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Time: 5:30 – Social Hour, 6:30 – Dinner, 7:30 – Program Place: Red Lion Inn, 11211 Main St, Bellevue, WA Speakers: Randy Giles, P.E. Chuck Vita PhD, PE, GE Norm Norrish, P. ENG., P.E Abstract:
Improving travel across Snoqualmie
Pass has been a challenge since the early days of road building. Snoqualmie
Pass continues to present the same challenges and some new difficulties that
the WSDOT must overcome as they reconstruct and widen I-90 just east of the
summit. In 2005, the Washington State Legislature provided funding for the
first of several phases to reconstruct and widen Interstate 90 from Hyak to
Easton. This first phase of work is located along Keechelus Lake and involves
several challenging aspects, including avalanche chutes, unstable slopes,
landslide areas, rugged topography, ESA species, high traffic volumes and short
construction windows. Current plans incorporate some distinctive features such
a new six-lane snowshed, wildlife crossings, large retaining walls and
extensive rock excavation with slope reinforcement along Keechelus Lake. Randy Giles is the WSDOT I-90 Project Director and will give summary of the project scope, provide a status update, and touch on a few of the interesting project features. Chuck Vita, a Senior Principal Engineer with URS, will provide an overview of the geotechnical challenges along the 5-mile alignment that crosses rugged mountainous terrain, steep colluvium slopes, soft lacustrine (lake) clays, and deep, liquefaction-susceptible floodplain soils. Major challenges have included stabilization of liquefiable soils at bridge abutments and along structural walls, as well as stabilization of seismically unstable colluvial foundation soils. Chuck will then discuss the major earth retention issues associated with the 1100-ft long 6-lane snowshed, including an overview of a statistical reliability analysis developed for estimating rock socket design capacities. Norm Norrish, a rock engineering specialist, will provide an overview of the rock slope excavations planned for the I-90 Snoqualmie Pass East Project. This will include engineering and geologic issues for key aspects of rock slope design as well as a summary of the geotechnical investigations that were performed. This will be followed by a description of the forensic work undertaken for the 1957 rock slope failure, the new findings relative to that slide, and the resultant design impacts for the proposed I-90 alignment around the infamous Slide-Curve. Speakers-Bios→ Randy
Giles, P.E. is a project manager with
19 years experience in highway related design, construction administration, and
project management. He graduated from the University of Utah with a B.S. in
Civil Engineering. He is currently the I-90 Project Director for the Washington
State Department of Transportation responsible for developing a series of
projects to reconstruct Interstate 90 just east of the summit of Snoqualmie
Pass. Randy manages a co-located team of WSDOT and consultant staff for
engineering, environmental services, communications and administrative
functions. Over the past ten years he has made 40 presentations of NHI training course #132035 Rock Slopes to state DOTs throughout the US. He is the Principal and Co-Founder of Wyllie & Norrish Rock Engineers Inc. ___________________________________________________________________________________________ Recent AEG Dinner-Meetings February 18, 2009 - Author and geologist David Williams presented portions of his new book, Stories in Stone: Travels Through Urban Geology that weaves together the cultural and natural history of building stone from across the United States and the world. For his presentation to AEG David also included the source area, mining methods, and use of building stones in Washington State, and discussed the more exotic rocks that have reached the city of Seattle. For more information, you can go to his web site: www.storiesinstone.info. The meeting was held at IvarÕs Salmon House, Seattle. We gratefully acknowledge Shannon & Wilson, Inc. of Seattle for sponsoring several geology students at the dinner-meeting. January 28, 2010 - Red Robinson (Shannon & Wilson), and Dick Sage (Sound Transit) presented on the Beacon Hill Station and Tunnels - State of the Art Construction in Difficult Ground Sound Transit Link Light Rail, Seattle. Over 200 people attended this meeting which has hosted jointly between AEG and ASCE. The Beacon Hill Station is the deepest, mined structure of its size in soft ground using Sequential Excavation Mining techniques for tunnel structures up to 40 feet in diameter in North America. ÒRedÓ Robinson and Richard Sage discussed the many project components and discussed the geologic conditions anticipated vs. those encountered, and the overall construction of the station and tunnels. The meeting was held at Red Lion Inn, Bellevue. We gratefully acknowledge GeoEngineers. Inc. of Redmond for sponsoring several geology students at the dinner-meeting.
Wait, there's more AEG news→ 2009-2010 AEG WASHINGTON SECTION CALENDAR 2009-2010 Dinner Meetings:
2009-2010 Field Trips: May 14-16, 2010 – Field trip to the North Olympic Peninsula. This is part one of a two part field trip being organized jointly with AEG and AWG (Association for Women Geoscientists). Part two, to Western Olympic Peninsula, will occur sometime in Fall 2010 or Spring 2011. Official announcement and registration instructions will be sent out soon.
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Other News & Events: The Washington State Geologist Licensing Board is meeting March 9, 2010 9 AM at the University of Washington in Seattle. Please visit our website to view the agenda http://www.dol.wa.gov/business/geologist/geoboardmtg.html
Haiti Earthquake Report. Here is a just-released link to a geotechnical reconnaissance report on the information available and captured at and around Port-au-Prince. The report was compiled by a group known as the Geo-Engineering Extreme Events Reconnaissance (GEER) Association, a group affiliated with the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI) http://www.geerassociation.org/GEER_Post%20EQ%20Reports/Haiti_2010/Cover_Haiti10.html Then click on "Geotechnical Engineering Reconnaissance of the 2010 Haiti Earthquake" and signify the download to your computer. This news was kindly forwarded to me by AEG Member Bob Anderson (California Seismic Safety Commission staff)
The Northwest Scientific Association (NWSA) Annual Meeting, this year being cohosted by the Cascadia Prairie-Oak Partnership and Northwest Lichenologists, will be at Centralia College March 24–27th. You can find more information: http://www.centralia.edu/academics/earthscience/nwsa/2010meeting.htm
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