Peek inside the Oregon State Capitol as crews work to finish new foundation
Each floor was its own symphony at the Oregon State Capitol Monday as over 250 construction workers prepared to pour a new foundation.
On the upper floors it was pleasant: a worker laughing and singing along to the radio, the satisfying scrape of old paint off the walls. But below, underneath where the basement would be, called for ear protection.
Supporting the concrete and marble historic building requires heavy duty work.
Aaron Jones, superintendent for Hoffman Construction, can’t pick his favorite part about the effort.
“I think all of it, really,” he said, smiling. “It’s incredible to think that we have held up a building that weighs 160 million pounds with temporary measures. And we’re working underneath there, digging down, and doing what we do. And now we’re putting it back to a condition that should almost be seamless.”
Jones gave a tour of construction progress to Salem area media on Monday. This week, crews will bring in over 60 truckloads of cement to fill in a slab of foundation, the last part of their deepest excavation, about a building story deep into the ground.
Wrapping up the foundation is a major step in the multi-year project bringing seismic, accessibility, electrical and plumbing upgrades to the home of Oregon’s Legislature.
Floors one to four of the Capitol are set to be finished in April 2025, and the basement level is set to be finished that summer, Jodie Jones, project director for the Captiol Accessibility, Maintenance and Safety project, said in an email. Jodie and Aaron Jones are not related.
The entire project, including landscaping, is scheduled to be finished in late 2026. Its total budget for all three phases is $598 million.
That includes $90 million legislators allocated in 2023 after the project went significantly over its original budget. Jones said the price increases were due to inflation and an expanded scope that included safety improvements to the rotunda, elevator and fire alert system.
The first phase of the project, which the Legislature approved in 2016, cost $59.9 million and included new stairs, accessible entrances and replacing failing mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems.
Phase two, at $73.3 million, was approved in 2020 and expanded on those upgrades, while making seismic upgrades to the 1977 portion of the building that includes the wings, hearing rooms and garage, Jodie Jones said.
She said they are trying not to use the entire expanded budget.
This week, underneath the Capitol, crews are working to torch and remove some of the 5 million pounds of temporary steel structures which held the building aloft. Those structures surround new cement pillars which will bear the weight of the building in their stead.
Their work added base isolators to hold the building’s weight, meaning the building itself has some wiggle room within divots in the event of an earthquake. That, paired with a hidden “moat” around the whole thing will allow the building to slide back and forth upright, riding out the seismic waves.
They’ll also beef up support around the Gold Man atop the building, which Aaron Jones said shifted a little during the 5.6 magnitude Scotts Mills earthquake that damaged the Capitol in 1993.
Jones said the work will likely keep the Capitol in good shape for another century. He said it feels different than previous jobs, like his work at the Portland International Airport’s new terminal, where you’re taking out work that was put in only a few decades prior.
“They’re always changing. A building like this, this is a lasting legacy that will be here forever,” Jones said, voice raised to compete with the clanging and thrum around him. He pointed up. “The Gold Man, he’s an icon of the entire state.”
Contact reporter Abbey McDonald: [email protected] or 503-575-1251.
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Abbey McDonald joined the Salem Reporter in 2022. She previously worked as the business reporter at The Astorian, where she covered labor issues, health care and social services. A University of Oregon grad, she has also reported for the Malheur Enterprise, The News-Review and Willamette Week.
