Ship Canal Water Quality project update

City of Seattle, Washington sent this bulletin at 06/16/2020 08:20 AM PDT

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Dear neighbors,
As of this week, we have crews and equipment in four neighborhoods. On Monday, we moved to East Ballard at the intersection of 11th Ave NW and NW 45th St near Fred Meyer. Read on to see what's taking place near you.

Ballard

The photo above shows slurry wall equipment currently on our Ballard site. Our hydromill is on the left, our grab (piece of equipment that can lift/move things in bulk) is on the right, and our crane is in the background. Towards the bottom left, you can see a crew member building steel rebar cages.

Last week, we finished constructing the first of 18 panels that will form our slurry wall (check out our May 13 project update if you need a slurry wall refresher). Ever wondered what it takes to safely excavate a 210-ft vertical trench for a panel? The short answer is, really fancy equipment and a whole lot of bentonite slurry!

We use a "grab" on the end of a crane to start excavating the trench. The trench is filled with bentonite slurry. Check out this video to see how we make our very own slurry on-site! Slurry keeps the trench from collapsing in on itself as we dig deeper into the ground.
Once we've excavated to about 20 or 30 feet, we ditch the grab and our hydromill takes over the digging (or more accurately, the "cutting"). Take a closer look at the hydromill.
Once the trench reaches its final depth of 210-ft, we use a crane to insert a steel rebar cage and fill it with concrete.

Construction of the remaining panels should last throughout the summer. During this time, you can expect:

Very heavy truck traffic on Shilshole Ave NW and 24th Ave NW; please pay attention to flaggers.
Parking restrictions along the east side of 24th Ave NW so construction trucks can exit the work site.
Noise and vibrations related to excavation and concrete pours.

East Ballard

Construction on 11th Ave NW and NW 45th St (near Fred Meyer) starts this week. Initial work will include minor street paving at the southwest corner of 11^th Ave NW and NW 45^th St. Additionally, crews will start building temporary bike lanes on the north side of NW 45th St for the upcoming Burke-Gilman Trail detour to the north side of NW 45^th St. Please note that we're just prepping for the trail detour this week. We'll send a separate notification once the detour is slated to begin.

Over the next few weeks, you should anticipate:

Closures of NW 45th St between 9th and 11th Avenues NW during working hours to allow for construction of the trail detour. Traffic will be detoured onto NW 46th St. Please pay attention to flaggers on site.
Intermittent closures of the southbound shoulder of 11th Ave NW south of NW 45th St. Two-way traffic will be maintained. Please pay attention to flaggers on site.
Noise and vibrations typical of a construction site.

Fremont

Photo showing a crew member removing blackberry bushes from the project site.

The photo above shows a crew member clearing blackberry bushes from the construction site.

Construction in Fremont, near NW 36th St and 2nd Ave NW, is underway. For the past few weeks, crews have been setting up the work area, removing shrubs and mobilizing equipment. In the next few weeks, crews will:

Remove an existing sidewalk on NW 36th St and existing utilities.
Install stormwater control and soil monitoring equipment.
Remove existing asphalt.
Install a temporary storm drain bypass.

Over the next few weeks, you should anticipate:

NW 36th St between Leary Way NW and 3rd Ave NW to remain closed.
Noise and vibrations related typical of a construction site.

Wallingford

Construction of the 12-ft screen wall is nearly complete! As a reminder, additional construction activities are slated to begin at this site in August.

We'll send more information about upcoming activities in Wallingford once we're closer to re-mobilization. Can't wait that long? Visit our website.

Queen Anne

Construction in North Queen Anne is planned to begin in August 2020 and will take place near West Ewing Mini Park and along 3rd Ave W.

See our latest fact sheet for more information.

COVID-19 construction update

At the City of Seattle, we are continuing to follow guidance from federal, state, and local leaders and our public health partners regarding COVID-19.

Seattle Public Utilities is continuing with essential public works projects to the greatest extent practicable during these times. The health and safety of our workers and the public is our first priority. Our contractors have updated their Health and Safety Plans to incorporate best management practices with respect to COVID-19 throughout our construction work sites. If a situation arises where a contractor is unable to maintain these practices on a work site, or the Governor orders that public works projects must stop, the contractor shall temporarily suspend work until the work can be performed safely and legally.

We will notify you if there are any changes to the project schedule or planned work.

You can learn more about COVID-19 at www.kingcounty.gov/covid.

Additional community resources can be found at www.seattle.gov/mayor/covid-19.

Contact us

Please email SPU_ShipCanalProject@seattle.gov with questions or comments or call (206) 701-0233. You can also find information online at spushipcanal.participate.online/.