Washington Group International

Former American engineering services company

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Washington Group International

Industry| Provided integrated engineering, construction, and management services
Founded| 1964
Founder| Dennis R. Washington
Fate| Acquired by URS Corporation
Headquarters| Boise, Idaho

Number of employees

| 25,000

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, WGI had approximately 25,000 employees working in over 40 US 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 of San Francisco in November 2007 for $3.1 billion,[1] subsequently purchased by AECOM.

## Washington Construction

[edit]

At the age of 30, Dennis R. Washington founded Washington Construction Company in Missoula, Montana in 1964. He guided the company to the top of the civil construction market in Montana, 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-based firm with large-scale operations in heavy-civil construction. Washington Construction Group Inc. was then based in Highland, California.[2]

## Morrison Knudsen Co.

[edit]

In 1996, the much smaller Washington Construction Group merged with Morrison-Knudsen Corp. of Boise, which had been in financial difficulty.[2]

## Acquisition by URS

[edit]

On May 28, 2007, URS Corporation, based in San Francisco, 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. On November 15, the price was increased and finalized for a purchase price of $3.1 billion ($95.116 per share).[1]

URS competitors include Bechtel, Fluor Corp., CB&I, Kiewit, and Jacobs Engineering Group.

URS was purchased by AECOM in 2014.[3]

## See also

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* List of locomotive builders
* Top 100 US Federal Contractors

## References

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1. ^ a b Brown, Steven E. F. (January 8, 2008). "URS replaces head of new Washington division". San Francisco Business Times.
2. ^ a b "Knudsen Sets Merger With Washington". The New York Times. Associated Press. May 17, 1996.
3. ^ "AECOM completes acquisition of URS Corporation" (Press release). AECOM. 17 October 2014 - via BusinessWire.

## Further reading

[edit]

* Conley, Cort (1982). Idaho for the Curious. Backeddy Books. pp. 403–404. ISBN 978-0-9603-5663-8.
* Greenwald, John; Barrett, Laurence I.; Dawson, Patrick (April 3, 1995). "The Wreck of Morrison Knudsen". Time. Archived from the original on February 4, 2013.
* "Idaho company recovers". Seattle Times. Associated Press. July 28, 2004.[dead link]

Morrison-Knudsen ballast hopper with CIC markings on the CRANDIC at Cedar Rapids, Iowa

## External links

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* Washington Division of URS \- official site
* Forbes.com \- URS & Washington Group - Nuclear Fusion \- 29-May-2007
* The Seattle Times \- 29-May-2007

Authority control databases

International|

* ISNI
* VIAF

National|

* United States