Projects

RH2 was a member of the planning and design team that conceived and constructed the 400-room award-winning YWCA Family Village in Issaquah Highlands. The development plan originally included a pedestrian bridge to connect the residential area to a Park and Ride garage across busy NE Highlands Drive, but it was deleted after bidding due to budget constraints. RH2 proposed a unique and innovative solution that resulted in the bridge being designed and built for less than the original cost of the design alone.

The key was a prefabricated aluminum structure that allowed the footings and support columns to be simple and inexpensive. Since the bridge was light weight (due to its aluminum construction) and placed with a crane (rather than built in place), the footings and columns were significantly less expensive to design and build than the conventional supports needed for a steel bridge structure. This project, which was originally estimated to cost $1,200,000, was completed for a total cost of $360,000. The bridge is low maintenance and never needs painting. It is now an icon of the Issaquah Highlands Urban Village development and a proud part of the community.

The pedestrian bridge also improves traffic capacity on the adjacent busy arterial roadway by elevating pedestrians above the road surface and allowing more through-traffic green-time to be embedded in the signal network.