Building Bridges: From the Classroom to the Field
December, 2023
Building educational collaboration between Atkinson, Otak, and the University of Washington’s Center for Education and Research in Construction.
At the University of Washington’s Center for Education and Research in Construction (CERC), guest speaker Matt Rugh of Atkinson/Clark Construction spoke in front of a group of roughly 40 students about the challenges of building bridges. From moving 120-foot-long girders across the state to the challenges of night work, weather, cost, and schedule – Rugh shared his experience of Atkinson’s bridge projects in Washington State on US 12 and SR 167.
Otak was in attendance to support our teaming partner, and show our active connection with Atkinson and the UW to bridge gaps between companies, generations, and government agencies.
The UW’s school of Building Construction has certificate, graduate, and undergraduate degree programs. Its collaborative nature with the industry is part of the university’s core values, that align with Atkinson’s values of innovation, quality, and safety. Questions from the students and audience ranged from pre-fabrication options to how to instill safety in every part of the construction operation. Affiliate Instructor of Heavy Civil Construction Practices in UW’s Construction Management Program – and Senior Project Controls Analyst for Otak – Daryl Coffland, said, “Matt did an outstanding job, bringing real world applications, problems, and risks of bridge construction to us – very eye opening.”
Discussion topics centered around the challenges of setting bridge girders, specifically for a highway overpass near Walla Walla. Covering everything from safety issues during installation, importance of quality control, site planning, and logistics involving transporting 200-foot-long pieces of construction across the state – students took away the importance of planning ahead throughout the design process, and the agility associated with strategic regrouping, plus the stoke for heavy civil projects.
This event was a prime example of Otak’s commitment to building bridges both literally and figuratively. Literally in the sense that our bridge and structure work spans the Pacific Northwest and supports communities large and small, and figuratively in the sense that we stand in full support of events that bridge the unique intersection of ideas and people, especially with organizations like Atkinson and the UW.
Strategic partnerships serve to make organizations like Otak, Atkinson, and the UW stronger and better able to serve communities with both deep knowledge and expertise on a variety of project types, especially when it comes to bridges. Otak is actively facilitating and connecting neighborhoods through the practice of quality bridge design, and to share that knowledge with future engineers and designers alongside Atkinson is a reward in and of itself.
Otak thanks the UW and Atkinson for their ongoing alliance with our firm.
Learn more about how Otak is improving community connectivity through our work with bridge design.