Washington Group International was an American corporation which provided integrated engineering, construction and management services to businesses and governments around the world. Based in Boise, Idaho

Boise, Idaho

Boise is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho, as well as the county seat of Ada County. Located on the Boise River, it anchors the Boise City-Nampa metropolitan area and is the largest city between Salt Lake City, Utah and Portland, Oregon.As of the 2010 Census Bureau,...

, it had approximately 25,000 employees working in over 40 states and more than 30 countries. Its primary areas of expertise were: infrastructure, mining, industrial/process, energy & environment, and power. It was acquired by URS Corporation

URS Corp.

URS Corporation is an engineering design firm and a U.S. federal government contractor. Headquartered in San Francisco, California, URS is a full-service, global organization with offices located in the Americas, Europe and Asia-Pacific.-History:...

 of San Francisco

San Francisco, California

San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...

 in November 2007 for $3.1 billion, and currently operates as the "Energy and Construction Division" of URS.

Origins

At the age of 30, Dennis R. Washington

Dennis Washington

Dennis R. Washington is a Montana-based industrialist and philanthropist who owns, or co-owns controlling interest in, a large consortium of privately held companies collectively known as the Washington Companies and, in Canada, another collection of companies known as the Washington Marine Group...

 founded Washington Construction Company in Missoula, Montana

Missoula, Montana

Missoula is a city located in western Montana and is the county seat of Missoula County. The 2010 Census put the population of Missoula at 66,788 and the population of Missoula County at 109,299. Missoula is the principal city of the Missoula Metropolitan Area...

 in 1964. He guided the company to the top of the civil construction market in Montana

Montana

Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...

, and expanded into mining, industrial construction, and environmental cleanup work. As his company grew into a major regional firm, Washington's vision for the future continued to expand also - leading to a series of acquisitions that produced an international company.

In 1993 it expanded its heavy civil construction-operation, when it merged with Kasler Corporation, a California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

-based firm with large-scale operations in heavy-civil construction.

Morrison-Knudsen Co.

In 1996, the Washington Group acquired Morrison-Knudsen Co. of Boise, the major construction company. M-K was one of the consortium of firms that built Hoover Dam

Hoover Dam

Hoover Dam, once known as Boulder Dam, is a concrete arch-gravity dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River, on the border between the US states of Arizona and Nevada. It was constructed between 1931 and 1936 during the Great Depression and was dedicated on September 30, 1935, by President...

 and the San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge, the Trans-Alaska Pipeline and many other large projects of American infrastructure. M-K was also involved in the construction of rail projects such as the BART

Bay Area Rapid Transit

Bay Area Rapid Transit is a rapid transit system serving the San Francisco Bay Area. The heavy-rail public transit and subway system connects San Francisco with cities in the East Bay and suburbs in northern San Mateo County. BART operates five lines on of track with 44 stations in four counties...

 extension (M-K also built 80 C2 cars for BART) and the single track Apoera

Apoera

Apoera, also Apura, is a town in western Suriname. It is the final destination of the Southern East-West Link. north-west on the other side of the Courantyne River lies the Guyanese village of Orealla...

-Bakhuys railway in Suriname

Economy of Suriname

Suriname was ranked the 124th safest investment destination in the world in the March 2011 Euromoney Country Risk rankings.- Bauxite :The backbone of the economy of Suriname is the export of aluminium oxide and small amounts of aluminium produced from bauxite mined in the country...

 (1976–1977). It built the California Cars

Amtrak California

Amtrak California is a brand name used by the Caltrans Division of Rail for all state-supported Amtrak rail routes within the U.S. State of California...

 as well as other rail passenger cars and light rail. It also built locomotives, originally under its own name and later under subsidiary MK Rail from 1994–1996, such as the MK5000C

MK5000C

The MK5000C is a North American diesel-electric locomotive developed by the rail division of Morrison Knudsen known as MK Rail. At the time of its introduction in 1994, the MK5000C was the most powerful single prime mover diesel-electric locomotive ever made, a title it would hold for only for one...

 and the F40PHM-2C. M-K also rebuilt locomotives, including the four Delaware & Hudson ALCO PA

ALCO PA

ALCO PA refers to a family of A1A-A1A diesel locomotives built to haul passenger trains that were built in Schenectady, New York in the United States by a partnership of the American Locomotive Company and General Electric between June, 1946 and December, 1953...

s. Its Australian operations (based in Whyalla, South Australia) rebuilt a number of locomotives for both private and public operators.

M-K's origins date to 1905, when Harry Morrison met Morris Knudsen while working on the construction of the New York Canal (irrigation

Irrigation

Irrigation may be defined as the science of artificial application of water to the land or soil. It is used to assist in the growing of agricultural crops, maintenance of landscapes, and revegetation of disturbed soils in dry areas and during periods of inadequate rainfall...

) in southwestern Idaho

Idaho

Idaho is a state in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans". Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, as the 43rd state....

. Morrison was a 27 year-old concrete superintendent for the Reclamation Service; Knudsen was a fifty-something Nebraska

Nebraska

Nebraska is a state on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. The state's capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha, on the Missouri River....

 farmer (and Danish

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

 immigrant) with a team of horses and a fresno scraper

Fresno Scraper

The Fresno Scraper is a machine used for constructing canals and ditches in sandy soil.It was invented in 1883 by the Scottish immigrant and entrepreneur James Porteous who, having worked with farmers in Fresno, California, had recognised the dependence of the Central San Joaquin Valley on...

.

Their first venture together was in 1912, on a pump plant in nearby Grand View

Grand View, Idaho

Grand View is a city in Owyhee County, Idaho, United States. The population was 470 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Boise City–Nampa, Idaho Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:Grand View is located at ....

, where they lost money but gained experience. For several years the firm built irrigation canals, logging roads, and railways. They incorporated in 1923, the year gross revenues topped $1 million.

During World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, M-K built airfields, storage depots, and ships, and it later expanded into foreign construction. It built the locks on the St. Lawrence Seaway, the DEW

Distant Early Warning Line

The Distant Early Warning Line, also known as the DEW Line or Early Warning Line, was a system of radar stations in the far northern Arctic region of Canada, with additional stations along the North Coast and Aleutian Islands of Alaska, in addition to the Faroe Islands, Greenland, and Iceland...

 system, Minuteman

LGM-30 Minuteman

The LGM-30 Minuteman is a U.S. nuclear missile, a land-based intercontinental ballistic missile . As of 2010, the version LGM-30G Minuteman-III is the only land-based ICBM in service in the United States...

 missile silos, NASA's

NASA

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...

 Kennedy Space Center

Kennedy Space Center

The John F. Kennedy Space Center is the NASA installation that has been the launch site for every United States human space flight since 1968. Although such flights are currently on hiatus, KSC continues to manage and operate unmanned rocket launch facilities for America's civilian space program...

, and over 100 major dams. Knudsen died in 1943, Morrison in 1971.

M-K was led into some risky non-core areas by Boise native William Agee

William Agee

William Joseph Agee is an American businessman. In 1976 at age 38, he became the youngest non-family member CEO of a Fortune 100 Company when he was appointed President and CEO of the Bendix Corporation. In the 1980s and 1990s he served as Chairman, President and CEO of Morrison Knudsen Corporation...

, who became CEO in 1988, and was ousted by the board of directors

Board of directors

A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. Other names include board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees, and board of visitors...

 in February 1995. The company had been in financial difficulty for several years and declared bankruptcy that same year. It was purchased by Washington Group in 1996 for $380 million.

Additional growth

Growth by acquisition brought the Washington Group into the top tier (by size) of American construction firms. However, Washington Group also declared bankruptcy - virtually eliminating all shareholder value. In 1999 it acquired the government-services operations of Westinghouse

Westinghouse Electric (1886)

Westinghouse Electric was an American manufacturing company. It was founded in 1886 as Westinghouse Electric Company and later renamed Westinghouse Electric Corporation by George Westinghouse. The company purchased CBS in 1995 and became CBS Corporation in 1997...

 Electric Company, becoming a science and technology services leader, and in 2000 the company expanded its market leadership by acquiring Raytheon

Raytheon

Raytheon Company is a major American defense contractor and industrial corporation with core manufacturing concentrations in weapons and military and commercial electronics. It was previously involved in corporate and special-mission aircraft until early 2007...

 Engineers & Constructors, which owned Birmingham

Birmingham, Alabama

Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...

, Alabama

Alabama

Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...

 based engineering giant Rust International, to produce one of the largest companies in the industry.

However, Washington Group entered bankruptcy in 2001, but later successfully exited it.

Acquisition by URS

On May 28, 2007, URS Corporation

URS Corp.

URS Corporation is an engineering design firm and a U.S. federal government contractor. Headquartered in San Francisco, California, URS is a full-service, global organization with offices located in the Americas, Europe and Asia-Pacific.-History:...

, based in San Francisco

San Francisco, California

San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...

, announced it had reached an initial agreement with WGI management to purchase the entire company for $2.6 billion (about $80 per share). According to the plan, WGI would operate as a division of URS, with the headquarters remaining in Boise

Boise, Idaho

Boise is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho, as well as the county seat of Ada County. Located on the Boise River, it anchors the Boise City-Nampa metropolitan area and is the largest city between Salt Lake City, Utah and Portland, Oregon.As of the 2010 Census Bureau,...

. On November 15, the deal was finalized for a purchase price of $3.1 billion ($95.116 per share).

URS competitors include Bechtel

Bechtel

Bechtel Corporation is the largest engineering company in the United States, ranking as the 5th-largest privately owned company in the U.S...

, Fluor Corp., CB&I, Kiewit

Kiewit

Kiewit is a parish and township within the northernmost section of the Dutch speaking Belgian municipality of Hasselt. It borders on the municipality of Zonhoven to the north and Genk to the east, with Kuringen, a part of Hasselt, to the west....

, and Jacobs Engineering Group

Jacobs Engineering Group

Jacobs Engineering Group Inc., a publicly traded company with over 50,000 employees and 2010 revenues of nearly $10 billion, provides technical, professional, and construction services globally. Headquartered in Pasadena, California, it was founded in 1947 by Dr. Joseph J. Jacobs. Jacobs offers...

.

External links

• Washington Division of URS - official site
• Acquisition information website from URS and WGI - 15-Nov-2007
• Forbes.com - URS & Washington Group - Nuclear Fusion - 29-May-2007
• The Seattle Times - 29-May-2007