Telecom Tower Engineering & New Tower Site Development in Oregon
Towers have been part of our practice since day one, and today tower development makes up about a fifth of our work. Johnson Broderick Engineering provides telecom tower engineering in Oregon and the Pacific Northwest, and our focus is on what a new tower site needs to get built: the civil site work, the land use approval and the structural design for the tower, its foundation and its equipment yard.
New tower sites
Many of the large carriers now handle routine tower analysis with their own in-house engineers. Where outside engineering still matters most is at a new site — a new tower and yard on a piece of ground that has never had one. That work crosses three disciplines, and we do all three:
- Land use — preparing and supporting the land use application for the new site (Land Use & Planning Support)
- Civil — access, grading, drainage and the equipment yard (Civil Engineering & Site Development)
- Structural — the tower foundation, equipment facilities and the tower structure itself
“I have a tower site I would like to place a new tower and yard on” is one of the calls we get. If that’s you, call us.
Tower types and telecom work
We can help with:
- Monopoles
- Guyed towers
- Self-supporting towers
- Unique transmission structures
- Telecom buildouts
- Design and analysis of equipment facilities
- Anchorage of telecom units to rooftops, water tanks and other structures
- Upgrade designs for failing or overstressed towers
- Mapping services
We analyze towers to the current TIA-222 standard and can back-analyze to previous revisions. We have a large database of towers in the Pacific Northwest and Northern California.
Otter Rock: a new tower built around a live one
At Otter Rock on the Oregon coast, the existing tower couldn’t simply be taken down and replaced — the antennas on it couldn’t go offline for as long as demolition and a new tower would take. Working with Silke Communications, a new 150-foot tower, supplied by Valmont, was built around the existing tower as an “exo-tower” skeleton, and we designed the foundation system for both towers to resist the new loads. The antennas were then shut down only briefly while they were moved from the old tower to the new. Broadcasts were interrupted for a short time, and the ownership was very happy. Read the project
Federal communications sites
We work increasingly with federal agencies on communications site design, including the US Forest Service and the Federal Aviation Administration.
Who we work with
Tower developers, carriers, broadcasters, communications companies, property owners hosting a tower or rooftop equipment, and public agencies.
Common questions
Can you help develop a new tower site?
Yes. We can provide the civil, land use and structural engineering needed to develop a new tower and yard, and we can coordinate the pieces so the land use approval, the site design and the structure line up.
Can you analyze an existing tower for new equipment?
Yes. We evaluate tower capacity and design solutions for overstressed conditions, to the current standard or to previous revisions.
Can you mount equipment on a rooftop or water tank?
Yes. We design the anchorage of telecom units to rooftops, water tanks and other structures, and check the supporting structure for the new loads.
How far will you travel for a tower site?
Anywhere in Oregon. We are also licensed in Washington and California. Remote sites may add to the cost of site visits.
Related projects
Dead Mountain Tower Site
Near Westfir: survey, site design, land use and Forest Service coordination for a new 100-foot tower beside an existing compound on Dead Mountain.
Marys Peak Replacement Tower
Corvallis: a new 100-foot self-supporting steel tower replacing a decaying wood antenna pole on Marys Peak, taken through public land use approval and permit submittal.
Otter Rock Tower Replacement
Otter Rock: foundations for a new 150-foot tower built around a working one, so the antennas stayed on the air during the changeover.
Lyons Tower Failure and Replacement
Lyons: after a guyed tower collapsed into its neighbor, JBE planned a safe controlled demolition and permitted a single new 200-foot self-supporting tower.
Bald Hill Tower Replacement
West Salem: a 200-foot guyed tower with rusted-through legs replaced by a new self-supporting tower on a mat foundation we designed and then certified.