Central City Concern's Old Town Recovery Center opened in December 2011. The new facility is located on the corner of NW Broadway and W Burnside in downtown Portland, on the site of a vacant fast-food restaurant.

In collaboration with Gerding Edlen and SERA Architects, we assisted with the environmental cleanup of the site, which was necessitated by its use as a gasoline station in the 1950s.  Our environmental services included soil, groundwater, and soil vapor sampling and supervising removal of contaminated fill and an underground storage tank. Working with the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, we kept the project on track, which allowed the developer to obtain building permits 4 months after demolition of the building.

GRI received three awards at the ACEC-Oregon Engineering Excellence 2012 awards banquet on January 11.  The entry for the NOAA Marine Operation Center - Pacific project in Newport, Oregon, won both a Grand Award in the Special Project category and the People's Choice Award. GRI and KPFF Consulting Engineers completed the geotechnical and civil engineering effort for this 1,500-ft-long dock and on-shore office and warehouse buildings while meeting a challenging schedule including in-water work window restrictions.  NOAA moved its Pacific research fleet to the successfully completed facility in August 2011.

Our second entry, US 20: Simpson Creek Curves Realignment project won an Honor Award in the Transportation category.  This 2-mile section of highway in Lincoln County, Oregon, included eight new retaining walls, new soil and rock cut slopes up to 160 ft high, and a new fish-friendly bridge over Simpson Creek.