Otak Blog

On October 20th the City of Aspen and Colorado Department of Transportation celebrated the completion of two landmark projects: the new Maroon Creek Bridge and the dedicated bus lanes on State Highway 82. The highway is the primary transportation corridor that links communities and provides access to a multitude of recreational amenities in the Roaring Fork River Valley. Replacement of the historic bridge, originally built by the Midland Railroad in 1888, required more than a decade of planning and budgeting and a unique financial partnership between the City and State. Its new support structure was designed to echo the style of the original bridge, which is located just to the south and will remain in place. Otak provided landscape architecture, wetland delineation, and environmental clearance services for the project, including realignment of a highly popular paved multi-use trail that connects to both ends of the new bridge. Otak also provided landscape architecture and irrigation design for the bus lane project, which added two transit-only lanes to the heavily congested segment of SH 82 from the Buttermilk ski area to the Maroon Creek roundabout. Services continued through construction administration.

Located on the Frontage Road that was once the Old Oregon Trail Highway, the Perry Arch Bridge was constructed in 1924 by the famous bridge engineer, Conde McCullough. Otak’s bridge engineers assessed the structural integrity of the existing bridge through scientific investigations, and were able to determine that saving the historically significant structure was a viable solution. Otak prepared final plans and specifications to rehabilitate this unique bridge. In July and August, Otak bridge engineers In-Tae Lee, David McCurry, and Melissa Robelo visited the site and identified portions of the concrete that will need to be removed. During the rehabilitation, crews discovered remnants of a corncob pipe in the old concrete – Conde McCullough was known to smoke them while onsite!

The Cedar Creek Bridge is currently under construction in Sherwood, which is located 11 miles southwest of Otak’s Lake Oswego office. Originally scoped as a project to improve the fish passage through Cedar Creek, the project expanded to much more. Otak’s bridge and roadway staff designed a new bridge, as well as a pedestrian path and trail connections while construction managers directed utility coordination and construction oversight. Careful design of the hydraulics and stream restoration was performed by the project lead, Otak’s Water and Environmental Services group. Removal of the original culvert system will enhance fish passage and allow for pedestrians and cyclists to access the creek and adjacent trail system. The project broke ground in mid-June and is expected to fully open to traffic by the end of September.

Kay Van Sickel, director of Lake Oswego’s Public Services Group, was recently nominated as a board member for ACEC’s Oregon Chapter and was sworn in at the awards ceremony post-golf tournament. The ACEC is one of the more active engineering societies in the Portland area, representing 3,000 employees in over 120 firms across the state. Kay will serve a multi-year term for ACEC, working on projects such as government relations among engineering firms, promoting engineering excellence, and continuing education opportunities.

Four members of Otak’s Transportation, Public Services Group took an afternoon to enjoy the sunshine and network with fellow industry leaders at the joint ACEC/ASCE Golf Tournament. Held at Langdon Farms Golf Course in Wilsonville, the Otak team was one of 40 teams, but surpassed all the others for number of women players. The team consisted of Amanda Owings, Kristen Ballou, Josh Robertson, and Sarah Hughes.