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Volume 22, Issue 3 June | July 2015
UTILITIES INCREASINGLY CHOOSING UV DISINFECTION FOR WATER TREATMENT
AIA GA DESIGN AWARDS
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G E O R G I A
ENGINEER Publisher: A4 Inc. 1154 Lower Birmingham Road Canton, Georgia 30115 770-521-8877 E-mail: rfrey@a4inc.com Editor-in-Chief: Roland Petersen-Frey Managing Editor: Daniel Simmons Art Direction/Design: Pam Petersen-Frey
Contributing Authors Jim Barbaresso, Michael Cheroutes Walt Grassl Thomas Leslie Stephanie Lewis, RA, LEED AP Pete Ruane Allen Schaeffer Daniel Simmons Daniel Stolte Mindy Wall CPA, CGMA
The Georgia Engineer is published bi-monthly by A4 Inc. and pro-
vides a source of general engineering information to advance the business of engineering companies governmental agencies, municipalities, counties, department of transportation, businesses, and institutions including the university system. Opinions expressed by the authors are not necessarily those of the Georgia Engineer or its publisher nor do they accept responsibility for errors of content or omission and, as a matter of policy, neither do they endorse products or advertisements appearing herein. Parts of this publication may be reproduced with the written consent of the publisher. Correspondence regarding address changes should be sent to the publisher via e-mail to rfrey@a4inc.com or by dropping us a note at the address mentioned above. Subscriptions are available by going online at www.thegeorgiaengineer.com
Letter from the editor Here at the Georgia Engineer, we try to bring you editorial content that is educational, informative, and even entertaining. We also hope that something you read here may even spark an idea for a new business or product. America is a great place for creative thinking! The Menorah Islands Project is an interesting idea. Whether it will ever be built is a different question, but the concept is interesting and quite unique. Another massive project is now going through the legislature of Mongolia and that is the building of a brand new capital about 60 miles from the current one. There will be great opportunities for our engineering firms in that country. We will report on that a little later. We are sure that it is just the type of engineering project you will want to follow. Traditionally, this is our Environmental and Natural Resources issue. As such, we hope you will enjoy the excellent articles on Georgia’s water supply and on the increasingly favored UV disinfection for water treatment. We have also invited Tom Leslie to give us a travel report on his visit to The Netherlands. This is a country that has been fighting floods and drainage problems for centuries. Have they finally won the battle against the sea? Their system of dikes and water flow by gravity or by pumps is remarkable. The flood walls and automated function system in case of a flooding event is typical for the Netherlands’ incredible water control system. As Tom remarks, “...the Netherlands seems to know that ‘keeping its feet dry’ is a job that is never done.” Excellent reading. We are also celebrating with AIA Georgia their Design Excellence recognition. Our Georgia engineering companies’ participation is vital, and our business model very much includes the AIA-Georgia design community. Let’s all celebrate with them. These beautiful designs are always a pleasure to see and to imagine the structural engineering skills needed to bring some of those structures to life. Roland Petersen-Frey Editor-in-Chief (770) 521-8877
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COnTEnTS
GEORGIA WATER SUPPLY PLANNING - PROTECTING YOUR HORIZON Reservoir water supply planning and permitting is a time-intensive process. The required timeline and requirement list for studies and reviews has continued to increase over the past several decades....Over time, the intricacy and the extent of demands related to reservoir planning and permitting have steadily expanded, thereby substantially increasing both costs and complexities faced by permit applicants. p8 CITATION RECOGNIZES DEVELOPMENT OF NATIONAL MAPPING STANDARDS Woolpert scientist Dr. Qassim Abdullah was awarded a Presidential Citation from the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS) at the 2015 ASPRS Conference on Wednesday, May 6, in Tampa, Florida. p13 UTILITIES INCREASINGLY CHOOSING UV DISINFECTION FOR WATER TREATMENT Ultraviolet irradiation technology represents a cost-effective and environmentally friendly solution in the field of water and wastewater disinfection. Over the past two decades, UV has rapidly grown to become a top technology choice for disinfection of water and wastewater. p20
THE MENORAH ISLANDS PROJECT
When Bethlehem, West Bank native Joseph Aoun tasked architect Jeffrey Kamen with bringing life to an idea for a grouping of several artificial islands, Kamen knew he was up for a unique—and rewarding—challenge.
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DELTA WORKS AND HOLLAND’S 1,000 YEAR BATTLE WITH THE SEA A report by Tom Leslie from the coast of Southwest Holland where he visited some of the Delta Works
“I was given a symbol, and architects love metaphors” Kamen said. That symbol was the menorah, the candelabra often associated with the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah and the biblical ritual object from ancient Israel. The end result is the vivid imagining of islands and causeways that sprawl out to create the menorah from an aerial view. p30
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projects, including a long drive along the road atop the four tidal inlet dams, a museum dedicated to the landmark 1953 flood, and a museum and tour of the massive Maeslant Storm Surge barrier near Hoek van Holland. p14
GEORGIA EnGInEER
T a b l e
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CONTENTS
GEORGIA ENGINEER June | July 2015
Georgia Water Supply Planning - Protecting Your Horizon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Citation Recognizes Development of National Mapping Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Delta Works and Holland’s 1,000 Year Battle with the Sea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Telling the Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Utilities Increasingly Choosing UV Disinfection for Water Treatment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Books of Interest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Once in a Lifetime Bridge Project. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 The Menorah Islands Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Prohibited Employer Health Insurance Premium Reimbursement Arrangements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 AIA GA Design Excellence Awards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Teens Admire Engineers’ Problem-solving Skills but Turn to Others in Some Social Situations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Georgia Engineering News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
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ADvERTISEMEnTS Amason Law Firm ................................................................................3
Insurance Office of America .............................................................7
Amec Foster Wheeler ......................................................................45
MH Miles ............................................................................................44
ARCADIS..............................................................................................12
Nova Engineering ...............................................................................17
CARDO.................................................................................................22
Prime Engineering ................................................................................3
Columbia Engineering......................................................................44
RHD Utility Locating.........................................................................42
CROM Corp.........................................................................................35
Schnabel Engineering........................................................................10
Edwards Pitman .................................................................................45
STV .......................................................................................................44
Engineered Restorations..................................................................25
Terrell Hundley Carroll .....................................................................22
Georgia 811...........................................................................................18
THC.......................................................................................................42
Georgia Power Company.................................................................29
TTL........................................................................................................44
Hayward Baker...................................................................Back Cover
United Consulting ...............................................Inside Front Cover
Hazen & Sawyer ................................................................................40
Vaughn & Melton.................................................................................6
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Georgia
planning
By Dave Campbell , P.E. | Director of Dam Engineering and Water Resources Development | Schnabel Engineering
Some of the most difficult concepts to present are those that are fundamentally self-serving. The presented information can be wholly on the mark, but if beneficial to you and/or the business you are in, then credibility is often challenged. That potential risk is well understood, and is balanced against the professional imperative to serve the public. This article presents defensible engineering rationale to protect the future of Georgia as it relates to sustainable water supplies, while containing the costs to do so. Full disclosure: The author works in the arena of dam engineering and water resources development. The following discussions define why water supply systems without sufficient reserves for future safe and dependable supplies should move towards securing additional supplies sooner, rather than later. This is especially critical for areas where reservoirs are needed to provide sufficient water storage to secure safe yield. As background, please refer to “Georgia Water Supply Planning—Watching the Horizon” (August-September 2012 Issue of Georgia Engineer1 ). Critical elements that led to the “Don’t delay water supply development” thesis of this article are presented below. 8
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Hard Labor Creek Reservoir Dam Site, April 21, 2015 Photo credit: Andrea Roberts
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Climate Dynamics – There is a growing awareness that our climate is more dynamic than previously thought. In addition, human activity likely further influences climate to some extent. Forensic techniques provide clear evidence of droughts of far greater intensity over many centuries compared to those reflected in modern records. Even without human influence, the past 50 to 70 years of stream gage data masks the potential for very severe multiyear droughts. Studies by Columbia University’s Earth Institute indicate, “It was a lot drier in the 19th century than it has been recently, but there were so few people around, it didn’t harm anyone. Now, we are building big urban centers that make us vulnerable to even slight downturns.” 2 This statement is further supported by examination of five North Georgia water supply safe yield assessments that show an average decline in yield at a rate of about one percent per year over the past several decades. 3 There is a growing likelihood that the values presented on existing reservoir withdrawal permits don’t represent a supply level that can be depended upon during a severe drought. Yield values on file are generally valid for the time when the analyses were performed. Given more severe recent droughts and the assessment discussed above, a reservoir
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72-Inch PCCP Installation - April 4, 2014. Photo credit: Andrea Roberts permitted in the mid-1980s likely currently has somewhere between 50 percent and 90 percent of its published safe yield when tested against currently available flow records (depending upon where it is located). The 2007-2008 drought was severe across much of North Georgia, but was especially intense in the vicinity of the I-20 corridor in West Georgia. The total flow volume in the Tallapoosa River from mid-February 2007 to mid-February 2008 was about half of the lowest one year flow volume for any 365 day period in the previous 54 years of record. At this point, the regulatory agencies have opposed building in additional factors of safety to address any future increased severity in drought conditions that would mitigate the loss of safe yield on new projects, terming these factors as “speculative” and resulting in increased impacts to the natural environment. For existing projects that were modeled and constructed prior to the current drought of record, it falls to the owners to reevaluate and determine the safe yield under the existing drought of record. If existing projects are effected by a more severe drought of record, if feasible, the
owners will need to petition the regulatory agencies to modify the project through increasing reservoir capacity or implementing additional pumped diversion to derive the necessary yield. The agencies will not instigate this review, nor will it streamline review processes. In circumstances where those measures are not feasible, alternative projects or resources will need to be explored to get the owner back to where it believed it was. Stream flows in the Atlanta Metropolitan Area were not as severely impacted as in West Georgia only by luck, which is not a recommended element of a viable water supply plan. Many of the reserves that appear to exist based on permitted values won’t stand the test of an updated safe yield analysis. Because the established calculation processes don’t incorporate a factor of safety or other consideration to recognize the limits of our data sources compared to natural climate extremes, even an updated safe yield analysis is unlikely to provide a responsible level of protection against a ‘dynamic climate’ left hook, such as a future West Georgia drought event more centrally located in North Georgia. It is GEORGIA EnGInEER
imperative that pressure continues to be applied to accommodate a reasonable means of including climate dynamics in safe yield models. The Planning and Permitting Gauntlet Reservoir water supply planning and permitting is a time intensive process. The required timeline and requirement list for studies and reviews has continued to increase over the past several decades. As was noted in the referenced 2012 Georgia Engineer article, “Over time, permitting for reservoirs has required the applicant to jump through more hoops, the hoops are held higher off the ground and they are getting smaller.” The author is not aware of any factors that would mitigate this trend. Over time, the intricacy and the extent of demands related to reservoir planning and permitting have steadily expanded, thereby substantially increasing both costs and complexities faced by permit applicants. Thirty years ago, the state and federal permitting processes could be completed in about a year. Contemporary projects face permitting time frames in excess of a decade. Increasing complexities in the permitting process require more rigorous planning efforts and significantly expand the integration and interaction of planning-permitting processes. Defining unmet future demands is the initial task in the process in that it justifies all follow up activities. With a time line developed to include initial planning and permitting (with interlaced planning updates and modifications), followed by physical site characterization for design, development of contract documents (design), bidding, construction, and reservoir filling, the process of getting a new water source on-line often JunE | JuLy 2015
takes more than two decades. Because the permitting process tends to result in facilities that do not have adequate factors of safety or are otherwise considered undersized 5 , the end result of a 50 year planning period can readily translate to demand exceeding supplies in less than 50 years. Project Cost Hyper-Inflation – Based primarily on considerations discussed in The Planning and Permitting Gauntlet, over the past few decades, the following factors have acted in a compounded and
interwoven process to steadily increase costs for proposed reservoir projects: • Elevated regulatory scrutiny • Increased activity and sophistication in opposition to permits from a diverse group of environmental advocacy groups, both public and private • Steadily increased requirements for: • Stream mitigation • Minimum in-stream flows • Wetlands mitigation • Cultural resources exploration and/or recovery • Rare, threatened and endangered species habitat avoidance Recognize that these considerations can create interdependence that exponentially increase the complexity and demands of the process. All of this news leads to increasing costs and timelines
for reservoir water supplies. These increases in complexity and in project development costs translate to reservoir project inflation well beyond general construction cost escalation. Based on the past thirty years of reservoir permitting evolution and the momentum built into the system, the process is likely going to get worse before it gets better (if it ever gets better). Public water suppliers have a duty to provide safe and dependable water supplies to their customers, both now and into the future. Acting now will be painful but, if history provides a viable template for projecting the future, deferring action will be far more painful and far more costly. In fact, reservoir costs have exceeded general construction inflation rates by a factor of from about three to five. Twenty years ago, reservoir safe yield costs could be approximated at about $1,000,000 per 1 MGD. In today’s world, safe yield costs between about $8,000,000 and $10,000,000 per MGD. “If you are a water provider with a growing service area, recognize that deferring the costs and efforts needed to develop a new water supply will save you money only as long as your water supply holds up. However, with long term escalation of water supply projects exceeding overall market escalation by factors of about three to five, there is a significant price to pay in deferring the process. Let’s assume general market escalation at three percent annually and water supply reservoir escalation at nine percent annually (factor of 3). Deferring the permitting and development process by five years would result in a 133 percent cost ‘per MGD’ of new safe yield compared to general market escalation (not counting intangibles and costs related to last minute shopping). Given a multiplier of 11
five (15 percent annual reservoir escalation), a five year deferment of water supply development could trigger ‘per MGD’ cost increases to about 175 percent compared to general market escalation. The longer the deferral in action, the greater the burden of compounding.6” As indicated by the graph, deferring the process by ten years will likely increase source of supply costs (per MGD) to from 175 percent to 300 percent compared to general escalation. Recommendations The following recommendations are presented as general guidance related to maximizing cost savings in development of water supplies. Given that this discussion cannot address specific elements of existing or proposed projects for a given water system infrastructure, the input of experienced planning and permitting personnel are necessary to craft specific counsel. However, the ‘rule of thumb’ guidance presented below does
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provide general decision guidance and perspective on reservoir planning and permitting. Depending upon overall system demands and system complexity, if unmet demand 50 years into the future is not measurably less than current supplies, deferral of source planning for a new reservoir is likely reasonable. This assessment needs to be based on contemporary demand forecasts, including efficiency and conservation measures, and updated yield analyses, including consideration of climate dynamics. [Example: Existing supplies provide updated safe yield of 15 MGD. Projected total demand 50 years into the future is 18 MGD, therefore, unmet demand is three MGD.] For a
reservoir source of supply, three MGD may be too small an increase to be economically viable, unless expansion of an existing reservoir or diversion source is available. If unmet demand 50 years into the future sufficiently exceeds current supplies to an extent that is economically viable to develop additional supplies, serious consideration should be given to expediting planning and permitting for a new source of supply to cover this gap. Based on 30 years of process history, the costs of deferring planning and permitting is far too great to ignore. Deferring projects to gain a benefit from ‘economy of scale’ is a false economy that will be more than lost by reservoir project hyper-inflation. v
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‘Georgia Water Supply Planning—Watching the Horizon’ (August-September 2012 Issue of Georgia Engineer 2 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091001164104.htm 3 ‘Water Supply Planning for an Uncertain Future,’ NC AWWA WEA 2012 Annual Conference, Raleigh Convention Center, Raleigh, NC. 4
The Georgia Engineer 2012 article, bottom of second column of p.32 ‘Reservoir Water Supply Planning for an Uncertain Future,‘ top of p. 5.
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Citation Recognizes Development of National Mapping Standards Woolpert scientist honored for writing a new accuracy paradigm for digital geospatial data r. Qassim Abdullah was awarded a Presidential Citation from the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS) at the 2015 ASPRS Conference on Wednesday, May 6, in Tampa, Florida. Abdullah, a senior geospatial scientist and associate at Woolpert, was honored for authoring a new industry map accuracy paradigm that meshes with old mapping standards and provides detailed guidance for current and future applications. As reported by the ASPRS, the new Positional Accuracy Standards for Digital Geospatial Data allows mapmakers and map users to have a reliable, defensible and repeatable level of accuracy measure per the latest technologies. “The previous ASPRS standards had been published in 1990, which was before the digital world we’re dealing with now,” Abdullah said. “Now we’re dealing with pixels and images, UAS (unmanned aerial systems), LiDAR (aerial and mobile), IFSAR, (etc.), and the old standards just didn’t apply. People saw the importance of developing new standards for products that went from a paper to a digital approach.” Abdullah broached the need for updated standards a few years ago in the monthly “Mapping Matters” column he writes for the ASPRS journal PE&RS. The issues raised in his columns led to the formation of a team to develop new mapping standards. Members of the team included Dr. David Maune, senior project manager at Dewberry; Doug Smith, vice president of David C. Smith and Associates; and Hans Karl Heidemann of the U.S. Geological Survey. At Wednesday's event, Ryan Bowe of Photo Science, a
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Quantum Spatial company, accepted the award on behalf of Smith. The new standards, which Abdullah said took three years to complete, were approved by the board in November 2014 and published by the ASPRS in March of this year. The ASPRS, founded in 1934, serves more than 7,000 professional members around the world who are working to improve the understanding of mapping sciences and to promote the applications of photogrammetry, remote sensing, geographic information systems and supporting technologies. Abdullah, a member of ASPRS since he was a student at the University of Washington in 1979, works at Woolpert’s Arlington, Va., office. Woolpert is a national architecture, engineering and geospatial firm headquartered in Dayton, Ohio. Abdullah also serves as an adjunct professor at the University of Maryland and online at Pennsylvania State University, where he teaches a class on UAS geospatial applications. “Teaching keeps me in touch,” he said. “Teaching encourages you to share your knowledge with others and forces you to learn.” These updated mapping standards were written to help the photogrammetry and GIS world continue to learn and develop, as well. “The new paradigm provides an easy way to continually apply new technology, because it’s built for a digital world,” Abdullah said. “When technology evolved, the old standards had no room to expand. We made the standards very progressive, so there is room for growth no matter what technology comes along in the future.” v
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Delta Works and Holland’s 1,000-Year Battle with the Sea
By Thomas C. Leslie The Dutch have been fighting the sea for 1,000 years. It has been so long that it has become a routine part of life. They win some battles, and the sea wins others. The Dutch have taken the long view and, on balance, are winning. A by-product of this endeavor is a remarkable, collective understanding of water management and a national consensus on infrastructure investment.
The Rhine River and its tributaries drain a large portion of Europe. Its delta at the interface with the North Sea is entirely in the Nether-Lands (‘low country’). Currently, about 60 percent of the land area in Holland is considered ‘flood prone’and 40 percent would be permanently under water without the protection of dikes and storm surge barriers. Sixty seven percent of the population lives within ‘ring dikes’ (which completely surround an area). From the earliest settlement, the Dutch have built dikes to protect rich delta farmland from river floods and storm tides. Ditches drain excess water from ‘protected’ lands inside these ring dikes and divert it to adjacent watercourses by gravity or, where necessary, pumps. The first windmills appeared around the year 600, and the first dikes were
constructed in the Ninth Century. The land within the drained ‘polders’ (currently 480) has and continues to subside due to oxidizing peat and com-
e author toured the coast of Southwest Holland in May (with his very patient wife) and visited some of the Delta Works projects including a long drive along the road atop the four tidal inlet dams, a museum dedicated to the landmark 1953 flood, and a museum and tour of the massive Maeslant Storm Surge barrier near Hoek van Holland. JunE | JuLy 2015
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paction of residual sand and clay soil. Peat was also dug to provide cheap fuel to growing cities, especially during the Dutch Golden Age in the 15th Century. Over a period of centuries, the landmass of the Netherlands has continued to grow as more and more wetlands were reclaimed and turned into highly productive agricultural areas. The result is that the current flood protection system consists of 100 ring dikes with over 800 miles of primary flood defenses (dikes, dams, flood walls, and storm surge barriers) and 8,700 miles of secondary dikes. In the U.S., protection for the 100-year flood elevation is a common design requirement. The Dutch protection criteria vary from the
Act passed by Parliament in 1958. To provide better flood protection, the coastline would be shortened (more on this shortly) and dikes raised. Although the program would adversely affect fishing and shellfish farming, it would mitigate saltwater intrusion and create freshwater lakes for recreation and water supply for both cities and farms. ‘Shortening the coastline’ involved constructing huge dams at the mouths of four tidal inlets. This reduced the length of primary sea dikes from 435 miles to 15.5. Other, smaller dams were built further inland to control river flows and provide a separation between freshwater and the salt/brackish water in the tidal esThe Dutch are well practiced in water management. They tuaries. There are a know that strategies of the past will not entirely meet chaltotal of 13 conlenges of the future. At any point in Holland’s history, a structed projects flood protection strategy has proved, ultimately, insufficient that constitute the for the future. Delta Works. The 10,000-year flood for inland areas, to the first, a smaller storm surge barrier inland 4,000-year flood for the tidal inlets, to the from Rotterdam, was built in 1958. The 250-year storm along the Meuse River. massive storm surge barrier between RotWhere ‘Katrina’ has special meaning terdam and the sea was built in 1997 and in New Orleans, the Dutch have named was the last and most complicated project especially severe floods: Saint Aechten’s of the Delta Works. Day Flood in 1288, Saint Elizabeth’s Day The four dams closing the tidal inlets Floods in 1404 and 1420, Saint Felix’s are amazing feats of coastal engineering. Day Flood in 1530, and All Saints’ Day Steel gates sit atop the dams that can be Flood in 1570. Terrible storms also ocraised or lowered to control flows in eicurred in 1906 and 1916. But the worst ther direction depending on hydrologic flood disaster occurred on the night of conditions. A secondary benefit is that February 1, 1953. Especially high spring these dams provide a roadway between tides coupled with persistent NW winds remote locations along the coast. from a severe storm in the North Sea The last Delta Works project, the pushed water over the dikes destroying Maeslant storm surge barrier, is the most them in 67 places and breaching them in challenging, as well as offering insight over 400. The storm surge reached 13 – into the scale and innovative nature of 16.25 feet over mean sea level. Entire vil- Dutch coastline protection. Europort lages were destroyed, and 1,835 people near Rotterdam is the largest seaport in were killed. Europe and is connected to the sea by a The response to the disaster was 15-mile channel known as the New Wa‘Never again!’ and the improvements now terway. Due to the heavy traffic and the known as the Delta Works were set in vital economic importance of Europort, motion. The obligatory Blue Ribbon planners initially concluded that the New Committee was appointed shortly after Waterway could not be closed and prothe storm to set a new course. Its recomposed raising the dikes along the channel mendations were included in the Delta to protect adjacent land from the 4,00016
year flood. Although work on these dike upgrades was begun, it soon encountered strong community resistance from homeowners and business/industry along the length of the shipping channel. In 1987, an investigation concluded that a movable storm surge barrier could provide equivalent flood protection at lower cost and with less disruption to adjacent land uses. Five design-construction teams responded to a public invitation to develop the storm surge barrier. The winning proposal included steel gates that swing into the waterway from both banks and meet in the middle. In plan view, the gates are shaped like a piece of pie. The ‘point’ is connected to the bank with a 32.5-foot diameter ball and socket joint (680 tons) that is embedded in a 52,000-ton concrete block. The outside edge of the pie-shape is an arc (in plan view), which is 682’ long and is comprised of 15 steel chambers, 71.5’ high. The arc and ball joint are joined by a truss structure consisting of three huge steel pipes 770’ long. The bottom member of the truss is almost six feet in diameter with 3.5” thick walls. The arcs are the actual floodwalls. When the arc is not deployed, it rests in a concrete channel in the waterway bank— it is docked. To deploy the arcs, water is allowed into the dock and the floodwall floats due to the buoyancy of the 15 airtight chambers. An electrical-powered rack and pinion gear drives the arcs into the waterway. When they are fully deployed and the waterway is closed, water is allowed into the steel chambers of the arc, and the entire floodwall settles onto a concrete sill on the bottom of the waterway. To return the floodwall to its dock, water is pumped from the steel chambers to float them, and the rack and pinion gear drives them back to their rest position. The operation of the surge gates is entirely automated. A closing is triggered when hydrologic forecasting gives a reading of 10.75 feet above mean sea level in Rotterdam. Water elevation forecasts are made 24-hours in advance and updated every six hours. When conditions for cloGEORGIA EnGInEER
sure are met, notices are sent to key parties, ships are put on notice, and all shipping is halted two hours prior to closure. It takes 30 minutes for the gates to swing into position over the sills and another hour to lower the gates to a position three feet above the sill. Another hour is required for the high velocity of the flow under the gates to scour silt from the top of the sill and for the gate to be ‘landed‘ safely on the sill. In short, it takes 2.5 hours to close and the same time to reopen the storm gates. While the floodgates are closed, river water will build up behind them, and water level will rise (but not to the extent to cause flooding). River water may also be released under the floodgates, which are lifted by pumping air into the air chambers, but without having to open the gates. The automated control system makes these decisions, as well as when to return the gates to their docks. Conditions to close the surge gates are expected to occur once every five years. Since completion of the project in 1997, the gates have never been closed due to a critical storm surge. Once per year, the gates are opened and closed for testing and maintenance. More recently, political and institutional changes have been commensurate with the pace of physical changes to the Rhine-Maas river delta during the 40 years of construction of the Delta Works. In 1955, there were 2480 water authorities; in 2005 there were 26. In 1996, Parliament passed the Flood Defenses Act, which made water authorities responsible for constructing and maintaining primary flood defenses. Every five years, all flood defenses are tested for safety. In 2010 the first Delta Commissioner, who reports to the Cabinet Minister for Infrastructure and Environment, was appointed to monitor plans to protect the Netherlands from flooding. In addition to the strategies of (1) building and reinforcing dikes and (2) shortening the coastline, a third strategy has been added to the flood protection JunE | JuLy 2015
program: make Room for the River. Where possible, rivers flowing through the delta have been widened and deepened. In addition, some delta areas have been designated to flood during critical periods to ‘store’ water until the storm event passes and the water drains back into permanently wet channels. It seems that the Dutch have been battling flooding for so long that it is folly to declare ‘victory.’ Existing flood defenses are tested every five years and plans are monitored to see if they are providing the expected level of protection. Government documents cite the rise in ‘normative high water flow’ in the Rhine River of 12.5 percent by the year 2100 and 21 percent in the Meuse River—this attributable to
climate change. Additionally, plans contemplate a rise in sea level in the ‘slow climate change scenario’ of almost 14 inches per century and of 33.5 inches/century in the worst-case scenario. The Dutch are well practiced in water management. They know that strategies of the past will not entirely meet challenges of the future. At any point in Holland’s history, a flood protection strategy has proved, ultimately, insufficient for the future. Circumstances change and strategies must change. For a country that clearly has the most formable flood defense system in the world, the Netherlands seems to know that ‘keeping its feet dry’ is a job that is never done. v
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TELLING THE STORY Helping the public understand benefits of engineering projects can defuse opposition By Terry M. Cole | Community Relations Manager | Burns & McDonnell
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ngineers are superheroes. How else to explain their ability to design massive bridges spanning open waterways, or to design a facility that turns what we flush down the toilet into what we drink at the tap, or to design a system that safely delivers energy from miles away directly into our homes and businesses? Engineers seem to have superpowers when it comes to solving problems. But even Superman has his Kryptonite. For many engineers, Kryptonite comes in the form of a concerned public wielding social media and Google searches to mock, deride, and disparage engineering decisions that once would have stood as unquestioned because of the respected profession that produced them. Now, with the swipe of a finger on a smartphone the Average Joe or Jill can find dozens of ‘sources’ offering arguments and alternatives. Most engineers can share at least one story of a wastewater plant never built, a roadway project long delayed, a pipeline grossly over budget, or a regulator station stalled on the drawing board because of vocal opponents. But Superman does not have to stumble. Problem-solving superpowers can be applied to bridging the divide between intelligent solutions and compelling communication. It simply requires a rethinking of traditional approaches. The public is savvier and has access to more information resources than ever before. In the internet age, open houses and Web site FAQs have gone the way of the dodo bird. The next evolution of communications is a process deemed Strategic Storytelling, an approach focused more on the message than the tools. Think of it as a dodo bird that can fly. There are several keys to success. JunE | JuLy 2015
Tell Me Don’t Sell Me Every engineering endeavor has a story to tell, and only a meaningful narrative will tell it. Overly polished platitudes lack credibility with a jaded public that recognizes spin from a mile away. Effectively communicating a project or process requires telling its story in a way that brings the impacted community’s challenges together with the project solutions using carefully chosen words, analogies, and value propositions that will resonate with that unique community. For example, building a message for a large gas transmission pipeline project around the value it brings to the entire state for energy delivery does little to connect with local communities directly impacted by construction disruptions and land acquisition. Stories Evoke Emotional Connections Logic and science are a must for engineering but they rarely carry the day in a world driven by emotion. Safety concerns, property value impacts, and rising costs quicken the pulse of even the most tranquil of communities. Strategic Storytelling requires looking at how people will ‘feel’ about the project. This can be outside the comfort zone for engineers and scientists, so an integrated team that brings communication professionals to the table can help clear hurdles for electric transmission, transportation, aviation, water resource, oil and gas systems, and other projects. Choosing communication professionals with knowledge and experience of the technical issues not only jump starts the process but brings lessons learned to avoid credibility-damaging landmines. you Can never Start Too Early While engineers sit deep in thought creating brilliant solutions, the town’s self-appointed storytellers are hard at work capturing local
hearts and minds with passionate tales that turn the tide before the project gets off the ground. Engaging communicators on the team in the early stages of project conception allows them to listen for compelling arguments and meaningful rationale that will strike a chord with impacted communities. After all, projects are designed to bring benefits—capturing the full range of those benefits requires participating in the creative problem-solving process. Emotional Connections Trump Bad Science An approach that builds trust by meeting the community where they are can be the best defense against Internet-based research and fearful claims. As in all things, people believe those they trust. That’s why third-party voices within the community carry weight—it’s easier to trust your neighbor than the engineer. Crafting a strategic approach that includes personal interactions supported by a captivating story can humanize an otherwise emotionless project. At the end of the day, we must resist the urge to get swept up in the power of social media and digital resources. We must instead focus on our own power. Otherwise, the problems that need a brilliant solution go unresolved or languish for too long. About Burns & McDonnell Burns & McDonnell brings right-brain and left-brain experts together in-house for engineering endeavors that do more than solve a problem. We focus on creating amazing solutions that can be implemented without collateral damage to a client’s image and without costly delays resulting from outside forces. Making the decision to integrate professional communicators with the brightest engineers in the business was in direct response to the changing needs of clients. v 19
Belmont UV Disinfection Facility
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Utilities Increasingly Choosing UV Disinfection for Water Treatment By Stephane Jousset and James Collins | water engineers | ARCADIS
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ltraviolet irradiation technology represents a cost-effective and environmentally friendly solution in the field of water and wastewater disinfection. Over the past two decades, UV has rapidly grown to become a top technology choice for disinfection of water and wastewater. In recent projects, ARCADIS, the world’s leading natural and built asset design and consultancy firm, contributed to dramatically scaling up this technology by delivering design and construction management services for some of the world’s largest UV disinfection plants for water and wastewater treatment. UV disinfection is increasingly becoming a preferred method over chemically disinfection. The UV treatment process involves exposing water or wastewater to UV light through an array of lamps. If microorganisms such as coliforms or Cryptosporidium are present, the UV light disrupts their DNA, making
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reproduction impossible and leaving no byproduct or residual chemical in the water. This helps meet compliance with wastewater discharge regulations or safe drinking water standards, is safer for communities and employees than using chlorine gas, and is more cost-effective than chemical disinfection. Today, more than 20 percent of wastewater treatment plants use UV disinfection, and while there are very few large scale UV water treatment plants
Close up of UV lights in the United States today, there are more than 2,000 such plants in Europe. ARCADIS has developed UV disinfection systems in New York City, Los Angeles and other cities, including a retro-fit UV disinfection plant in Indianapolis that has won numerous design and engineering awards. uv as wastewater treatment solution As part of the City of lndianapolis’ expansion and upgrade of its 21
Belmont Advanced Water Treatment Plant (AWTP), ARCADIS was tasked with developing and designing a new, cost-effective UV light disinfection system for retrofit construction side by side with the plant’s existing chlorination /dechlorination system. The Belmont AWTP serves nearly a half million homes and businesses, providing primary, secondary, and tertiary treatment followed by disinfection of wastewater collected from the city’s century-old sewer system. Noted researcher Dr. Chip Blatchley of Purdue University was enlisted to help with the design. The new UV system doubled the plant’s disinfection capacity from 150 million gallons per day (mgd) to 300 mgd. It enabled the plant to handle larger wet-weather flows, decreasing overflows of untreated or partially treated sewage and resulting in enhanced water quality in the White River. First Large Scale uv Wastewater Plant The Belmont facility, one of the five largest wastewater UV disinfection installations in North America at the time of construction, is one of the first to demonstrate the effectiveness of this powerful technology on a large scale. The ARCADIS design features a number of innovative features, such as its unique counter-weighted gates with no moving parts to automatically control water level in the seven UV channels. These innovative gates are also a key component of the overall hydraulic design, which accomplishes passive, even-flow splitting of up to 170 mgd between the channels of the
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Seven UV Disinfection Channels – An extensive hydraulic analysis was performed to maximize the new UV system’s treatment capacity while minimizing the backwater impact on upstream tertiary filters. UV structure. veyance channels also incorporated two Ultraviolet light disinfection was the areas where water falls freely; this has the winning option for treatment of the effect of increasing dissolved oxygen in wastewater not just from an economic the plant effluent, which is particularly standpoint but also because it was the desirable warm weather. Lastly, when only technology to be chemical-free, thus they’ve reached the end of their life, the contributing to cleaner effluent being dis- UV lamps are returned to the equipment charged to the White River. The design manufacturer for recycling. All these asof the UV disinfection structure and con- pects were taken into consideration
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overrun of only 0.3 percent. Lastly, by incorporating the existing chlorination /dechlorination process, the engineering team maximized the use of existing facilities in the overall disinfection strategy. The project was completed in May 2013. As part of an expansion/upgrade that will eliminate over a billion gallons per year of partially treated sewage overflows into the White River, this project creates tremendous benefits for the Indianapolis community—a cleaner, healthier river that can better sustain natural life and offer recreational opportunities for the enjoyment of residents and visitors. In 2015, the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) recognized ARCADIS for its work on the BelUV Lights – The Belmont project features a low-pressure, high-output UV process for ‘dry’ weather, augmented with the existing chlorination/dechlorination process during ‘wet’ weather, ensuring operability under a 25-year flood scenario. through planning and design and demonstrated a comprehensive approach. An extensive hydraulic analysis was performed to maximize treatment capacity while minimizing the backwater impact on upstream tertiary filters. Future hydraulics were tested ‘live’ by forcing water to rise to its anticipated maximum level and monitoring filter performance. During start-up and commissioning, an extensive effort, including field spotcheck testing, computational fluid dynamics modeling, and hydraulic field testing, helped demonstrate the performance of the UV disinfection system and successfully mitigate excessive turbulence issues within the UV channels. Throughout construction, careful scheduling and sequencing enabled the plant to operate without major interruption. With less than three years to design and substantially complete the project, the teams had to deal with little space to retrofit a new structure and handle the challenging hydraulic requirements. Moreover, water levels had to be maintained within a tight tolerance of +/- one JunE | JuLy 2015
inch across a wide range of flows. The project exceeded the city’s needs for a project completed on time, on budget, achieving all performance goals, and meeting regulatory timetables. At a final construction cost of $9.5 million, this project took advantage of the lower cost of the UV alternative. Change orders were kept to a minimum throughout construction of the project with a final cost
mont Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant UV Disinfection System in Indianapolis, giving it the Indiana ACEC Honor Award and a National ACEC Recognition Award. In 2014, the plant was given the ACEC Honor Award for Engineering Excellence and the Indianapolis Monumental Award. Additional companies involved with the design and build of the Belmont plant include F.A. Wilhelm Construction Co. Inc., CMID Inc., and The Etica Group. v
Flow Control Gate for Effluent Discharge—UV disinfection is the only disinfection technology that doesn’t introduce any chemicals into the plant flow stream or the receiving water body. 23
BOO KS OF InTEREST:
Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Fifth Biennial Review Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades is the fifth biennial review of progress made in meeting the goals of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP). This complex, multibillion-dollar project to protect and restore the remaining Everglades has a 30-40 year timeline. This report assesses progress made in the various separate project components and discusses specific scientific and engineering issues that may impact further progress. ISBN 978-0-30930576-1 www.nap.edu/catalog/18809/progress-toward-restoring-theeverglades-the-fifth-biennial-review-2014
BioWatch PCR Assays: Building Confidence, Ensuring Reliability; Abbreviated version BioWatch PCR Assays evaluates and provides guidance on appropriate standards for the validation and verification of PCR tests and assays in order to ensure that adequate performance data are available to public health and other key decision makers with a sufficient confidence level to facilitate the public health response to a BioWatch Actionable Response. This report discusses principles of performance standards, reviews information from several existing guidance documents and standards that might be applicable to BioWatch, and discusses assay testing efforts that have occurred or are ongoing. ISBN 978-0-309-36722-6 www.nap.edu/catalog/21658/biowatch-pcr-assays-building-confidence-ensuringreliability-abbreviated-version
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Exposure Science in the 21st Century: A vision and a Strategy From the use of personal products to our consumption of food, water, and air, people are exposed to a wide array of agents each day--many with the potential to affect health. Exposure Science in the 21st Century: A Vision and A Strategy investigates the contact of humans or other organisms with those agents (that is, chemical, physical, and biologic stressors) and their fate in living systems. ISBN 978-0-309-26468-6 www.nap.edu/catalog/13507/exposure-science-in-the21st-century-a-vision-and-a
Adaptive Monitoring and Assessment for the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan This report evaluates the plan to monitor and assess the condition of Florida's Everglades as restoration efforts proceed. Adaptive Monitoring and Assessment for the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan considers the scientific basis for the plan and makes recommendations for use of principles of adaptive management and open communication of information from those monitoring the ecology of the Everglades to those implementing the overall restoration effort. ISBN 978-0-309-08892-3 www.nap.edu/catalog/10663/adaptive-monitoring-and-assessment-for-the-comprehensive-everglades-restoration-plan
Oil Spill Dispersants: Efficacy and Effects This book reviews the adequacy of existing information and ongoing research regarding the effectiveness of dispersants as an oil spill response technique, as well as the effect of dispersed oil on marine and coastal ecosystems. Oil Spill Dispersants also includes recommended steps for policy makers faced with making hard choices regarding the use of dispersants as part of spill contingency planning efforts or during actual spills. ISBN 978-0-309-09562-4 www.nap.edu/catalog/11283/oil-spill-dispersants-efficacy-and-effects
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once in a lifetime bridge project By Lolene Terry and Danny Sullivan, HDR, and David Goodyear, T.y. Lin International
oaring 890 feet above the Colorado River, the Hoover Dam Bypass overlooks one of the nation’s greatest engineering icons. A triumph more than 40 years in the making, the bypass helps protect the safety of the historic Hoover Dam and the traveling public by removing through-traffic from U.S. 93. The structure of the river bridge—called the Mike O’Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge—is as grand as its safety, security and economic impact. The 1,900-foot-long Colorado River crossing is the project’s centerpiece, which included 3.5 miles of new approach roadway on both sides of the river, and eight other bridges. At the time of construction, it was the highest and longest arched concrete bridge in the Western Hemisphere and featured the world’s tallest precast concrete columns. The innovative hybrid structure is designed to complement the dam with the high-performance concrete arch while limiting load demands with a modern steel superstructure. Concrete was used throughout the structure where compression forces dominated the design, and steel was used where flexure dominated the design. It was the first steel-concrete hybrid arch bridge in the United States. 26
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The hybrid design allowed construction of the concrete substructure—the foundations and columns of the approach spans—and arch to proceed in parallel with steel fabrication, enabling a shorter construction schedule and greater cost efficiency. Innovations included using steel struts to connect the concrete arches, which are lighter and more ductile while providing lateral strength, and trapezoidal steel box girders integrated with post-tensioned concrete caps that allow the roadway deck to serve as lateral bracing for the precast concrete columns. These innovative girder-to-column connections contribute to intended frame action and allowed the designers to avoid intermediate column bracing that would affect open views from the dam. The spectacular setting provides a backdrop for one of the nation’s most significant modern civil engineering projects but also proved to be the greatest challenge. The Black Canyon below the dam is an 800-foot gorge with dramatic rock cliffs, steep canyon walls, and a vast geological palette. Working in this setting required rock cuts and fills exceeding 100 feet in height and accounting for winds up to 70 miles per hour. Everything about construction was extreme. Workers and equipment were lowered into the canyon by cranes and used a combination of machinery and dynamite to carve out platforms to anchor the bridge foundations. Rock debris was slowly hauled out of the canyon via the same cranes to avoid dropping rock on the buildings and dam outfall structures below. The 2,500-foot cableways carried workers and 50 tons of material and equipment into place during construction, including the precast concrete columns. With cables hanging from 330-foot-tall towers, a 13.5-ton trolley and load block assembly helped piece the bridge together. The concrete segments for the arches— 106 pieces in all—were poured midair at night to avoid the 120-degree daytime desert temperatures. Even then, construc28
tion crews used cooling tubes and conducted further cooling of concrete with liquid nitrogen to prevent it from setting too quickly. The project team The decade-long planning, design, and construction of one of the world’s largest concrete arch bridges in one of its most inhospitable environments was complex, arduous—and the product of an unprecedented level of coordination and collaboration of contracting entities and consultants under the direction of the Central Federal Lands Highway Division of the Federal Highway Administration. The six-agency client/owner consortium for the Hoover Dam Bypass project, in addition to CFLHD, included the Arizona and Nevada Departments of Transportation, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, the Western Area Power Administration, and the National Park Service. A consortium of firms called the Hoover Support Team—comprising HDR, Sverdrup (now Jacobs) and T.Y. Lin International—teamed with specialty subconsultants to deliver the design for the four-mile-long bypass project. HDR managed the project and led the design of the Nevada approaches, with Kraemer North America serving as contractor. Sverdrup led the design of the Arizona approaches, with a team of RE Monks Construction Company, and Vastco Inc. serving as the contractor. T.Y. Lin International led the design of the O’CallaghanTillman Memorial Bridge. The primary contractors for the O’Callaghan-Tillman Memorial Bridge were a joint venture of Obayashi Corporation and PSM Construction USA Inc.
The Hoover Support Team considered the diverse priorities and exceeded the needs of the six-agency consortium, setting a standard for successful project management for multi-faceted clients. The large, complex team collaborated to manage engineering and construction details and to overcome the precarious site conditions. The unique funding agreement that included money from several federal agencies and the states of Arizona and Nevada demonstrated the project’s cooperative spirit, with both states committing $50 million in bond funding to complete the project. The project also emphasized environmental and cultural stewardship, such as building highway underpasses for endangered desert bighorn sheep, preserving and replanting native plants in the construction corridor, and protecting Native American cultural properties adjacent to the site. Designers collaborated with an independent design advisory panel— comprising members of ten government agencies, a Native American tribal representative, an independent architectural historian, and an independent registered landscape architect—to ensure the bypass design met the historic, aesthetic, and cultural criteria established for the project. Delivered within the original $240 million budget without claims or disputes, the Hoover Dam Bypass bridges greatness between the engineering marvel it protects and the brilliant collaboration of the project team to deliver a 21st century engineering icon. The project has received numerous awards, including the Grand Conceptor, the American Council of Engineering Companies’ most prestigious award. It’s the project of a lifetime. v GEORGIA EnGInEER
The Menorah IslandS Artificial Island Concept Uses New Technology, Advanced Planning Methods
When Bethlehem, West Bank native Joseph Aoun tasked architect Jeffrey Kamen with bringing life to an idea for a grouping of several artificial islands, Kamen knew he was up for a unique—and rewarding—challenge. “I was given a symbol, and architects love metaphors” Kamen said. That symbol was the menorah, the candelabra often associated with the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah and the biblical ritual object from ancient Israel. The end result is the vivid imagining of islands and causeways that sprawl out to create the menorah from an aerial view. The grouping is collectively referred to as the Menorah Islands Project, a causeway trunk that leads to nine islands- seven permanent and two submersible structures—in the Mediterranean Sea. The ambitious concept unveiled some of its details to the public in March 2015, after Aoun and attorney Joseph M. Finnerty spent several months with a team of hired and volunteer professionals, who worked to create an online presence and video to showcase Aoun’s idea. Aoun wanted to share the goal of the Menorah Islands Project—a place for economic cooperation in a region
By Stella Morrison
otherwise embroiled in conflict and misunderstanding of the ‘other’—with as many people as possible. “My work ... poses a question to other experts on how this could be done,” Kamen said. “My job was to limit the scope and make the concept available for other people to weigh in, [to consult] experts who know… how to go about making this happen.”
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Aoun said he came up with the idea in early 2014, after a visit home to Bethlehem and a stop in the West Bank city of Hebron, home to the Cave of the Patriarchs, a revered site to Muslims and Jews and itself divided for most of the year due to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. “[The conflict] makes me so depressed—why can’t we come together… to bring Jews, Christians, and Muslims, descendants of Abraham, together into one united family?” Aoun, a convert to Judaism, said. “Imagine if there was a conflict involving Canada, the U.S., and Mexico: the people living in those countries would not allow it to continue and would reach an accommodation. And that is what must happen in the Middle East—the conflict cannot continue forever.” Drawing inspiration from a reference to islands in the biblical book of Isaiah, Aoun contacted Kamen regarding his specific vision of what the artificial islands could look like. Modeled after New York City’s diversity and incorporating a wide range of scientific advancements that are in development throughout the world, Aoun’s idea for this island complex left no stone unturned in his search to motivate those affected by the conflict to come together, for the sake of their futures. “I am not a politician—I put politics on the side—I am looking at economic and moral factors,” Aoun said. “I believe if we build these islands with Israelis and Arabs cooperating with each other, together we can improve quality of life in the Middle East.” One of the most appealing features of the illustration is the deliberate construction of multiple open spaces throughout the complex. These courtyards and agoras are part of the design with the explicit purpose of encouraging conversation between neighbors and productive dialogue between marginalized groups. “The big open space around the tower is conceived as the meeting place to do business and discuss ideas,” Kamen JunE | JuLy 2015
An illustration of one of seven permanent islands in the Menorah Islands complex concept. said. “One of the most important aspects of [the Menorah Islands Project] is the utopian vision that people don’t care where you come from, especially if they can do business.” By design, the islands are zoned in a manner which ensures that nearly every room with a window has a water view. The islands are laid out in concentric circles, with the height of the structures increasing from the lowest in the outer circles to the highest in the inner circles, thereby maximizing views and taking advantage of breezes. Aoun requested for as many renewable energy sources as possible to be utilized in the Menorah Islands, a factor which Kamen said impacted his design of the complex. Items like solar panels are positioned to avoid shadows of the buildings, ensuring they absorb the sun’s rays as much as possible. “The whole idea of sustainable architecture is not a new idea,” Kamen said. “It’s as ancient as the cultures of the Middle East. There has been wind, water, and solar use for thousands of years, but we are using all our new technologies now. [Harnessing the power] was the technol-
ogy in the villages over time, so using these resources hearkens to and reaches into the past.” According to Aoun, the Menorah Islands Project would be a go-to place for innovation—not just in renewable energy sources, but in the study of the sciences as well. A large tower that would house institutions of higher learning would stand at the center of each island, and each island would have its own focus on a different field of science, from marine to medical. A non-denominational temple would be included on each island as well. For Kamen, Aoun’s determined vision of the end result helped shape his decisions on sketches and placement, even when the specific shape of the complex did not accommodate some of his ideas. “Originally, I had some more modern contemporary ideas of organic, free-flowing forms, but [Aoun] was very specific and the requirement was to use a very traditional menorah,” Kamen said. A particularly unique result of this approach to the Menorah Islands Project was the development of the use of the menorah’s branches, which Kamen dubbed ‘causeway living.’ The land mass, 31
A snapshot of the causeways that connect the islands to mainland Israel. The causeways form the shape of a menorah candelabra from an aerial viewpoint.
An illustrated closeup of the Menorah Islands show the proposed residential and commercial zones of each island. total-menorah-5: An aerial illustration demonstrates how the entire Menorah Islands complex concept looks from a birds eye view.
An amphitheater is one of several proposed areas for dialogue and discussion built into the Menorah Islands Project plan. 333. Partially submerged islands are imagined on the outskirts of the complex. 32
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bridges, and floating islands that make up the roads into the islands would serve a dual purpose, allowing for residential areas all the way out until the causeways connect to the main islands. While he could not finalize the amount of livable space on the causeways without knowing the topography of the Mediterranean Sea to determine how many islands could be built, Kamen said urban farming with rooftop gardens and vertical farming would use those existing buildings as a way to maximize output and innovative agricultural techniques. “The idea there was to achieve an intensification of food supply and create more food supply in a way that would be least harmful to the environment,” Kamen said. “The aim was to incorporate zerowaste and low-energy technologies into the task of food production. I have the places for it [in these sketches], but this is almost a call to these experts in these areas of study—how could this be done? As an architect, I don’t know, but this is where it should go for the optimized placement and usage.” The two outermost, submerged islands would be equipped to rise, transforming the seven-branched permanent menorah, representative of the Templeera artifact, into the nine-branched one used on Hanukkah. “In my thinking, the islands would use the same technology as submarines,” Kamen said. “Semi-submersible ships used for offshore drilling already exist.
Partially submerged islands are imagined on the outskirts of the complex. This technology is something that is already out there, but I would recommend considering using a ballast to obtain or lose buoyancy, like a submarine.” Project representatives said the partially submerged islands would be reserved for tourism and for research in marine science. Currently, the Menorah Islands Project is in concept stage, and there are no plans to move forward. However, for Aoun, just opening up the possibility of what could be done through economic cooperation can ignite the discussion that could lead to a better future. “As a Palestinian Arab Jew myself, I see [the conflict] from the Jewish point of view, from the Arab point of view, and from the Palestinian point of view,” Aoun said. “There will be no resolution to this conflict until we become a united Abrahamic family, determined to forge a bright and peaceful future for all.”
We were wondering about some obvious questions such as: How far out would the MIP be? The plans as designed call for them to extend approximately five to six miles out, each island is designed to be about one mile in diameter. However, the final size and location of the islands are both items that would be determined by environmental and other feasibility studies, so they’re still really in flux. How deep are the waters? Actually, this was a big concern because the Mediterranean does have a sudden drop off (its average depth is about one mile). But that does not occur until about 10-20 miles out from the coast of Israel. Based on sea charts I’ve looked at myself, it doesn’t look like the depth is ever more than about 600 feet. Will they float or be anchored? This is also something that is still TBD. However, as envisioned, it would be a combination or floating, anchors and landfills. How many people can live/commute on the islands? Well that depends on demand, but they are designed as urban centers so we would expect the population density would be quite high.v
The Menorah Islands causeways connect mainland Israel to the outlying islands. JunE | JuLy 2015
Stella Morrison is a freelance writer based in the NYC-Metro area. She specializes in article writing, Web site content, and personal or professional brand management. Other work can be found on www.scs-creative.com www.menorahislands.com 33
PROHIBITED EMPLOYER HEALTH INSURANCE PREMIUM REIMBURSEMENT ARRANGEMENTS Immediate action required By Warren E. Kingsley and Douglas A. Smith nderstandably, the general focus on the Affordable Care Act (‘ACA’) the last few years has been on ACA constitutionality, the employer and individual mandates, operation of the ACA health insurance exchanges (the ‘Health Insurance Marketplace’ or ‘Marketplace’) and premium tax credits thereunder, and the impact of the ACA on provider networks. Employers, however, should be aware that Internal Revenue Service and other u.S. government agency guidance has struck down a previously benign practice that employers (particularly small ones) have used to provide health insurance coverage to a limited number of valuable employees (e.g., when the employer does not otherwise offer employees group health coverage): reimbursements to employees who purchase their own health insurance. Historically, such reimbursement arrangements (referred to as ‘employer payment plans’) were a not uncommon practice of employers through which the premium reimbursements could be made on an income tax-free basis to an employee. Effective January 1, 2014, however, any such arrangements (even if done on an after-tax basis) subject an employer to a steep excise tax under the ACA ($100 per day for each affected individual), except in the case of certain small employers for a limited transition period (discussed below) that the IRS announced earlier this year. As a result, this is a practice that employers must end (e.g., no more agreeing to such one-off reimbursement arrangements for new physicians brought into a practice group, for U.S. employees hired by foreign corporations for company outposts in the U.S., etc.).
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What Premium Reimbursement Arrangements are Prohibited? IRS guidance is clear that regardless of whether an employer reimburses an employee on a tax free or on an after-tax basis for the employee’s purchase of insurance (via the Health Insurance Marketplace or otherwise), or whether the employer pays the employee’s individual insurance premiums directly rather than via reimbursement, such employer payment plans are considered group health plans that are subject to ACA health insurance market reforms. Furthermore, an employer cannot integrate an employer payment plan with the employee’s individual insurance policy to satisfy the health insurance market reform requirements. As a result, any employer payment plan inevitably fails to satisfy certain ACA requirements applicable to group health plans, such as (i) the ACA annual limit on out-of-pocket expenses and (ii) mandated cost-free coverage for preventative services. This ACA failure subjects the employer to a nondeductible excise tax under the Internal Revenue Code of $100 for each day of the plan's noncompliance (i.e., each day the plan is in effect) for each applicable employee covered by the plan (e.g., $36,500 per person per year). Transition Relief for Small Employers through June 30, 2015 The IRS (pursuant to recent IRS Notice 2015-17) has provided transition relief through June 30, 2015, for employer premium reimbursement arrangements of employers that are not ‘applicable large employers’ under the ACA. An applicable large employer (‘ALE’) generally is an employer that employed an average of at least 50 full-time (including full-time equivalent) employees during the preceding cal-
endar year. (For 2014 and 2015, an employer alternatively may determine whether it is (or is not) an ALE based on a period of six or more consecutive months in the preceding calendar year, rather than the entire preceding year.) An employer that is not an ALE for 2014 is not subject to an excise tax for 2014 for any failure to satisfy ACA health insurance market reform requirements by maintaining any employer payment plan described above. Similarly, an employer that is not an ALE for 2015 is not subject to any excise tax from January 1, 2015, through June 30, 2015, for any failure to satisfy ACA reform requirements for any such employer payment plan. Beginning July 1, 2015, there is no such excise tax relief. Is there an Alternative that is Permitted? An employer is permitted under the ACA to simply increase an employee's compensation without conditioning the payment of the additional compensation on the purchase by the employee of (or the reimbursement for) individual health insurance policy coverage, provided the employer does not otherwise endorse any particular policy, form or issuer of health insurance. Such a ‘no-hands-tied’ compensation arrangement would not be a group health plan subject to the ACA health insurance market reforms (and simply providing employees with information about the Health Insurance Marketplace, or premium tax credits under the Marketplace, would not be considered endorsing any particular policy, form or issuer of health insurance). So an employer may provide a taxable increase in an employee’s compensation that the employee can use to purchase an individual health GEORGIA EnGInEER
insurance policy, but the employer should clearly communicate and document that the employee may use the increase for any purpose the employee so chooses. In addition, an employer reimbursement arrangement covering only a single employee generally is not subject to the ACA health insurance market reform requirements, but if an employer maintains more than one such arrangement (for different employees), all such arrangements are treated as a single arrangement covering more than one employee. So an employer with separate reimbursement arrangements with two or more employees would be treated as having a group health plan subject to the reform requirements and excise tax.
Douglas Smith Finally, until further guidance is issued (and at least through the end of 2015), the IRS will not assert an excise tax for failure to satisfy any ACA health insurance market reforms for an arrange-
Warren Kingsley ment whereby an S corporation pays for or reimburses premiums for individual health insurance coverage for shareholders who own more than two percent of an S corporation. Reimbursements of Medicare and TRICARE Premiums Briefly, it should be noted that IRS Notice 2015-17 also provides that an arrangement under which an employer reimburses (or pays directly) Medicare Part B or Part D premiums for employees, or medical expenses for employees covered by TRICARE (i.e., U.S. military health care coverage), is an employer payment plan that is a group health plan subject to the ACA health insurance market reforms if it covers two or more employees. Such arrangements cannot be integrated with Medicare or TRICARE coverage to satisfy ACA reform requirements, but potentially may be integrated with another group health plan offered by the employer to satisfy such requirements. What Should Employers do now? There still is time for eligible small employers to eliminate any applicable employer payment plans and avoid the harsh excise taxes that otherwise will apply to them beginning July 1, 2015. Employers should immediately arrange to stop these prohibited arrangements and modify any affected employment contracts. Also, in the case of an applicable large employer with an employer payment plan, time is of the essence to eliminate any such arrangement in order to cut off any accruing excise tax exposure. v
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GEORGIA RECOGNIZES 15 PROJECTS FOR
DESIGN EXCELLENCE
Excellence Award - Park School for the Arts, unbuilt Student Project The project aimed to create a school in a public urban park. The program is a charter high school for the arts, accommodating 400 students. It includes 20 classrooms, three arts studios, administration office, one art gallery, one gymnasium, cafeteria and parking lot for faculty. The main thesis of the project was to question and challenge the notions of an enclosed inaccessible school to make it a more engaged environment so it can actively be involved with the community, linking them through media (art) and nature (the public urban space). Student: Mario Rodas, Georgia Institute of Technology
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GEORGIA EnGInEER
Excellence Award - Tinkham veale university Center, Cleveland, Ohio The design solution for
Tinkham veal university Center
Tinkham Veale University Center bundles 89,000 square feet in a two-story building the borders the east and north sides of an existing parking structure while creating a series of new student collaboration courtyards. The new student center is a model of environmental stewardship through its design, construction, and operation. The project exceeds LEED Silver standards through the development of the site, water, and energy efficiency, use of sustainable materials, and indoor environmental quality. It utilizes renewable energy strategies, daylight harvesting, natural ventilation, radiant heating and cooling and chilled beam systems. Architect: Petkins+Will. Photos courtesy of James Steinkamp Photography.
Honor Award - Atlanta Contemporary Art Center, Atlanta, Georgia The Atlanta Contemporary Art Center project involved the renovation of gallery and educational outreach spaces. The goal was to help clarify disparate geometries and layers of building structures and to foster an understanding of how those geometries and the art center itself are situated within its context and within the city of Atlanta. The renovation of the center had to help visitors understand certain aspects of the institution and clarify its unique relevance in the flourishing arts community. Architect: BLDGS. Photos courtesy of Jonathan Hillyer Photography.
Atlanta Contemporary Art Center
Honor Award - urban Live-Work Studio, Atlanta, Georgia The 2,700-square-foot urban livework studio takes advantage of contemporary urban strategies that encourage street-level activity through the elimination of building set-backs. The grain of the urban geometries informs the building structure, with exposed joists on lower levels running at the angle of the street. Natural daylight is abundant throughout all of the building’s levels, eliminating the need for artificial lighting during the daytime when it is being used as a work space. The residential level of the building is differentiated from the others through its refinement and reduced scale. Architect: LIGHTROOM Studio. Photos courtesy of William Carpenter.
urban Live-Work Studio
Honor Award - national Center for Civil and Human Rights, Atlanta, Georgia The National Center for Civil and Human Rights features immersive exhibit galleries, meeting space, lobbies, a retail venue, as well as building and staff-support space. Careful to distinguish it as more then a museum, the Center’s program also supports an active agenda focused on advancing human rights issues. The design of the Center is driven by the idea of creating a Space for Action. Architect: HOK/ The Freelon Group. Photos courtesy of Freelon/HOK; Mark Herboth Photography.
national Center for Civil and Human Rights
AIA GA EXCELLEnCE AWARDS JunE | JuLy 2015
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Honor Award - The Grey, Savannah, Georgia The Grey is the rehabilitation of the historic Greyhound Bus Depot into a modern restaurant. The original structure was constructed between 1937-1939, and early-on the goal was to retain and preserve the historic character of the Greyhound Bus Station. The distinctive features, finishes, and construction techniques were preserved. The rehabilitation included replication of the historic blue vitrolux and ivory vitrolite. These materials are not produced today and were substituted with a glazed cladding as recommended by the National Park Service. Architect: Felder & Associates. Photos courtesy of Richard Leo Johnson.
The Grey
Honor Award - Dirty Work(s): A Mighty Good Totem, unbuilt Project It is in the grotesque production of fundaments that Dirty Work(s): A mighty Good Totem takes hold as a celebratory instrument of ‘white gold’ as part of the annual Kaolin Festival in Sandersville, Georgia. These totems mix geographies of modern culture such as pseudo-scientific precision, whitness, and denial of gravity with agencies of rural craft such as quilting patterns and material sensibility in an effort to strike a dialog that positions the architect’s work. Architect: n-space architectures. Photos courtesy of Neal Robinson, Dirty Work(s): A Mighty Good Totem William Liow, Julie Simpson, and Caitlin Cashner.
Merit Award - People’s Health new Orleans Jazz Market, new Orleans, Louisiana A contemporary jazz performance space and the permanent headquarters for the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra. The 14,000-square-foot building hosts 360 seats on its floor, a partial wrap-around balcony, and a retractable stadium seating section. One of the greatest design challenges was to provide suitable acoustic design that could add vibrancy and energy, creating an inspiring experience in the undisputed birthplace of jazz. Architect: Kronberg Wall. Photos courtesy of Kronberg Wall and Brandt Photography, New Orleans.
People’s Health new Orleans Jazz Market
Merit Award - new Central Office Building for International Automotive Company, Confidential Location This 65,000 gross-square-foot central office building will embody the client’s reputation for performance, innovative design, and quality. Responsibility is an integral part of the client’s corporate identity and, therefore, the office building is designed to incorporate sustainable design practices. Utilizing the natural general topography to support storm water management through bio-retention, favorable building solar orientation,and selection of environmentally friendly building materials and new Central Office Building-International Automotive Company systems, certification to the LEED Gold Level is the desired goal. Architect: Perkins+Will. Photos courtesy of Perkins+Will.
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GEORGIA EnGInEER
Merit Award - 935M, Atlanta, Georgia A shallow piece of land bordered by streets on three sides challenged the design team to find a way to creatively maximize the number of residential units on the urban infill site. The design utilized a unique façade treatment that depended on the vertical shifting of windows and the addition of decorative fins to create a dynamic patterning on the longstreet-facing plane. Architect: Suber Barber Choate + Hertlein, Orlando, Florida. Photos courtesy of Phillip Spears.
Merit Award - nemours Children’s Hospital, Orlando, Florida The alignment of outpatient and inpatient care on each level of a single building, according to each specialty, resulted in the shape and form of the building. Patient rooms feature colorful, changeable LED lights and can be seen by airport visitors. The hospital’s 24hour visiting policy led to design strategies, including patient rooms with overnight accommodations for parents, laundry, and concierge desk in the lobby of each patient floor. Outdoor spaces for relaxation and active play include landscape rooftop terraces, interactive water features, a discovery garden, and an outdoor community stage for live performances. Architect: Stanley Beaman & Sears. Photos courtesy of Jonathan Hillyer.
935M
nemours Children’s Hospital
Merit Award - Georgia State university Outdoor Student Recreation Facility, Atlanta, Georgia The recreation facility project involved inserting a dense program into a surviving antebellum structure while incorporating a progressive and modern aesthetic. Major challenges included a short-time duration, limited space, and tight budget. Despite these challenges, design opportunities within existing space were optimized. Architect: Make3 architecture/planning/design. Photos courtesy of Jonathan Hillyer.
Merit Award - AIA ATL Headquarters, Atlanta, Georgia The goal for the design was to connect the
Georgia State Outdoor Student Recreation Facility
community, while leveraging the building’s history in downtown Atlanta. Floor-to-ceiling glazine with windows on both sides of the corner space open the building up for connection at the street level. A stunning quarter-sawn white oak wall, sustainably constructed from local ‘forest free’ oaks, creates a contrast with the grey zinc. The central elements of transformation in the design are the large vertical bi-fold door and single pivot door on the front main wall. Architect: 5G Studio Collaborative. Photos courtesy of Jonathan Hillyer Photography. AIA ATL Headquarters
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Merit Award - Bosphorus Landing Park Competition, unbuilt Project. Located just north of Istanbul, Turkey, the importance of the Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge and its remarkable setting presents an extraordinary opportunity: a new public park anchoring the bridge on two continents with the power to connect people to Turkey’s rich history, to the natural landscape, and to each other. The team worked passionately to create a vision for the park that would be both respectful of Turkish history yet forward looking—a unique and memorable place with strong roots and a compelling future. The design concept integrates three Bosphorus Landing Park Competition key themes: Connecting Places, Performance Landscape, and Enriched Experiences. Architect: Perkins+Will. Photos courtesy of Perkins+Will.
People’s Choice Award - Riverside EpiCenter, Atlanta, Georgia The Riverside EpiCenter provides a safe haven for the community’s at-risk youth, a sustainable place for recreational family experiences and serves as an entertainment and conference event destination. The EpiCenter is the facility is on track to achieve LEED silver. The facility and design reinforces a sense of wonder and continued discovery by the occupants, especially the youth. Architect: Pieper O’Brien Herr Architects. Photos courtesy of Jim Roof and Charles O’Brien II.
Riverside EpiCenter
AIA GA EXCELLEnCE AWARDS
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GEORGIA EnGInEER
TEENS ADMIRE ENGINEERS’ PROBLEM-SOLVING SKILLS BUT TURN TO OTHERS IN SOME SOCIAL SITUATIONS: ASQ Survey New study examines realities and misperceptions of engineers hile most teens admire engineers’ problem-solving skills and agree engineers are very smart, only two percent would invite an engineer to be their date at a wedding, further supporting engineers’ perceptions that society deems them as socially awkward, according to new surveys by ASQ. But according to a survey of teens conducted by Kelton for ASQ, overall engineers’ perceptions are unfounded: only 9 percent of teens described engineers as socially awkward, and only 8 percent say engineers are boring. Furthermore, the survey finds 80 percent of teens view engineers as very smart and 68 percent agree engineers are problem solvers. In a separate survey of 841 ASQ member engineers, 58 percent say they believe society in general views engineers as socially awkward and 48 percent think society views them as boring. In contrast, only 12 percent of engineers believe their peers are awkward and only four percent say they’re boring. The Kelton survey, conducted in January in advance of National Engineers Week, Feb. 22-28, was fielded among U.S. youth ages 13-17 to discover their perceptions about engineers and the profession. The ASQ engineer survey also was conducted in January.
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Social Stigmas Remain Despite the growing respect for engineers as problem solvers and being very smart, it seems that stereotypes remain. According to the Kelton Survey, 11 percent of girls think engineers are boring compared to five percent of boys. Teens say they would choose to hang JunE | JuLy 2015
An ASQ survey finds 80 percent of teens view engineers as very smart and 68 percent agree engineers are problem solvers. out with individuals other than engineers in some social situations, according to survey results. While 58 percent of youth say they would call an engineer to get help with a home repair, only three percent would ask an engineer to help plan a party when compared with individuals in other fields, like a doctor, a chef, an actor, or teacher. According to the Kelton Survey, when asked who they would like to take to a wedding, 44 percent said actor, and 11 percent said doctor, while only two percent chose engineers. When planning a party, 61 percent of teens said they would enlist the help of a chef, followed by actor (16 percent), and engineer (three percent). But while teens are unlikely to consider engineers in some social situations, engineers say their communications skills, outgoing personalities and honesty benefit them socially. According to the ASQ sur-
vey of engineers, 85 percent of engineers say their good communications skills benefit them in social situations, followed by an outgoing personality, 70 percent, and honesty, 65 percent. “It’s very promising to see that teens
When it comes to high-profile role models, engineers are rising to the top. think highly of engineers but it’s clear that some misperceptions still need to be dispelled,” said ASQ CEO William Troy. “Engineers today come from a variety of backgrounds and personalities—you just can’t box them into one type.” Engineer Role Models A sign of shifting social status for engineers may be seen in popular culture. When it comes to high-profile role models, engineers are rising to the top. Ac41
cording to the Kelton survey, 41 percent of teens consider Steve Wozniak, engineer and co-founder of Apple Computers, their role model. Other role models include: • Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook cofounder, 34 percent
In the workplace, the skills engineers say benefit them most include: • Problem solving (93 percent) •
Good communication skills (86 percent)
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Pop music star Taylor Swift, 32 percent
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Leadership skills and honesty (72 percent)
•
Marissa Mayer, Yahoo CEO, 23 percent
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Strong math skills (58 percent)
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Outgoing personality (48 percent)
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Actress Jennifer Aniston, 22 percent
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Retired baseball player Derek Jeter, 21 percent
•
Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, 20 percent
About the Surveys The ASQ survey was conducted by Kelton between Jan. 5 and Jan. 14 using an email invitation and an online survey. The survey was conducted among 1,015 nationally representative Americans ages 18 and older (margin of error = +/-3.1 percent) and 503 nationally representative American teens ages 13-17 (margin of error = +/4.4 percent). The poll of ASQ member engineers was conducted Jan. 15–26 and elicited 841 responses from ASQ members who identify themselves as engineers using an e-mail invitation and online poll.v
In a different, open-ended question to ASQ member engineers, they named scientists, engineers, politicians and sports stars as role models, including former President Ronald Reagan, Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein and Michael Jordan, among others. Career Perception vs. Reality The surveys also revealed contrasts between teens and engineers when it comes to engineering careers: • Salary: 69 percent of teens think that engineers get paid high salaries but only 19 percent of engineers agree they get paid a high salary. •
Job security: 38 percent of teens say engineers are easily able to get a job but only 21 percent of engineers agree.
•
Love math: 68 percent of teens believe engineers love math but only 38 percent of engineers agree.
•
Long hours: 39 percent of teens believe engineers work long hours but 47 percent of engineers say that working long hours is realistic.
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GEORGIA EnGInEER
FInLEy RECEIvES AWARDS Jerry Pfuntner, P.E., Principal, FINLEY; Ralph Christie, ACEC Chairman-Elect
Georgia
Engineering
News
Finley Receives ACEC Awards
Finley Engineering Group Inc. won two American Council of Engineering (ACEC) Awards for expertise in bridge design and construction engineering. US 281 Bridge over Colorado River, Marble Falls, Texas (958-ft. Cast-In-Place Segmental Bridge). Complexity and Innovation The Archer Western (WALSH) - FINLEY team proposed design modifications and means and methods changes that exceeded all the expectations of the Texas Department of Transportation and the public, provided a stunning signature bridge that was more efficient to build and saved $2 million dollars. The New US 281 Bridges over the Colorado River are the second longest segmental bridges in Texas. JunE | JuLy 2015
I-35 Brazos River Bridges. Waco, Texas (’Extradosed’ Bridge) FINLEY’s design and construction engineering modifications included: • Reduced pier table length by 40 percent and eliminated significant temporary shoring in the River; and eliminated four temporary support towers with drilled shaft foundations. Modified pier table and segment lengths reduced 12 weeks off the construction schedule. •
Optimized post-tensioning for means and methods to match Archer Western’s strengths and the materials and equipment that were readily available.
•
Traditional cofferdams were not feasible and a precast footing form system was designed. The “bathtub” style form was precast on-site and then lowered into the water with wall forms already attached, providing for a dry work environment to construct the footing.
“In any new project, including this signature bridge for Marble Falls, TxDOT looks to balance design, function, operations, maintenance and most importantly, safety while still providing the same product or better. The public was very sensitive to the aesthetics of this bridge, since the lake is
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also used for recreation. The Contractor put together a great team and the alternative concepts developed by the Contractor and Construction Engineer helped to meet the expectations of TxDOT and the public.” Howard Lyons, P.E., TxDOT Area Bridge Engineer Key participants and project roles: Owner, Bridge Design Engineer and Construction Engineering Inspection: Texas Department of Transportation Prime Contractor: Archer Western Contractors (WALSH) Alternate Superstructure Design and Construction Engineer: Finley Engineering Group, Inc. Concrete Supplier: Ingram Readimix Inc. Post-Tensioning Contractor, Form Traveler, and Post-Tensioning Materials Supplier: VSL Form Traveler Form Work: DOKA Complexity and Innovation The Texas Department of Transportation selected an extradosed bridge which is a hybrid structure that combines elements of a steel box girder, reinforced concrete deck and cable-supported superstructure. Although fairly common in other countries, extradosed bridges are rare in the United States. The new bridges used an innovative design which is highly aesthetic, durable and cost-effective. This project was com-
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L-R Pat Mosher, ACEC EEA Chairperson; Andrew Micklus Jr., VP COO, Freyssinet, Inc.; Jerry Pfuntner, P.E., Principal, FINLEY, Ralph Christie, ACEC Chairman-Elect
L-R Pat Mosher, ACEC EEA Chairperson; Jerry Pfuntner, P.E., Principal, FINLEY; Ralph Christie, ACEC Chairman-Elect pleted on budget and 4 ½ months ahead of schedule prior to Baylor University’s football season and the opening of the new stadium. The new bridges now provide increased mobility and safety and are a regional landmark for the local community and traveling public. FINLEY provided construction engineering analysis to The Lane Construction Corporation. Services included: steel girder erection design; temporary support works design, three dimensional time dependent analysis (used for cable analysis), construction manual, sequence and stay cable stressing. “These frontage road bridges are a specialized type called “extradosed”, a combination of girder and cable construction. It is the first extradosed bridge in the nation using a steel superstructure, which
adds an extra complexity in maintaining the stay forces during construction.” said Kirk Krause, P.E. TxDOT Area Engineer. Key participants and project roles: Owner: Texas Department of Transportation Prime Contractor: The Lane Construction Corporation Construction Engineer: Finley Engineering Group Inc. Bridge Design Engineer: AECOM Stay Supplier: Freyssinet Steel Fabricator: Hirschfeld Industries v GEORGIA EnGInEER
United Consulting Announces New Chief Geotechnical Engineer United Consulting Group Ltd., a multidiscipline engineering consulting firm based in Norcross, Georgia, announced the appointment of Mr. Santanu Sinharoy, P.E. to the position of Chief Geotechnical Engineer. In his new role, Mr. Sinharoy will bring his wealth of experience in Geotechnical Engineering, specializing in the areas of foundation design, subsurface investigations, soil survey, pavement evaluation, bridge foundation investigations, investigation of dams, tunnels, mid-rise to high-rise structures, and value engineering in both public and private sectors. Mr. Sinharoy earned a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from Jadavpur University in Kolkata, India, and a Master’s Degree in Civil Engineering from Clemson University, South Carolina. Mr. Sinharoy also completed a Master’s
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Mr. Santanu Sinharoy Degree in Computer Science from Southern Polytechnic State University in Georgia, while working full time. In Mr. Sinharoy’s words, this experience enhanced his ability to think outside the box with creative and innovative solutions. In addition to becoming computer proficient, this experience allowed him to successfully multitask, parallel process, and develop efficient project and people management skills. He has been with United Consulting for over 20 years where he has supervised the completion of numerous Geotechnical Subsurface Investigations, related design and construction of shallow and deep foundation systems, postconstruction evaluation and analysis, soil densification, failure investigation, construction materials inspection and
construction management, as well as Environmental Site Assessment and feasibility studies. In the transportation sector, his role as a lead geotechnical engineer has earned a lot of respect in creating innovative foundation solutions to particularly challenging subsurface conditions. His early career of working as a structural engineer allowed him to develop an ability to easily and effectively communicate with other project design engineers. Mr. Sinharoy is also certified as a Georgia Safe Dams Program (GSDP) Engineer of Record. “We are delighted to announce Santanu as the Chief Engineer of our blooming small business,” said Mr. Reza Abree, P.E., president and CEO of United Consulting. “His invaluable experience and proven leadership success and exceptional service to clients remain points of great pride for United Consulting. United Consulting, incorporated in 1990, is an engineering consulting firm specializing in geotechnical engineering, environmental services, geophysical services, inspection services, and construction materials testing. v
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TERRALUX Creates First LED Lighting Platform for the Cloud TERRALUX Inc. is revolutionizing LED lighting technology with the introduction of its cloud based lighting system, LEDSENSE®. While light bulbs helped modernize the world, the technology has remained unintelligent throughout history, until now. LEDSENSE® is the first lighting technology that enables a light to essentially have the senses to see, smell and touch its environment while controlling energy use in a building through the cloud. LEDSENSE® provides a seamless convergence by integrating with existing building information systems. Enabled with LEDSENSE®, a light can feel how warm or cold a room is, see if anyone is inside it and sniff out odors and potentially toxic chemicals in the air including smoke, carbon monoxide and harmful VOCs. By providing this information back to the building owner through the cloud, building performance, safety and security can be optimized. “A light is no longer simply a device that allows you to see in the dark,” said TERRALUX CEO Steve Hane. “We are
CFL downlights retrofit with Terralux LED LEDSENSE system, ready to be reinstalled. 46
After – Downlights retrofit with LED, wireless indivual control and collocated wireless sensors, cameras, and controls. deploying a LED platform that goes beyond basic illumination. Technology available in buildings today will pale in comparison to the capabilities we are building in the emerging cloud lighting space.” Utilities can issue ‘Demand Response’ alerts, and LEDSENSE® will automatically adjust light levels in a
Before – CFL downlights, mostly burned out, ready for LED retrofit
building to balance grid demand. If a light sees people enter a room it will raise the lighting to a brighter level. When people depart a room leaving it empty, the lights will be lowered, providing additional energy savings. If a dangerous gas is detected in the air, or if a person using a restroom leaves it odorous, the light can switch on an exhaust fan or trigger an alarm system. Advanced sensors provide safety and security information, and alerts—all through the LED lights. LEDSENSE® can reduce energy costs and usage in a building by up to 90 percent. Additionally, building owners, security or maintenance staff can remotely monitor energy use, occupancy, air quality and other environmental factors in a building from a computer, tablet or smart phone simply by logging into their LEDSENSE® portal. For more information about TERRALUX commercial lighting products and to read about installation projects at universities, multi-family buildings and other commercial facilities, visit: www.terralux.com. v GEORGIA EnGInEER
Alan Krause Named to U.S. Environmental Technologies Trade Advisory Committee MWH Global, an engineering, consulting and construction firm focused on water and natural resources, announced today that Alan Krause, chairman and chief executive officer, has been appointed to the U.S. Environmental Technologies Trade Advisory Committee as a representative from MWH and of the consulting and engineering segment of the U.S. environmental technology sector. The appointment is effective through August 18, 2016, when the Committee’s current charter expires. The Advisory Committee is tasked with developing actionable
recommendations to improve the export competitiveness of the consulting and engineering sectors. Members will provide consensus advice on the development and administration of programs and policies to expand U.S. exports of environmental technologies, goods, services, and products that comply with U.S. environmental, safety, and related requirements. The Committee’s work is expected to strengthen the nation’s efforts under the ongoing Environmental Export Initiative, as well as the National Export Initiative (NEI)/NEXT. With more than 36 years of industry
and market experience, Krause has been a strong voice for business to act in a responsible and appropriate way, and he embraces the vision that technology offers to provide better solutions. As MWH chairman and CEO since 2011, he has served to advance the organization’s position as the global leader in the water and natural resources sectors using unique sustainable solutions. His leadership acuity also extends to the unique sustainable solution applied to such major global initiatives as the Third Set of Locks/Panama Canal Expansion, that is transforming global transportation; to the Tekeze Hydropower Project in Ethiopia, that increased power stability and provided and provided reliable access to light, heat and water for 80 million people, and to his pivotal role in upgrading London’s aging water system infrastructure. Krause is a member and distinguished engineer for the Pan American Academy of Engineering. He was a contributor to the recently published book “The Value of Water: A compendium of Essays by Smart CEO,” published in 2014. v
Hargrove Engineers + Constructors Climbs 25 Spots in Engineering News-Record Top Design Firms
Hargrove Engineers + Constructors ranked No. 90 on Engineering NewsRecord’s (ENR) 2015 Top 500 Design Firms list. The magazine’s annual national rankings are based on design revenue for architecture, engineering and environmental firms. Founded in Mobile, Alabama in 1995, Hargrove is recognized nationally as one of the fastest-growing engineering firms. Today, the company has more than 1000 Teammates and 11 offices across the United States. Hargrove first submitted for the ENR ranking in 2012 and placed 175 on the list. Since then, the ranking has steadily improved to 135 in 2013 and 115 in 2014. The company has seen continuous growth over the years resulting in gains both on the ENR list and in the market. “Our success stems from our Team’s focus
on the needs of our clients,” said Scott Bergoon, PE, vice president, business development and strategy. “Understanding their project drivers and developing project strategies builds trust, which ultimately builds relationships. Our growth has enabled us to provide support in the major project space without losing sight of our clients’ small project, plant level needs that many of them have.” Hargrove Engineers + Constructors is a full-service EPC, automation, life sciences and technical services firm whose success stems from building a team of the best engineers and construction professionals while maintaining longterm client relationships. For more information about Hargrove, please visit www.hargrove-epc.com. v
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Alan Krause
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