The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) recently celebrated significant milestones in its I-405/SR 167 Corridor Program with the completion of the I-405/Northeast 132nd Street Interchange Project and the groundbreaking of the I-405/ Brickyard to SR 527 Improvement Project. GeoEngineers is deeply involved with both projects, and we are proud of these important contributions to the region’s transportation infrastructure.
I-405/Brickyard to SR 527
The I-405/Brickyard to SR 527 Improvement Project officially kicked off in May with a groundbreaking ceremony at the Brickyard Park & Ride in Bothell. This ambitious WSDOT design-build project aims to enhance a four-and-a-half-mile stretch of I-405 from just south of SR 522 to SR 527, north of Bellevue, Washington. Scheduled for completion in 2028, the project will extend the dual-express toll lane system, add three new Sound Transit bus rapid transit (BRT) stations, and improve multimodal connections.
A GeoEngineers team is providing comprehensive geotechnical design services for I-405/Brickyard as a subcontractor to AECOM, the design lead for the Skanska design-build team. Key members of GeoEngineers’ internal performance-based design group also played a significant role, delivering site-specific seismic hazard analyses and three-dimensional finite element models for the project. Our construction design group also jumped in to provide geotechnical design services for temporary works.
Most of the critical path geotechnical design work is now complete, but GeoEngineers will continue to provide geotechnical design support for the remainder of the year. Additionally, GeoEngineers will be providing construction observation and engineering support as the construction phase of the project ramps up and settles in over the next few years.
I-405/Northeast 132nd Street Interchange
WSDOT is also celebrating the completion of the I-405/Northeast 132nd Street Interchange Project in Kirkland, Washington. The project aimed to improve traffic flow thanks to new ramps, roundabouts, enhanced sidewalks, and bicycle lanes. A GeoEngineers team provided geotechnical services including seismic analysis and recommendations for soldier pile and soil nail walls, culverts, and cast-in-place walls. Unique features of this project include three fish passage structures. One of these challenging structures was constructed between bridge footings, which required unique tieback and strut pile walls to support grade changes and the bridge footings.
These projects highlight GeoEngineers’ ongoing role in many of Washington State’s largest design-build transportation efforts, and we expect to continue these successful relationships for years to come.
