Hillsboro water project stays close to home for pipeline

The Willamette Water Supply pipeline is one of the most expensive infrastructure projects in Oregon.

A Portland company is playing a major role in one of the largest public infrastructure projects ever undertaken in the region.

Northwest Pipe Co. has so far provided all of the pipe for the Willamette Water Supply Program. When it is completed, the project will draw water from the Willamette River in Wilsonville and provide it to communities in Washington County — including Hillsboro — through more than 30 miles of pipe, a water treatment system, two reservoirs and numerous pumping stations.

Northwest Pipe, located in far North Portland, is on track to produce 19,500 feet of pipe for the first three stages of the project. The sections ranges from 48 to 66 inches in diameter, and from 48 to 60 feet long.

On a sunny late-October morning, plant manager George Ackley walked through the five huge metal-frame buildings where the pipe is being manufactured. Four were originally constructed to help build the Liberty Ships at the Portland Shipyards during World War II. Each is as long as several football fields and multiple stories high.

"It's amazing to think what it must have been like out here at the height of wartime production," said Ackley, who has been with the company for over 44 years.

During the tour, Ackley explained how huge slabs of rolled steel purchased by the company are twisted into the shape of large pipes on two massive machines, then welded at their seams to retain their shape.

"Think of it like a toilet paper tube," Ackley said.

Many of the pipes are designed for specific locations along the route and must be modified with special fittings, including flanges and access points for manholes. All of that welding is x-rayed, too.

"Check after check after check," Ackley said of the process to guarantee they will last 100 years or more with proper maintenance.

The pipes are moved around by overhead cranes and a massive forklift that also loads them on semi-truck trailers to be taken to where they will be buried along the route. The first stages are where work on other projects is taking place, including South Hillsboro, the large new subdivision along Tualatin Valley Highway where thousands of new homes are beginning to be built.

The company has grown into an international supplier of pipes for water and wastewater projects. It has more than 500 employees and other manufacturing plants in California, Mexico, West Virginia and Texas. Its pipes have been used in projects around the world.

Despite its local roots, the Willamette Water Supply Project is the first time its products have been used in the region.

The Willamette Water Supply Program is a parnership between Hillsboro and the Tualatin Valley Water District, which serves more than 200,000 Washington County customers in Hillsboro, Beaverton and Tigard. When completed, the pipeline will run from the river to Hillsboro, with customers drawing water along the way.

The cost of the project is $1.2 billion, a little less than TriMet's MAX line between Portland and Milwaukie. It includes a water treatment plant and pump station in Sherwood and storage tanks near Cooper Mountain Nature Park in Beaverton.

Although the project will not be completed until 2026, workers are currently digging a trench for the section of the pipeline slated to pass under the coming Southeast Tualatin Valley Highway and follow Southwest Cornelius Pass Road all the way to Highway 26.

At the South Hillsboro location, project managers worked with the Oregon Department of Transportation to reconfigure the intersection of Cornelius Pass and TV Highway to cut down on lane closures, limiting the impact on drivers. Future placement of the pipeline north of TV Highway will coincide with the planned widening of Cornelius Pass Road there.

"We're building the pipeline before South Hillsboro is built," said Andre Tolme, project manager.

Several other worksites are also underway along the pipeline route. In Sherwood, crews are blasting through a hillside to lay pipeline and extend Southwest 124th Avenue. They've already tunneled under railroad tracks. Steve Clapper, a supervisor with the pipeline project, says the blasted rock is being reused as roadbed to save on hauling costs.

The majority of the money spent on the project is staying in the region, a major selling point for the project partners. According to project documents, the partners have spent $41.3 million on the project so far. Most of that has gone to 85 local contractors and businesses. Kerr Contractors is working on the 124th Avenue and South Hillsboro projects, the first two portions of pipeline construction.

Beginning in 2018, crews are scheduled to continue extending the pipeline from TV Highway to Southeast Frances Street in Hillsboro. Construction from Southwest Farmington Road is set to begin in 2019.

The longest stretch of the pipeline, a 7.7-mile section southwest of Beaverton, runs from Farmington Road south to Bull Mountain, and should begin construction in 2018.