A Puget Sound Energy power pole located on the 1063 Project construction site and near the intersection of Columbia Street and Union Avenue must be removed. The pole is in the way of the construction work.

Two new poles will be erected along Columbia Street to replace the one being removed.

The work will require a power outage from 8 p. m. Thursday, Jan. 14 to 6 a.m. Friday, Jan. 15, affecting the traffic light at the intersection of Capitol Way and Union Avenue.

Washington State Patrol troopers will manage traffic at the intersection during the outage.

Other customers affected by the planned nighttime outage include:

• The apartment complex just north of the GA Building (1003 and 1009 Columbia Street).
• The apartment complex on the north side of 10th Avenue.
• The Subway sandwich shop at Capitol Way and Union Avenue. Since the electrical outage will occur at night, it is not expected to impact Subway's operations.

Puget Sound Energy has notified the landlords and owners of the affected properties.

The pole relocation work will have other impacts as well, including:

• No parking on either side of Columbia Street between Union Avenue and 10th Avenue from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Jan. 13.
• Intermittent lane closures in both directions of Columbia Street between Union Avenue and 10th Avenue from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Jan. 13.
• Intermittent lane closures in both directions of Union Avenue between Capitol Way and Columbia Street from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Jan. 13.
• Union Avenue will be closed between Capitol Way and Columbia Street from 8 a.m. Jan 14 to 6 a.m. Jan. 15.
• Columbia Street will be closed between Union Avenue and 10th Avenue from 8 a.m. Jan 14 to 6 a.m. Jan. 15.

Flaggers will be on site to manage traffic during the road and lane closures.

Tower crane arrives Jan. 13

A 150-foot-tall tower crane will arrive at the construction site the morning of Wednesday, Jan. 13. The crane will be trucked to the construction site in sections. Tower cranes are a common fixture at major construction sites. The cranes are used to lift steel, concrete, large tools and a wide variety of other building materials. The entire crane will be erected on Jan. 13 and is scheduled to begin operations on Monday, Jan. 18. The use of the crane starts the vertical construction of the new building, a major milestone for the project.

Eight large trucks will be used to deliver the crane to the construction site. A map of the construction truck route is posted on the project website.

Update on foundation/heating system work

The recent dry weather has helped with the installation of the new building's structural foundation and geothermal heating system.

More than half of the 1,011 shafts that must be drilled, filled with loose stone and aggregate, and then compressed using a vibratory hammer are now complete. The “Geopier” structural system will augment the building's foundation, helping to support the building load and lessen settlement.

And fewer than half of the wells being drilled for the building's geothermal energy system remain to be done. The system involves the drilling of 30 wells to a depth of 300 feet. Within each well, crews install a vertical loop — a one-inch diameter tube that connects the underground well to the heating and cooling system inside the building.

Watch the project

A camera mounted on the roof of the General Administration Building is pointed at the work site allowing viewers to watch the progress of the construction on the project website. The camera image is refreshed every 15 minutes.

The 1063 Block Replacement Project entails the demolition of the two state-owned structures on the block bordered by Capitol Way, 11th Avenue, Union Avenue and Columbia Street, followed by the construction of a five-story, 215,000 square-foot office building.

The new building is scheduled to be completed by fall 2017.

Send written comments and questions about the project to: EASmail@des.wa.gov.

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