Environmental

On the I-5 to Battle Ground Additional Lanes project, multiple crews worked to construct and enhance 10 wetland and pond sites near active streams in a 75 day work window. Crews worked alongside biologists and the Department of Fish and Wildlife to safely remove fish and aquatic animals from the worksite while constructing the new ponds. With GPS guidance, excavation and grading of the ponds was performed in record time, along with the construction of 120 in-stream habitat structures.

Due to the sensitive nature of the wetland work, a full time in-house Certified Erosion and Sediment Control Lead continuously monitored potential erosion control issues and performed Nephelometric Turbidity Unit (NTU) readings to ensure the water turbidity of the creeks was within allowed limits. To protect the salmon and steelhead-bearing creeks further, our crews performed daily inspections of the equipment and operated all machines with biodegradable vegetable oil to prevent stream contamination. Additionally, a bypass pumping and dewatering plan was used to not only lower the water table in the work zone, but also to maintain healthy water flow levels, sustaining the aquatic animal and fish life impacted by construction.