PORT ANGELES — Construction equipment is arriving at the Port Angeles International Gateway Transportation Center site.
Pile driving at the downtown site — bounded by Railroad Avenue on the north to Front Street on the south along Lincoln Street — .is slated to begin on Monday.
Pile driving will be done between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m.
It could last up to six working days, depending on conditions and progress.
The work consists of installing 40-foot-long and 4-foot-wide steel sheets, primarily along the Lincoln Street side of the site.
The sheets will be driven into the ground using a model D19-42 single acting diesel impact hammer that weighs about 5.5 tons, fully assembled, and stands 29 feet tall.
The hammer will be assembled on Saturday.
Pile driving is not an unusual construction technique.
But since the condition of soils and nearby buildings is unknown, engineers with the project’s contractor, Primo Construction of Carlsborg, aren’t sure exactly what might happen.
Crack monitors were to be installed on nearby buildings in preparation for the work, and businesses have been notified.
The $13.8 million Gateway Center will include a transit building with a public plaza with a pavilion roof, clock tower and a bus lane plus the two-tiered parking garage.
Primo Construction of Carlsborg began excavation work in the first week of June and construction is expected to last until late summer next year.
Regular construction schedule updates will be provided on the city’s Web site at www.cityofpa.us/gatewayproject.htm.
For more information phone Jim Mahlum, project engineer, at 360-417-4701 or e-mail him at jmahlum@cityofpa.us.
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Reporter Brian Gawley can be reached at 360-417-3532 or brian.gawley@peninsuladailynews.com.
