• Most of images and graphics provided by
Kiewit—General but reformatted a bit.
• Images supplemented by J. Mahoney via July
28, 2011 site visit. All notes by JPM.
• Importantly, many thanks to Meagan McGrew
along with her terrific Kiewit associates for the
site visit arrangements.
• Introduction
• Casting Basin Construction
• Site Visit Views on July 28, 2011
• Pontoon Construction (as planned)
• Miscellaneous Project Information
• Phil Wallace, Project Director
• Cody Bishop, Contract Administrator
• Jeff Billows, Senior Project Engineer
Owner: Washington State Department of Transportation
(WSDOT)
Contractor: Kiewit-General, a Joint Venture
Partners: Kiewit Bridge & Marine District, Sponsoring
District (85%); Northwest District (12%); KECO (3%)
Contract Value: $367,330,000
Contract Model: Design-Build for the Casting Basin; Bid-
Build for the Pontoon Construction
Pontoon Design: WSDOT Bridge & Structures Office
$392,795,400
A.C.M.E.
Kiewit General Contract is to build the Blue Pontoons
Gate
17
Cycle 1 Cycle 4
Cycle 2 Cycle 5
Cycle 3 Cycle 6
17,000 CY of concrete will be required to complete the 33 pontoons.
El. 16.00
Pontoon
El. -9.00
Design Subcontractors: HNTB, Prime Designer
KPFF, Casting Basin Structural
Shannon & Wilson, Geotechnical
FloydSnider, Environmental
Columbia Sentinel, Naval Architect
Construction Subcontractors: Pacific Coast Steel, Rebar
Grady Excavating, Trucking and Materials
Cal Portland , Batch Plant Concrete Redi-Mix
Farrow Construction, Casting Basin Slab
AVAR, Post Tensioning
Lakeside, Paving
Sleed Construction, Dewatering
PRR, Public Relations Consultant
Construction Suppliers: Jesse Engineering, Gate and Pontoon Metals
Wayron, Casting Basin Piling/Basin Metals
Bay View Concrete, Casting Basin Concrete
Fibergrate, FRP Walkways
Initial 18” diameter piles to support the casting basin slab had a 70 ft. length. These were
driven with about 5 ft. remaining (as shown here). Then an additional length of 65 ft. were
welded on (total length 135 ft.) and driving continued. Purpose was to drive from the
existing surface prior to major excavation given the poor underlying soil conditions.
705—18” piles were
driven for the casting
slab and jamb.
Hammer used to drive
most of pipe piles. Energy
per blow range
79,000 to 165,000 ft-lb
Cutting test in
progress
Note: Piles were driven to required depth before
excavation of the basin—hence required cutting in situ.
Required removal of 260,000 CY with a depth of 25 ft.
Slab is 18” thick
First Base Slab Pour – July 8th.
The basin slab requires
12,000 CY of concrete and
2,000 tons of rebar.
Side slope rip rap will key
into this wall.
Chehalis River
Chehalis River
Temporary
Sheet Pile Wall
Detention Ponds
View to West
Haul road dust control
Assembly and storage of
pontoon formwork
Assembly of pontoon
formwork
Assembly and storage of
pontoon formwork
Maintenance Shelter
Note piles for crane rail
support
Short wall formwork
installation
Short wall formwork
removal
Concrete pump support
Filter for rip rap In situ materials
Rip rap slope
protection
Falsework for gate
construction
1. Install bondbreaker and layout pontoons
2. Set exterior wall forms, inserts, and embeds
3. Install keel slab and exterior wall rebar
4. Set precast walls
5. Pour keel slab
6. F/P/S (form, pour, strip) interior wall closures
7. F/P/S exterior walls
8. F/P/S soffits
9. Install access, post-tensioning, doors, and hatches
10.Float out and clean up
• Unique Challenges
– Deflection limited to L/1000 or 1/16” each form face
– Concrete mix has ∼ 28” spread (or slump flow test)
– External vibrators are preferred based on ACME results
• Considered:
– Manufactured systems
• Aluma, PERI, DOKA, EFCO, Harsco
– Job built forms
• Steel faced with external vibration
• Wood faced with external vibration
• Wood faced with internal vibration
Test is a modified ASTM C143 (slump) but first the slump cone is
completely filled without consolidation—then the cone is lifted—spread is
measured. Other concrete aspects can be measured with this test such as
the visual stability index (VSI) and viscosity.
• Casting Basin Quantities
– Piling = Casting Basin Slab – 643 Ea 18 inch piles
Bulkhead Wall – 77 Ea 24 inch piles
Crane Beam – 154 Ea 24 Inch piles
– Excavation = 280,000 yards - (190,000 yards to stockpile)
– Concrete = 16,000 cubic yards
– Rebar = 2,000 Tons
– Dredging = 82,000 cubic yards
• Pontoon Quantities
– Concrete - Cast in Place = 91,500 cubic yards
Pre-Cast = 20,600 cubic yards
– Rebar = 35,000 Tons
– Wall Form Work = 2,173,596 square feet
– Soffit Formwork = 571,562 square feet
• Record of Decision January 10, 2011
• Permits Received - Start Work February 17, 2011
• Cycle 1 Pontoons April 20, 2012
• Cycle 2 Pontoons September 11, 2012
• Cycle 3 Pontoons February 7, 2013
• Cycle 4 Pontoons July 9, 2013
• Cycle 5 Pontoons November 30, 2013
• Cycle 6 Pontoons May 7, 2014
• Project Physical Completion July 6, 2014
• Aberdeen receives about 83” of rainfall/year.
• Piles: 18” diameter with 3/8” wall thickness on 17 ft. centers.
• 640 piles required for casting slab.
• Casting slab 165 ft wide by 18” thick by 910 ft long.
• Typical number of craft personnel on the job each day: 160.
Peak employment will be about 300.
• Side slope for the basin is 2.5 to 1 (a bit steep). Rip rap on side
slope falls into a 8 to 14” size range.
• Stormwater Management: Discharge of into Chehalis River
must be ≤ 25 NTU. Currently discharging at about 6 NTU.
• Each pontoon will weigh about 11,000 tons.
• This project will construct 33 pontoons. Next contract to be let
during August 2011 will construct an additional 44 pontoons
(however, the smaller ones).
• Kiewit bid for the casting basin design-build contract was
about $80 million. Bob Dyer from WSDOT stated that the
Kiewit design reduced the casting basin costs by about $100
million based on an earlier WSDOT design.
• Pontoons: Post-tensioning longitudinally only. Keel slab
thickness is 11” thick and the top slab is 9” thick. Wall slabs
taper from 18” thick at the bottom to 16.5” at the top of the
pontoon. Pontoon tolerance not to exceed 1/8”.
• Recent grad needs: Autocad and design of formwork.
