate the damage, and design a plan to safely reopen roads, bridges or waterways.

For some of our transportation projects, especially those built on soft soils or in seismically active regions, conventional force-based and factor of safety analysis approaches may not be adequate. In these cases, GeoEngineers looks to our performance-based engineering (PBE) team. PBE evaluates the reliability of the design by considering a variety of real-world loads and conditions a structure is expected to face instead of just one design load and condition. This can also lead to increased efficiency and decreased cost. Funds which might have been needed to build a structure to a rigid, and sometimes unnecessary, factor-of-safety standard can be reallocated to address more meaningful risks. Visit our PBE Frontiers Page for more information on this growing service area.

Helping shield our clients from risks is at the core of our consulting practice. We assess risks that can cost our clients money, time and resources. By identifying these risks early and offering mitigation strategies, we give our transportation clients the tools to make smart, safe business decisions.

GeoEngineers provides far more than geotechnical and environmental recommendations and guidance. We’re there every step of the way during project construction, working closely with contractors to ensure that the earthwork elements are constructed according to design recommendations and that hazardous materials are removed and categorized appropriately for disposal.

We help clients manage and organize their data. We use our in-house data management software platform, Earth Analytics, to help us monitor and manage instrument data. From discrete, short-term monitoring to expansive networks of wireless instruments tied into our software platform, we have the range of services to meet your needs.

GeoEngineers staff have experience testing driven pile foundations and performing other specialized geotechnical field testing such as inclinometer slope monitoring, settlement monitoring, and soil pore pressure monitoring.

Our accredited labs and technicians are available for your special inspection and testing needs. We have laboratories accredited by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) and the ASTM Cement and Concrete Reference Laboratory (CCRL). We also maintain specific state-required certifications to conduct materials testing, including earthwork, reinforced concrete, structural masonry, structural steel, structural wood framing, proprietary anchors and fireproofing materials.