Protecting bridges and roads from flood damage is a key service offered by WSE. Our staff bring significant experience in bridge hydraulics, scour evaluation, and habitat-friendly erosion countermeasures.
Over the past 25 years, Jeff has become one of the Northwest’s most respected engineers in the hydraulic design and evaluation of road crossings and the protection of roads themselves. Jeff’s interest in bridges began in college when the Washington State Department of Transportation funded his Masters Degree research which examined bridge scour prediction methods in the Pacific Northwest. Since then he has completed over 400 bridge scour evaluations, over 50 bridge hydraulic investigations for new and replacement crossings, over 25 fish passage culvert designs, and numerous designs for scour and erosion countermeasures.
WSE is personally committed to advancing industry standards to develop reasonable, cost-effective designs for crossings and countermeasures that minimize or eliminate impacts to habitat. WSE focuses on providing clients with practical advice based upon sound science, engineering, and personal knowledge which allows clients to make educated and informed decisions.
Examples of our work in bridge and road protection
128th Street in Pierce County will be widened from two to four lanes to accommodate a new arterial that will serve a large masterplan community near Orting, WA.
The existing 428th Ave. SE bridge over the North Fork Snoqualmie River is at risk of damage by scour and erosion and the roads leading to the bridge are frequently overtopped by flood water.
WSE, retained by Sargent Engineers, provided hydraulic design services for the replacement of an aging bridge over Ten Mile Creek in Whatcom County, WA.
Watershed Science & Engineering (WSE) was retained by Kittitas County to prepare an alternatives analysis to identify and compare solutions to an active bank erosion problem along the Yakima River at Ringer Loop Road.
Innis Creek Road passes through a large wetland in which water levels rise above and typically inundate the road surface throughout the late fall, winter and spring.
Three Chelan County bridges sustained significant scour and erosion damage during a major flood in September 2013.
Landslides and channel instability in High Creek produce excessive sediment that is deposited in the downstream channel reach.
Spencer Road bridge over Blue Creek in Lewis County is experiencing significant sediment deposition problems.
WSE was retained to provide hydraulic and geomorphic engineering services for the Dry Creek Bridge Replacement Project in Kittitas County, Washington.
WSE provided hydraulic design services for the replacement of an aging forest service bridge over Chikamin Creek in Chelan County, WA.
WSE was retained to design emergency scour protection for a threatened bridge pier located within Bear Creek in Central Point, Oregon.
The McKenzie River is actively eroding a 1500-foot long section of river bank adjacent to a cable-stay bridge that is owned by the Wildish Corporation in Eugene, Oregon.
WSE was retained to provide hydraulic engineering services for the Hunter Creek Bridge Replacement Project in Mason County, Washington.
The Kittitas County Department of Public Works plans to widen 4.5 miles of the Kittitas Highway between the City limits of Ellensburg and Kittitas.