Atkinson Completes Rail Projects in California and Washington

In California and Washington, Atkinson, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Clark, recently completed road and rail grade separation projects designed to improve traffic flow and safety in highly traveled areas.

Working with the Orange County Transportation Authority, HNTB Architecture, and the Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) rail line, the Atkinson team installed a one-million-pound structural steel underpass bridge in Placentia, Calif. The team also lowered Kraemer Boulevard and Crowther Avenue by 25 feet to allow traffic to flow freely under the new structure.

Atkinson installed temporary shoofly tracks to allow BNSF rail traffic to continue unimpeded before performing 130,000 cubic yards of excavation and building cast-in-place and secant pile

retaining walls using 6,000 cubic yards of structural concrete and 31,000 linear feet of concrete piling. Over the course of the project, the team built a 30,000 square-foot noise wall, relocated or installed 5,200 feet of storm lines and 5,800 feet of sanitary sewer lines, and constructed a pump station necessitated by lowering the street.

The $32.6 million project opened to the public in late June.

One thousand miles north, another Atkinson team completed a similar grade separation project in Renton, Wash. Under a $13 million contract with the City of Renton, Atkinson constructed a two-lane roadway from the SW 27th Street/Naches Avenue SW intersection to a new BNSF railroad track undercrossing. The team then extended the roadway north to the site of the future Sound Transit Tukwila Commuter Rail Station. Atkinson installed a shoofly track to ensure continued rail service before driving foundation piles, building the new 100-foot-long structural steel rail bridge, and constructing the new roadway. Work also included constructing a 32-foot-deep pump station with two 3,300-GPM pumps for controlling storm and groundwater.