Otak recently launched an environmentally-friendly publication, the Otak eNewsletter. Distributed quarterly, the eNewsletter updates clients, partners, and associates on current and completed projects, new hires and promotions, community events, awards, and other news. To view the entire eNewsletter, please click here. If you decide that you like the eNewsletter and want to be added to the mailing list, please click here.
Otak is proud to announce that Dan Dawson, principal in Otak’s Kirkland office, is the recipient of the 2010 Washington Section ITE Award for Outstanding Service to the community and the transportation profession. The award was announced at the 2010 Annual Meeting held June 7 in Bellevue, Washington. Dan is a long-standing member of the Institute with a career focus on transportation design and mobility for all travel modes. Dan’s contributions to the practice of transportation engineering include co-authoring the Washington State Pedestrian Facilities Guidebook for WSDOT, developing the design guidelines for pedestrian safety and accessibility, and contributing to Transportation Research Board publications, as well as the Public Rights-of-Way Access Advisory Committee (PROWAAC) Special Report: Accessible Public Rights-of-Way, Planning and Designing for Alterations. He has authored a number of articles for the ITE Journal and regularly presents technical papers and training sessions at ITE conferences to continue the education of the membership in designing for full accessibility and mobility.
Melissa Moncada, bridge engineer, and Scott Larsen, construction group manager, at Otak recently attended the Oregon Concrete and Aggregate Producers Association (OCAPA) Excellence in Concrete Awards gala in Salem. Upper Perry Arch Bridge, a project that Otak worked on, was nominated as one of only three finalists under the Historic Bridges category. The gala attracted designers and contractors from all over the state for an evening full of cocktails, good food, and the awards ceremony.
This unique bridge rehabilitation was designed by Otak and constructed by Wildish Standard Paving. The bridge was originally designed by the famous bridge engineer, Conde B. McCullough, in the early 1920’s. If you are traveling on I-84, be sure to stop by and see this beautiful bridge. From I-84 eastbound, take exit 256 (about 4 miles west of La Grande), follow Hamilton Creek Frontage Road until you cross over the bridge.
The Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM’s) National Landscape Conservation System (NLCS) is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. The NLCS brought into a single system specially designated areas managed on a landscape level under the BLM’s multiple-use mandate. The Symposium, held in Albuquerque, New Mexico provided an interdisciplinary forum for exploring research related to the NLCS units, such as national monuments and wild and scenic rivers. Treasured landscapes across the nation include 886 federally recognized areas, approximately 27 million acres, and 8,425 miles of rivers and national trails.
Kate Schwarzler, landscape architect in Otak’s Carbondale office, presented a poster paper about using color for visual mitigation as an effective, relatively simple, and cost-effective tool for visual mitigation. The poster demonstrated two techniques for integrating color into visual mitigation practices. The first and most common technique for blending facilities into the surrounding landscape is the application of a single color of paint. The second technique is the use of camouflage, where multiple colors are applied in an organic pattern.
Kate’s poster for the NLCS Symposium
