OEMA Innovation Award for Seismic Risk Assessment

The principals of GRI have provided the Port of Portland (Port) with geotechnical, environmental, and seismic-related consulting services for over 30 years.  The geotechnical services have primarily involved floodplain and waterfront developments along the Columbia and Willamette Rivers.  Notable projects include concourses, parking structures, and roadway expansion projects at Portland International Airport; multiple water-transportation terminals, wharves, bulkheads, and docks; various industrial developments and office parks (structures, foundations, piers and piling, parking lots, roadways, embankments, infrastructure design); and numerous projects involving rivers, including bank stabilization and dredging projects.

In 2015 the Port was awarded the Oregon Emergency Management Association (OEMA) Partner Award for Innovation for the recently completed port-wide seismic risk assessment.  In response to the 2013 Oregon Resiliency Plan created by the Oregon Seismic Safety Policy Advisory Commission, the Port’s management team selected their top 20 marine and aviation assets for evaluation based primarily on a combination of revenue stream and their potential role in supporting resiliency following a significant regional earthquake.  The objective of the project was to understand the general seismic vulnerability of selected critical Port facilities and to provide benefit/cost analyses of selected mitigation strategies that could be considered for inclusion in the Port’s Capital Improvement Program (CIP).

It was an honor to be a part of this innovative project and helping to increase the seismic resiliency of the Port and the Pacific Northwest. For more information about OEMA visit their website: http://www.oregonemergency.com/.