What civil engineering project have you found most intriguing?

Mike Peebles, Principal, Otak

The Historic Columbia River Highway, as originally constructed.

Built between 1913 and 1922, the Columbia River Highway is a 75-mile stretch of ambitious civil engineering design that brought travelers close to the breathtaking beauty of the Columbia River Gorge. Primarily designed by engineer and landscape architect Samuel Lancaster, the two-lane road had grades no steeper than 5 percent, no curves less than a 100-foot radius and an alignment set not by the shortest distance between two points, but by reaching a scenic vista or glimpse of a waterfall.

The cliff-hugging roadway crosses numerous splendid bridges and viaducts constructed with the most technically advanced methods of the time and utilized masonry retaining walls and guard rails that blended into the natural surroundings. Though bypassed by a water-level freeway (Interstate 84), the Historic Columbia River Highway has maintained its place as one of the nation’s true engineering and scenic marvels....

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