May 6, 2024

Cranes, trains and automobiles: navigating complex site conditions

Powell

Sherman

It is no secret that there is a shortage of affordable housing in Seattle these days. Fortunately, there is growing public support, and mission-driven developers working to address this issue.

A frequently stated goal in the development of affordable housing is for buildings to be in amenity-rich neighborhoods with access to public transit. This reduces the need to build expensive parking stalls and gives residents access to jobs, stores, restaurants, services, schools, and transit.

Two projects that meet this goal are the recently opened Pride Place and upcoming Broadway Youth Center projects located in the heart of the Capitol Hill neighborhood at Broadway and Pine. Both projects were developed by Community Roots Housing in partnership with GenPride and YouthCare, two organizations who provide access to housing and services for Seattle's older LGBQTIA+ and young adult populations, respectively.

These two projects are ideally located for the residents of these buildings. They are, however, not ideally located for managing construction logistics and safety planning. It takes commitment to careful planning and safety practices necessary to deliver these much-needed projects safely with minimal impacts to project schedules and budgets.

Photo by NW Skyview Imagery [enlarge]

While the Walsh team installed and dismantled the tower crane at the Pride Place jobsite, all traffic was rerouted around that section of Broadway. Dozens of focused personnel were on site to safely manage each day.

Walsh Construction Co. is a northwest-based general contractor with 40 years of experience delivering mixed-use wood-frame projects in central Seattle neighborhoods. For the Pride Place project, Walsh's project team was able to deliver the 118-unit building to Community Roots Housing in late 2023 with zero safety incidents.

Delivering a project at this dense, transit-rich location involved working around an active streetcar line, installation of complex utilities in the public right of way, and maintaining safe pedestrian access and use within a heavy-use multi-modal commuting corridor. Successfully ensuring safe movement of people, streetcars and vehicles along Broadway involved early and frequent coordination with various public agencies including SDOT, King County Metro, SPU, SCL, and SDCI. Walsh was then responsible for implementing and upholding safety regulations with its own labor team and nearly 100 subcontractor partners.

Keys to success for safety at the corner of Broadway & Pine include:

• Pre-task Planning – Walsh has implemented a company-wide pre-task planning effort, which focuses crews and site supervisors on critical tasks, workflows, and identifies potential hazards and safety concerns before the work begins.

• Community outreach – Starting well before construction, the team sent out newsletters, emails, posted signage, and walked door-to-door to inform neighborhood residents and businesses of upcoming activities and street impacts. Walsh partnered with GenPride and the Capitol Hill blog to utilize their communication networks.

• Agency coordination – Working in dense Seattle neighborhoods requires coordination with entities like SDOT's Hub Coordination Team, which reviews all projects in the Capitol Hill Hub Zone with a goal of maintaining safe, consistent practices across multiple projects. Walsh maintained frequent, proactive coordination with SDOT to ensure that our approach for right of way management along Broadway was implemented in the most timely and responsive way possible.

Photo by NW Skyview Imagery [enlarge]

Walsh’s project team was able to deliver the 118-unit Pride Place project to Community Roots Housing in late 2023 with zero safety incidents.

Two scopes of work that illustrate the extensive safety coordination that is required at these types of sites are the connections to underground utilities and the erection and dismantling of the tower crane. Implementing the approaches above allowed the project team to interrupt the flow of traffic while prioritizing pedestrian and bike commuter safety. Walsh's project team maintained safe access to local businesses and was able to complete each activity safely and efficiently, ahead of schedule, which allowed the street to be reopened to the public sooner than anticipated.

Installation of water, sewer and storm utilities required two safety-critical activities: coordination and operation of a 24” boring machine to tunnel under the active streetcar and trenching in the center of the street. This required extensive communication and pre-task planning, using two- and five-week look ahead schedules, and daily task and safety planning with crews and flagging staff. The project team was able to install the water, sewer and storm connections safely and successfully, while maintaining bus and streetcar routes along Broadway, sometimes as frequently as every 3 minutes during peak commute times.

Preparation for the tower crane erection began over a year prior to actual installation. Communication with SDOT, King County Metro, and local residents and businesses along Broadway was crucial to the success and safety of this effort. The activity itself required a critical hoist over Broadway, above and adjacent to high-voltage power lines.

The Walsh project team developed a plan with project partners Northwest Tower Crane, Barnhart Cranes, Leavitt Tower Cranes, Yes We Can Flagging, and our own Safety team. Installing and dismantling the crane required a full shutdown of Broadway between Pike and Pine and utilized dozens of focused personnel to safely manage each day. During this phase, due to the extreme overhead hazards and potential danger to pedestrians and commuters, all traffic was rerouted around this section of Broadway.

Photo by Walsh Construction [enlarge]

The project team was able to install water, sewer and storm connections safely and successfully, while maintaining bus and streetcar routes along Broadway, sometimes as frequently as every 3 minutes during peak commute times.

Seattle and communities like Capitol Hill desperately need more affordable apartments. Successful delivery of these homes efficiently and safely requires a top-to-bottom investment in safety culture and day-to-day practice. Implementing practices such as community outreach, agency collaboration and pre-task planning benefits project teams as well as the public at large.

Walsh looks forward to continuing our commitment to safety for the Capitol Hill community at the upcoming Broadway Center for Youth, which is due to start this summer directly across Broadway from the Pride Place project. Community Roots Housing and YouthCare will continue the revitalization of this bustling intersection with the development of 84 additional affordable homes and the new YouthCare Constellation Center. Hop on a bus, bike or streetcar to come check it out!

JJ is a senior project manager at Walsh Construction, providing strategic project leadership to affordable housing projects throughout Seattle. Anthony Sherman is a superintendent at Walsh Construction focused on proactive planning and partnership with trades to safely deliver mixed-use projects across the Pacific Northwest.

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