Parsons Recognized For Engineering Excellence In Fish Barrier Removal Project
CENTREVILLE, VA (June 18, 2021) – Parsons Corporation (NYSE: PSN) announced today that the company’s Coffee Creek Fish Barrier Removal project received a National Recognition Award from the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) as part of the 2021 Engineering Excellence Awards.
The Coffee Creek project is part of a Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) undertaking to address the important ecological and economic issue of opening blocked salmon spawning habitat as part of a treaty-based duty to preserve fish runs for 21 northwest Washington Tribes who utilize the runs for Tribal harvest. The state is working to remove barriers at nearly 1,000 stream crossings that lie beneath Washington roads.
“This prestigious award acknowledges a meaningful contribution to environmental justice through restoration of Tribal resources, and to the engineering profession by providing a template for the future application of design-build delivery to projects emphasizing the restoration of fish-friendly stream systems and habitats within the built environment” said Ethan Melone, Pacific Northwest Area Manager for Parsons. “We’re proud to be a part of this unique project and honored by this recognition that reflects our dedication to providing unmatched value to our customers.”
For the first time ever on a stand-alone fish-passage project, WSDOT implemented a design-build project delivery approach to remove the fish barriers at Coffee Creek on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula. Parsons developed an Alternative Technical Concept (ATC) as part of the procurement process. This ATC addressed the hydraulic/hydrologic and geomorphic complexity of the creek systems, providing significant habitat improvement within a smaller construction footprint, while reducing the impact to the traveling public and improving the interchange geometrics.
The completed project is already an ecological success, as spawning salmon were spotted in the new Coffee Creek channel upstream and downstream of the crossing just weeks after it opened.
ACEC’s Engineering Excellence Awards is an annual competition that acknowledges engineering companies for projects that exemplify an outstanding level of innovation, complexity, achievement, and value.
To learn more about Parsons’ Road and Highway expertise, visit Parsons.com/road-highway/.
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