Category: Foothills Trails

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Foothills White River Bridge

We started to understand that this bridge had captured the hearts and minds of the community when we saw the photos/videos uploaded onto Google Maps even before the official bridge opening on September 28. We were energized by the number of people who were there at the ribbon cutting celebration. We were humbled by the effort put in by the community members and decisionmakers that got the funding in place to replace the bridge and make it exclusively for non-motorized users.

What an honor to be entrusted with the role of designing this important connection, and to be there to see the finished bridge being enjoyed by so many – parents pushing strollers, kids on bikes, and the elderly. This is why we do what we do.

We are thankful for the partnerships with the larger project team, and we are grateful for the collaboration with the construction team. Their pride in their craft and their skills in fabricating the parts and constructing all the pieces together from plans, made what we see today possible. These photos below are courtesy of King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks. Here is their press release for more photos, a video, and further details. Enjoy!

The community walking and rolling across the bridge prior to the opening ceremony.
The three-arched bridge spans the meandering White River.
The community enjoyed snacks, music, and words from speakers before the ribbon-cutting.
Renderings conveyed the design vision of the V+M team to the decision makers, community, and the construction team.

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Foothills Trail Pedestrian Bridge Arch Lift

Network arch main span

V+M is excited to share that the project reached a milestone yesterday as the bridge network arch span (70 tons of steel) was lifted into place onto the two piers to span the White River, to form part of the connection of the Foothill Trails between Buckley and Enumclaw, WA. Despite the lift being scheduled early in the morning before the excessive heat wave during mid-day, a crowd stood by to witness the feat completed in about five hours.

The lift was a well-choreographed dance, with a large truck rolling the 140,000-lbs arch structure from the staging area down toward the river. The 172-foot span was hoisted by a 550-ton crane and suspended over the chocolaty version of the usual milkyWhite River. The leading end was handed off to a second 550-ton crane placed on the far riverbank as the truck continued to support the arch. The first crane then picked up the trailing end of the arch off the truck to complete the placement of the tied arch onto the piers.

Foothills Trail White River Bridge on Vimeo

V+M is the bridge designer and Engineer of Record. King County is the Owner, Huitt Zollars is the Prime Consultant for this section of the Foothills Trail, the General Contractor is Ceccanti, and the cranes were supplied by Omega Morgan. Kudos to the construction team in making this a safe and successful lift!

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Foothills Trail White River Pedestrian Bridge

It has been a busy start to 2023 for us here at V+M Structural Design… including the Foothills Trail White River Pedestrian Bridge going to construction! The questions from the contractor to our designers have ramped up as part of our construction support services role for King County Parks. The official groundbreaking was January 18, 2023.

The V+M Team designed this long-awaited pedestrian bridge over the White River that will connect existing trails to allow people to walk and roll along a 22-mile path from Enumclaw to Puyallup. This arch bridge will have spans measuring 172, 172, and 227 feet and is designed to carry both trail users and emergency vehicles. Our design reuses two one-hundred-year-old highway bridge piers (that will be seismically upgraded) which demonstrates that we are not afraid to tackle engineering challenges in our commitment to lessen our impact on the environment.

Do check out the V+M bridge renderings in the local Enumclaw newspaper (or zoom in on the photo above)!