Every civil engineer, contractor, and municipal agency in Washington knows the Standard Specifications for Road, Bridge, and Municipal Construction like the back of their hand. These are not optional suggestions. Once these specs show up in a WSDOT contract, they become enforceable law.
Why they matter
- Uniformity. The specs standardize how roads are built, bridges are designed, drainage installed, materials tested, and more. Without that consistency, every project could spin off into its own chaotic engineering wilderness.
- Risk allocation. WSDOT and its industry partners have negotiated over decades where risk should lie — in what the contractor must guarantee, what WSDOT must monitor, and what the consequences are for deviations.
- Legal weight. These specs are part of the contract. If a contractor fails to follow them, WSDOT can enforce penalties or require rework.
- Evolution and feedback. These standards don’t stay frozen. They evolve through reviews, debate among WSDOT engineers, and feedback from contractors. The changes roll into the next edition.
- Precision and bureaucracy. The specs include extremely detailed instructions: how to sample materials, how to round test results, how to adjust pay based on tolerances. Missing a procedural step can cost money or lead to rejected work.
- Hazardous trap for claims. Contractors must follow tight procedural rules to make claims. If you misstep, your claim may be denied even if the substance is valid. Davis Wright Tremaine
In short: the WSDOT Standard Specifications book is less a passive reference and more a strict, heavily defended instruction manual.
The Binding Trick: Drill, Lace, Then Hide It
From a distance, the “Standard Specifications” book looks like an ordinary perfect bound manual. But the real story is hidden behind its elegant cover.
At Puget Bindery, we appreciate the cleverness of how these books are made. Here’s how the tradesmen build them:
- Drill the text block. Before the pages see any adhesive or binding glue, the text block is precisely drilled along the spine edge. These holes are not visible in the finished product.
- Lace or sew through holes. A cord or thread is laced (or sewn) through the aligned holes in the text pages. That stitching gives strength and anchorage to the spine that plain glue sometimes lacks.
- Close it up. After lacing, the book is compressed, end-sewn or back-reinforced, then the spine is trimmed or dressed.
- Apply the cover like perfect binding. A wraparound cover is adhered, giving the illusion of a standard perfect-bound book. Nothing suggests that under the surface, it carries internal lacing or sewing.
The result: the book looks clean and commercial, yet it has an internal toughness that ordinary perfect binding alone couldn’t deliver. The hidden lacing reinforces the structure, helps the binding resist sagging under heavy use, and gives durability.
This method is rare in standard trade printing. It’s more intricate, more labor-intensive, but pays off in longevity. Books like the WSDOT Standard Specifications get heavy daily use: engineers flipping, contractors checking tables, field offices referring to clauses. The binding must survive years of wear.
Why This Binding Strategy Makes Sense for WSDOT Specs
- Durability under use. These are reference books. They see constant paging. A simple glued spine would weaken over time. The internal lacing gives extra strength.
- Aesthetic requirement. WSDOT (or its printer) wants a clean, polished appearance. No exposed cords, no bulky stitching — just a professional cover.
- Service life. These specs remain current for years (or until a new edition). The binding has to last through that cycle.
- Repairability. If a binding fails in one section, a laced structure is easier to re-sew or reinforce than a fully glued stack.
- Cost-benefit. The extra cost of drilling and lacing is modest compared to the value of preventing a binding failure in an authoritative, heavily used manual.
Contact Puget Bindery for a referral to commercial printers who are expert in creating a successful WSDOT Standards Specification project.
