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After serving as a southern gateway to Portland for more than seven decades, the Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard Viaduct had lost its bearing. The structure was sinking into 66 feet of wood waste and slowly breaking apart under the weight of traffic.

The Oregon Department of Transportation in 1999 began looking at replacing the structure, and by 2004 was ready to move forward with a bridge package prepared by Lloyd Lindley. The agency brought on David Evans and Associates to provide peer review, assist structural engineering and create a construction schedule, among other tasks. Kittelson and Associates was brought on to work on permanent signage and the street lighting system design.

David Evans quickly determined it would be easier and more cost effective to completely remove and replace the northbound segment of the viaduct system rather than rehabilitate it, as originally planned. The firm and Lloyd Lindley worked closely with ODOT to come up with a solution that featured fewer overall bents and simplified staging and construction, while still meeting seismic standards.

Meshing new construction with an original structure and temporary structures is never an easy task. But the viaduct project came with an extra challenge 鈥� over the years, the urban community around the viaduct had developed and grown, creating a tight working space. In addition, more than 65,000 vehicles a day depended on the viaduct. David Evans and other project team members came up with a staging plan that accommodated construction without hampering traffic flow or property access.

The end result won accolades from the public.

鈥淭he 鈥� overall look 鈥� is absolutely wonderful,鈥� area resident Max Schulz said about the finished viaduct. 鈥淚t makes me extremely happy to see a piece of modern construction that is actually nice to look at.鈥�