Link-Belt 85|RT Powers Seattle’s Overlook Walk Urban Renewal Project

Taking center stage for eight months on the Seattle waterfront, a Link-Belt 85|RT 85-ton rough terrain crane was a key player on one of the city’s most ambitious urban renewal projects. For the Overlook Walk development, the crane provided precision lifting in a dense high-traffic environment.

The Overlook Walk, a decades-long initiative led by the Hoffman Construction Company of Portland, Oregon, is a pedestrian pathway linking Seattle’s famous Pike Place Market to the city’s evolving waterfront. The development features vendor spaces, event areas and a pedestrian bridge to the newly expanded Seattle Aquarium.

Navigating the logistics of this high-profile project required strategic equipment selection, noted John Hamilton, project manager at Hoffman. For its easy transportability and compact footprint, he related, Hoffman purchased the 85|RT from Triad Machinery of Tacoma, Washington. “The crane’s efficient, straightforward setup and breakdown allowed us to maintain a compact and well-organized jobsite,” he added.

Other features of the Link-Belt 85|RT that impressed Hoffman were the crane’s 142 feet of greaseless boom, which provided needed capacities at radius. On the job, the machine was used to lift materials such as 7,000-pound boulders, precast benches, rebar bundles and 9,600-pound shoring tower flange beams from street level up a vertical incline to elevated walkways.

With the 85|RT’s Variable Confined Area Lifting Capacities (V-CALC) feature and multiple cameras, completing lifts in confined spaces and traveling down tight roadways was seamless for Hoffman. Hamilton also noted that features such as its four-link rear suspension, all-wheel steering and LED lighting helped make navigating the congested jobsite simple.

Inside the cab, design features of the Link-Belt 85|RT impressed crane operator Nick Jaramillo of Seattle-based Garner Construction, a contractor on the project. Of note were the RT’s cab tilt, controls and Link-Belt Pulse 2.0 rated capacity limiter system for fine-tuning swing, winch and boom reaction speeds.

“Those features ensured smooth, consistent lifts and operational precision,” Jaramillo said. “They were critical for handling the diverse tasks required on-site. And you can quickly set it to your liking, and it’s ready to work. Everything we needed to do with the 85|RT, we could do.”