Meet Oscar

While Oscar the Oscillator has moved on to his next job, his work was essential to building a safer, earthquake-ready Abernethy Bridge. He bored deep into the ground—over 200 feet—to install strong shafts that will support the bridge. Oscar rotated these shafts while pushing them down until they were anchored in bedrock, which is hard and solid rock that withstands earthquakes.

When Oscar was on this project, he was the strongest, operating oscillator in North America. He stood two stories tall—about 34 feet— and weighed 200,000 pounds or 100 tons. That's the weight of 26 elephants like Samudra from the Oregon Zoo, or one loaded Boeing 757.

Constructed in Germany by Leffer, Oscar traveled in pieces by ship through the Panama Canal. When Oscar arrived at the Port of Tacoma, he traveled by truck and was assembled at the work site.

Oscar is owned by the drilling subcontractor, and once he finished working on the I-205 Abernethy Bridge Project, he packed up and headed to his next job. Thank you for everything, Oscar.