This fall, the United Parcel Service (UPS) will complete construction on a massive new warehouse, bringing hundreds of new jobs to Tacoma. The Port of Tacoma identified the site as a future industrial development area years before UPS got involved and hired SCJ to prepare the land for whatever industrial use came its way.
“Working in civil engineering requires an eye toward the future,” SCJ Principal Amy Head said. “The final use of a site can often be years ahead of when we’re working there.”
SCJ developed an interim grading plan to address onsite drainage issues and analyzed the adjacent, existing infrastructure to determine what upgrades were needed for future development. Next, the team prepared preliminary design drawings and cost estimates of those improvements.
To ready the site, SCJ suggested widening 12th Street to allow for future truck demands and green street elements such as bioswales and filter strips. In order to do that, existing drainage would need to be relocated. The team also suggested widening 8th Street to prepare drainage upgrades and move a lift station.
Other project elements included designing a large onsite drainage ditch and culverts along Wapato Creek, coordinating with Tacoma Power to relocate existing poles, and coordinating with the cities of Tacoma and Fife on permitting.
“When UPS announced this year it would be opening the new facility, I felt a great deal of pride for our role in making that economic advancement a possibility,” said Amy.
The facility will be up and running in time for the 2017 holiday season, according to a UPS statement this June.
