Surveys -- Environmental Outlook 2004 -- Seattle DJC.COM

Entranco

President: Gary Van Wieringen
Specialty: Transportation, environmental, construction management services
Year founded: 1961
Headquarters: Bellevue
2003 revenues: $32 million
Projected 2004 revenues: $ 28 million
Largest current projects: Stormwater management plan for Lake Samish, Whatcom County; environmental analysis and engineering for East Lake Sammamish Parkway; salmon habitat enhancement of Bear Creek in Redmond

Photo courtesy Entranco

Entranco is working on an enhancement plan for lower Bear Creek, a section with poor fish habitat.

Denny Cearns, head of Entranco’s Bellevue office, said though things are improving, the past two years have been very slow for Entranco. “I think that’s true of all the consulting industry in Puget Sound,” he said. The Bellevue branch currently employs about 50 staff, down from 125.

The firm’s business is 40 percent transportation-related, 30 percent environmental, and the remainder construction management services. “The transportation sector has been quite depressed,” Cearns said. Anemic revenues and anti-tax initiatives have constricted funding for transportation projects at the local and state level.

But Cearns said Entranco’s work has stabilized over the past six months. The state Legislature’s passage of a nickel gas tax for transportation projects has helped, and the state Department of Transportation is moving toward design-build contracts, an Entranco specialty, for more projects.

Entranco’s work on Thurston Way in Vancouver is the only design-build project that has been completed for WSDOT to date.

Photo courtesy Entranco

Entranco is preparing a comprehensive stormwater management plan for the Lake Samish Water District in Whatcom County. The plan covers the entire 8,850-acre watershed, along with the 2,430-acre water district.

“Not a lot of firms have done much (design-build), especially in the transportation sector,” Cearns said.

Cearns said the Bellevue office doesn’t have any expansion or contraction plans, but it is trying to decide whether the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics will generate enough work to justify opening an office in Bellingham. “We’re seeing some small signs of that, but it’s probably a year or more off,” he said.

The big political issue for Entranco locally is transportation funding. “That’s the huge driver for our business,” Cearns said. “We weathered the storm over the past couple years, and we’re still here, and looking forward to some new growth.”