Kent Bridge Placement

CHG Building Systems, Inc. completed setting a 130-foot long, 60,000 pound steel pedestrian bridge as part of the City of Kent’s Riverview Park Ecosystem Restoration project. The bridge was pre-fabricated in Alabama and shipped to the site in two pieces. CHG then joined the two pieces and set it into position using a 265-ton hydraulic crane before the channel it spans was excavated resulting in significant cost savings.

Begun in April 2012 the project is part of the city’s overall strategy for salmon habitat restoration and flood control. The project will create a new side channel to the Green River that will provide 50,000 cubic yards of flood water storage during high flows as well as refuge for multiple endangered salmon species including Chinook, steelhead and bull trout.

When, completed, Riverview Park will include fish habitat and thousands of native plants. An adaptive monitoring plan will be in place to determine the success of the project. It will include a footbridge to allow pedestrians to see and experience the new channel and the new plantings on the riverbank.

The cost to construct the side channel is $3 million and is funded through a partnership of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers , the city of Kent, the Water Resource Inventory Area 9 (WRIA 9) Ecosystem Forum, the Washington State Salmon Recovery Funding Board and the King Conservation District.

The general contractor for the project was PSI General Contractors.