Atkinson Sets Supersized Girders at 70th Avenue East Bridge

The Atkinson team delivering the new 70th Avenue East Bridge for the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) reached a significant project milestone with the successful installation of 10 giant girders that span I-5 and form the support of the new bridge deck in Fife, Washington.

The 70th Avenue East Bridge project is part of WSDOT’s effort to complete SR-167 and improve connections to I-5 and the Port of Tacoma. The new bridge, which features four lanes and a 12-foot wide path for pedestrians and bicycles, replaces a two-lane bridge.

Safely setting the massive bridge girders, which measure 220 feet long and weigh 231,000 pounds, required a complete closure of I-5 for two consecutive nights. The extreme length of the girders allowed Atkinson to complete this operation in 18 hours over two days. “Shorter girders would have required us to widen I-5 and build columns in the median – work that would have brought prolonged lane closures,” said Laura Newborn, WSDOT communications manager.

The girders, which are among the longest precast concrete girders ever made, were transported to the bridge site on a 250-footlong truck from their fabrication site five miles away. Cranes stationed on each side of I-5 then guided each of the girders into place.

“This was an extremely technical operation,” said Brandon Dully, vice president at Atkinson Construction. “Our ultimate goal was to ensure that we executed the work according to our plan and did so safely. It took everyone – Atkinson, our hard-working crews, WSDOT, and our project partners working together to ensure we set these girders successfully.”

With this milestone complete, the Atkinson team will shift their focus to completing the bridge deck and bridge approaches to open to traffic in the summer of 2021.