Last month, the Crab Creek Bridge and Trestle Replacement Project in Eastern Washington reached substantial completion, and general contractor GAME Inc. marked the occasion by capturing some beautiful drone footage (see video below.)
The project successfully built two new pedestrian bridges along the Palouse to Cascades State Park Trail (formerly the John Wayne Trail) to replace timber trestles that burned in the 2019 Crab Creek Fire. The 300-mile trail follows the historical alignment of the famous Milwaukee Road railway across central Washington from the North Bend area to the Idaho border, including the gorgeous high-desert ecosystem of Crab Creek shown in the video.
A GeoEngineers team provided geotechnical, environmental permitting, and hydrologic and hydraulic services to Washington State Parks for the project. Two unique structures were designed for the crossings, including foundation support using post-tensioned rock anchors, micropiles, and driven steel piles.
The bridges and approaches are in a remote area within a broad floodplain characterized by extensive wetland habitat. GeoEngineers’ team analyzed flood impacts and minimization measures to avoid permanent impacts to wetlands from construction access and staging.
The fire that destroyed the structures in 2019 caused additional challenges. The charred remains of the structures, some of which burned to below water level in the creek, had to be carefully removed before the new bridges could be built. This required coordination with regulatory agencies to develop a construction strategy to remove as much creosote timber as possible, while minimizing impacts to aquatic habitat.
