Thursday, July 29, 2010

WSDOT Begin Demolition at Seattle’s Pier 48

Contractors with the Washington State Department of Transportation on Wednesday began demolishing a 120,000-square-foot warehouse at Pier 48 near the Port of Seattle.

The $460,000 demolition project is expected to take about four months and WSDOT plans to use the 6.5 acre site to stage equipment and materials during construction work on the Alaskan Way Viaduct replacement project.

WSDOT reports that the warehouse is located on about 4 acres of pier that sit atop severely damaged wood pilings. The warehouse itself has also been described as unsafe and requiring prohibitive maintenance and repair costs. WSDOT purchased the site from the Port of Seattle in 2008 in anticipation of the viaduct replacement project now wending its way through political and legal channels. The site abuts the Port of Seattle's Pier 46 container terminal on the north which will not be affected by viaduct replacement work, according to WSDOT and other familiar with the project.

The WSDOT demolition plans call for contractor R.W. Rhine, Inc. of Tacoma to recycle roughly 50 percent of the warehouse material, including metal siding, roofing material and wood.

The WSDOT contractor working on the southern mile of the Viaduct project between South Holgate Street and South King Street will be the first to utilize the site, staging equipment and materials on the 2.5 acre upland area that does not sit on pilings.