Photo Credit: Priscilla Du Preez, Unsplash. Over the last two months, we have reached considerable milestones we never expected to be celebrating when 2020 began:
Behind the scenes, the Technical Advisory Panel (TAP) was instrumental in these efforts, and much more over the past six months. We held our last TAP meeting on December 17, and we use this opportunity to thank them for their valued contributions.
We convened the TAP in May. The TAP was composed of independent experts with leading experience in bridge design and construction (particularly concrete construction), geotechnical engineering for bridge structures, and marine/maritime expertise.
We deeply value the TAP’s effort toward understanding the issues with the West Seattle High-Rise Bridge and the detailed, actionable feedback they provided during the repair vs replace decision-making process.
The TAP’s expertise and guidance were heard and considered closely by the public, Mayor Durkan, Seattle City Council, the SDOT program team, and SDOT Director Sam Zimbabwe. We appreciate the TAP’s willingness to commit their time on short notice and dedicate substantial effort over the last six months. The TAP’s collaboration with SDOT staff helped us make progress and reach a critical decision. We do not think we would have been able to advance so complicated a decision on this timeline without the TAP’s engagement.
Thank you to the members of our TAP!
- Stephen Dickenson, PhD, PE, DPE, New Albion Geotechnical, Inc.
- Gregg A Freeby, PE, American Segmental Bridge Institute (ASBI)
- Reggie Holt, PE, Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), Office of Bridges and Structures FHWA Headquarters, Washington DC
- Debbie D Lehmann, PE, Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Washington Division Office
- Barbara Moffat, PE, SE, Stantec
- Scott Phelan, PhD, PE, SE, David Evans and Associates, Inc
- Professor John F Stanton, University of Washington
- Adolph Furtado, PE, Lin & Associates, Inc.