Entrance to Howard Hanson Dam in 2009; from this earlier blog post

Howard Hanson Dam is central to preventing Green River flooding, and it’s been in the news in the past few days.  Seventeen years ago the dam needed major updates in order to store it’s full design capacity of water. Public officials from potential flood areas including Renton participated in helping the Army Corps of engineers acquire the necessary funding to make permanent repairs and install temporary levee extensions (walls of sandbags on top of existing levees) in case we experienced a bad flood while completing the repairs.

The concern was not with the dam itself, but rather the soil near the dam.  The dam is located in a valley that was narrowed by a landslide 10,000 years ago.   This ancient landslide was beginning to seep water, and the Army Corps of engineers ultimately injected concrete into this landslide zone to stop the water from forming streams that ultimately could have grown into a washout.  The concerns subsided in spring of 2010 as repairs were completed.

This blog post from 2009 documents a visit by public officials to this site where we got a personal view of the problem near the dam.  Councilmember Terri Briere and I attended and represented Renton.

Public officials from Renton, Kent, Auburn and King County inspect the Howard Hanson dam in 2009; see this blog post for more photos

Renton Councilmember Terri Briere inspecting the Howard Hanson dam in 2009; see this blog post for more photos

To see all the posts I’ve published concerning Howard Hanson Dam, please click here.

Accumulated floating debris between the Renton kayak launch and the Boeing 737 factory near the Cedar River delta illustrates how much material came down the Cedar River

Large logs and silt have accumulated at the Cedar River delta as a result of last week’s flooding. The large logs will ultimately need to be dealt with by authorities for the safety of Renton’s seaplane base. While the woody material and sand bar is good for salmon, it attracts seabirds which is undesirable for all airplanes using Renton airport. (In this photo the Cedar River is entering the lake from the left, midway back in the picture.)

In my previous entry on December 9th, I shared the concern that NOAA was predicting a five-foot increase in the water level in the Cedar River in Renton over the next few days (December 9th-12).  Their predictions proved fairly accurate, and our city went through an anxious and restless few days as water levels in the river ultimately rose to the bottoms of some of our downtown bridges before finally subsiding.

As an atmospheric river deluged Western Washington and the Cascade foothills, city crews and residents worked to protect our city and others as best they could while Army Corps and Seattle engineers captured as much water as they could in reservoirs on the Cedar River, Green River, Skagit River, and elsewhere.

Thankfully, the rain slowed about when NOAA had predicted, right when Cedar River’s Chester Morse reservoir was topped out at about 10 percent above it’s normal high water mark– a point where no more water could have been sequestered.

During these events many Renton residents (me included) had taken to Facebook and other social media to share real-time information and photos.  With this blog entry, I’m bringing this blog up-to-date on these posts.

Authorities are only beginning to assess the damage from this flooding, and I’m sure there has been hardship and property damage that we are not yet aware of.  There have been reports on social media that some people in Renton were displaced from their homes at the Riviera Apartments and likely elsewhere.  My sincere sympathies are with everyone who has been impacted, and I encourage everyone to report any damage to the city for possible Federal and State assistance.

Even with the new rain we are experiencing, NOAA shows the Cedar River might only touch the “minor” flood stage, about four or five feet lower than last week’s record flood stage.

However, today a new threat to Renton and Tukwila arose when a Green River levee failed near Southcenter mall, causing an emergency evacuation of parts of the valley.

This warning was issued early this afternoon. A warning is still in place but is being scaled back to a smaller area as work continues on the levee.

Current NOAA prediction for Renton shows only the potential for minor flooding on the Cedar River in the near-term foreseeable future

Below the cut I’ve included my Facebook posts from the past week, along with photos of the high water in the Cedar River that crested last Thursday and Friday.

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Motorists on South Second Street are warned about Rainier Ave traffic delays ahead

One key lesson every good project manager learns early in their career: if you want a project to come in on budget, it must come in on schedule.  Delays create extra labor costs, out-of-sequence work, tool and equipment shortages, evolving requirements, and other consequences that can dramatically increase the costs.

I previously described the eight months of delays and $4,000,000 cost increase on this project in a blog post in March: “Motorists and businesses losing patience with delayed Rainier Avenue project, originally scheduled to finish this week”

Monday we learned that these delays have cost Renton another $3,400,000. The complete ten-page spending bill can be found here.

Excerpt from this December 1, 2025 spending bill

The following excerpt from one of the engineering contractors on this project shows how initial delays cascade into further delays, and new costs rapidly accumulate as requirements and processes shift over time (emphasis added).

“All documentation was developed by our team and subsequently approved by the City and its legal review team expeditiously following Notice to Proceed. Unfortunately, we were unable to proceed with presenting and securing these property rights due to evolving pre-certification review complications between WSDOT and City management lasting approximately seven to eight months. That said, we’ve been notified recently that these oversight issues are resolved and that our team will shortly be given approval to make offers.

The complicating factors at this point, and the purpose of this contract amendment request, is that all valuations are now over six months old, as are the project’s title reports, and WSDOT recently has undergone extensive updates to its Right of Way Manual in the last 60 days resulting in a total redrafting of all of the City’s temporary construction easement documents. Also notable: in an unprecedented compliance order for all local public agencies, WSDOT is now requiring pre-approval on all Administrative Settlement Justifications on a parcel-by-parcel basis for negotiations settlements $1 or more above Fair Market Value. It is difficult to estimate how much more effort this WSDOT review will cost, but we will be diligent to secure these approvals as efficiently and quickly as possible.

Regarding our increased fee request, the revisions to all (26) Appraisal Waivers and redrafting of all of the offer packages are effectively a restart of most of our efforts.” 

Keeping on schedule starts at the top.  Renton’s previous Public Works director brought in earlier phases of Rainier Avenue improvement on time and on budget, with very few lane closures.  He personally inspected the construction sites daily, and kept the project moving as planned.  When anything got off schedule, those of us in elected office would help him get it back on schedule.  Renton’s current Public Works director often phones into meetings from his home on Bainbridge Island, and has never lived in King County.  Lengthy lane closures and delays have been the norm on this project, and it feels like little has been done to protect the schedule or cost to taxpayers.

Motorists have had to contend with perpetual jams from constant lane closures during most of this project; previous phases of Rainier Ave Improvement were done with few lane closures.

Residents should make it clear to Renton leadership that no more delays and no more tax money will be tolerated for this project– it’s way past time to get it done.