Soil under pressure

Published 9:36 am Thursday, October 2, 2008

The 29,000,000-pound mound of dirt at River Street and Maple Avenue in Snoqualmie stands high enough that the bulldozers cruising around on top of it are well above head height.

But Snoqualmie city officials, who fielded calls from residents concerned about the growing pile last week, say it’s not a permanent feature in the landscape and doesn’t break any city fill dirt rules.

Construction began July 5 for the new Snoqualmie City Hall, with Hos Brothers Construction of Woodinville hauling in about 8,500 cubic yards of dirt from the Microsoft campus in Redmond. Crews are preparing the site’s foundation with an 11-foot-tall pre-load of dirt, which is being used to compress and compact the soil underneath.

Many residents have expressed concern about the amount of dirt, said Mike Roy, operations manager for Snoqualmie’s public works department.

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