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A new 7.3-acre park along the Columbia River in Vancouver, Washington, was named Project of the Year at the American Council of Engineering Companies of Oregon‘s 2019 Engineering Excellence Awards last week.

The $24.2 million Vancouver Waterfront Park provides public access to the river on the site of a former paper mill and features a waterfront trail, a playground and urban beach, open lawn areas and scenic viewpoints. The project’s centerpiece is the Grant Street Pier, a cable-stayed structure that cantilevers over the water and is designed to evoke the shape of a ship. The 100-foot-long pier provides visitors with a connection to the shoreline on a portion of the river known for swift currents and high waves. The project was also honored with a People’s Choice Award from Engineering Excellence Awards dinner attendees.

The park project was submitted by BergerABAM, the prime consultant, project manager, landscape architect and structural engineer; GRI, the project’s geotechnical engineer; Martin/Martin Consulting Engineers, which performed structural engineering on the pier superstructure; and PBS Engineering and Environmental, the civil engineer.

Otak Inc. won the Best in Category award for its work on the Lommen Bridge over the Nehalem River for owner Tillamook County Public Works. The bridge serves as a detour for U.S. Route 101, which is often closed because of storm damage, but was structurally deficient and rated as the second-most hazardous bridge in Oregon. The $9.86 million replacement is a three-span structure with a 300-foot center span and 125-foot end spans. In-water piers were removed to avoid debris impacts, and seismic liquefaction issues were eliminated via use of drilled shafts measuring 9 feet in diameter and extending 100 feet into the bedrock. Traffic was maintained during construction of the project, which was completed for $200,000 less than the budget.

The Small Project Award went to the team behind an effort to restore habitat for threatened fish species at two sites along the Sandy River in eastern Multnomah County. The Portland Water Bureau’s $1.86 million Sandy River Engineered Log Jams project created side channels for salmon and steelhead to rest and feed using placed logs, boulders and debris. The project restores and enhances stream, floodplain and riparian habitats and works with the natural dynamics of the river to preserve connectivity while allowing for natural changes in channels. Submitting firms include lead consultant Wolf Water Resources, modeling and engineered log jams designer Natural Systems Design, and contractor Biohabitat.

Three firms received Grand awards for their work on four projects. Kennedy/Jenks Consultants received one for Phase II of upgrades to a wastewater treatment plant in The Dalles. Anderson Perry & Associates was honored for designing a passage for migratory fish to bypass a 30-foot-high dam on Beaver Creek in La Grande. HDR took home two awards – one for the West Vancouver Freight Access rail hub project at the Port of Vancouver USA, and another for creation of a streetscape in McMinnville that turned 75 acres of land into the state’s largest shared-use roadway and redevelopment.

Honor awards were bestowed upon an additional 20 projects.

The winners were selected by a panel of judges that included Chris Monsere, professor and chairman of civil and environmental engineering at Portland State University; Mike Bisset, community development director for the city of McMinnville; Bill Beyer, advertising director for the Daily Journal of Commerce; Pete Chaput, chief of the river and hydrologic engineering section with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Portland District, and Gayle Harley, a retired engineer and past president of ACEC Oregon.