Signature | Spring 2017

SPRING

2017

SUSTAINABILITY

RUST BELT RIVER RESTORATION

Transforming the Cuyahoga River’s industrial ship channel – and Cleveland – with trails, fish habitat, education and a natural park setting We Make a Difference

We Make a Difference

SPRING 2017 | SUSTAINABILITY

02 CHAIRMAN & CEO NOTE 04 SUSTAINABILITY FRAMEWORK 10 IMPACT 10 Rust Belt River Restoration

Transforming the Cuyahoga River’s industrial ship channel in Cleveland with trails, fish habitat, education and a natural park setting

18 Tales of the Tundra

Michael Baker embraces ice roads, rivers, permafrost, caribou and summer thaw to engineer a sustainable arctic pipeline on Alaska’s North Slope

24 Safety and Sustainability

Michael Baker helps Florida’s Merritt Island Airport extend its runway safety area farther into the river while preserving and upgrading the natural habitat around it

32 ACROSS THE CONTINUUM 42 COLLABORATION

Helping Towns to Think Bigger

How Michael Baker's Urban Design Studio guides cities and towns through complex, long-term, transformational planning and social, economic and environmental sustainability

46 INNOVATION

Visualizing What-Ifs

How Michael Baker is helping community stakeholders to better imagine their sustainable, connected transit network options with new technology

48 LEADING CHANGE

Striking a Sustainable Balance

The ethics of good community planning that serves the public interest socially, economically and environmentally

50 ON THE BOARDS

Designing for Tribal Sustainability

The Cahuilla band of Mission Indians' new tribal administration complex

52 SUSTAINABILITY GLOBAL STATISTICS

Signature Signature is published quarterly by the Corporate Communications department of Michael Baker International to showcase our full continuum of people, places, projects, innovations – and how We Make a Difference in the communities we serve around the world.

Chief Communications Officer: Leanna Anderson Corporate Communications Director: Brian Peiritsch Editor: Daniel Bates Art Director: Matthew Michalko Contributing Writers: Daniel Bates, Tim Hayes, Evan Pattak, Dianne Stetzer, Justin Falce, Christina Glenn, Claire Carrell Contributing Photographers: Terry Clark, Mariben Andersen, Daniel Bates Spring 2017 © 2017 Michael Baker International. All rights reserved.

Cover photo: A section of the newly developed Towpath Trail along the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland

CHAIRMAN & CEO NOTE

LASTING IMPACT

FOSTERING SOCIAL, ECONOMIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY A MESSAGE FROM OUR CHAIRMAN, THOMAS J. CAMPBELL, AND OUR CEO, BRIAN A. LUTES

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CHAIRMAN & CEO NOTE

A

t Michael Baker International, when we say

and safe transportation of oil and gas to market.

we work hard to make a difference for our

At the same time, we work within the confines of

clients, our families and the communities we

extreme environmental conditions to preserve

serve, we are also focused on social, economic, and

the tundra, accommodate caribou migrations,

environmental sustainability to provide sustainable

and support the future of native economies.

solutions. Our work encompasses far more than being responsible, ethical stewards of the world and our environment. It must also consider the potential

•

A partnership with officials and community groups in Merritt Island, Florida, where a

lasting impact from social and economic perspectives.

general-aviation airport suffered continued

Sustainability remains at the core of everything we do.

runway safety area, which juts into the Banana

It defines our purpose, what we do, how we do it and

River coastal waterway. Rebuilding the safety

who we are. Our 77-year legacy as a global leader

area required extending it farther into the

in engineering, planning and consulting has been

environmentally sensitive river, home to the

characterized by providing innovative solutions that

endangered manatee, as well as alligators,

reflect the best possible sustainability stewardship of

fisheries and depleted seagrasses.

our world.

partnership with the local airport authority, a

We must always be cognizant that to achieve effective sustainability requires a delicate balance among longterm impact, safety, accessibility, economic feasibility and what are often competing stakeholder agendas.

It requires a more collaborative, multi-disciplinary and holistic mindset to working with and guiding our clients to solve some of their most complex challenges.

In this issue of Signature magazine, we showcase our commitment to this balanced perspective on sustainability by highlighting a few of the many projects that benchmark our progress. Those highlights include: •

•

erosion – as much as a foot a year – of its

In

county zoo, environmental nonprofits and a local philanthropist, this project represented an opportunity not only to improve safety, but also to restore a delicate coastal river habitat and marshy mosquito mitigation area. The result was a more sustainable future for the airport and its constituents, the river, area wildlife, native plant species and the salt marshes.

We conclude with three examples where social, economic and environmental sustainability were at the forefront of our efforts.

We

showcase our historic preservation efforts in

A Michael Baker team assisting the city

Kentucky with an award-winning bridge built

of Cleveland in transforming a tired and

to withstand earthquakes; in Utah with a storm

deteriorating ship channel and industrial area

water management assessment for the state’s

between Lake Erie and the natural Cuyahoga

Department of Transportation; and finally a

River into a park-like city corridor with native

volunteer project in partnership with the nonprofit

trees, shrubs and flowers. The project included

Bridges to Prosperity where our employees

a restored fish habitat, a winding Towpath Trail

contributed their time and talent as well as their

along an improved ship channel and educational

own personal resources to build a suspension

facilities for the community.

bridge for a rural village in Nicaragua.

A partnership with ConocoPhillips in Alaska’s

Sustainability for us is about making sure our

North Slope region to help navigate the art and

clients, partners and stakeholders work together

science of arctic oil production infrastructure

to foster a balanced ecosystem that considers

where Michael Baker engineers and environmental

the long-term effects and leaves our land, water

scientists assist with the design and build of

and communities more sustainable socially,

infrastructure and pipelines that ensure the stable

economically and environmentally. At Michael Baker, sustainability is a reflection of our values.

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SUSTAINABILITY FRAMEWORK

MICHAEL BAKER INTERNATIONAL’S APPROACH TO SUSTAINABILITY COMPRISES THREE KEY COMPONENTS:

SOCIAL

S

We deliver lasting impact through the engineering, planning and consulting services we provide, which foster and preserve the culture, history and shared values of the communities where we live and work. We participate in our communities and volunteer our time to support organizations that, like Michael Baker, demonstrate how We Make a Difference serving those in need.

ECONOMIC

E

We support our sustainability strategy by operating as a profitable company, which allows us to invest in innovations and efficiencies that benefit our clients, colleagues and our communities. Our continued economic viability helps us to create new jobs, pursue new projects and generate new opportunities for our employees, whose work around the world solves our clients’ complex challenges.

We’re privileged to have the support of our employees because we invest in their professional learning and development and ensure a safe workplace for them.

EN

ENVIRONMENTAL

We consider the environment in all that we do, from how we commute to work to how we approach projects for our clients. The creative solutions that drive our work for our clients and communities are informed by respect for our natural resources and the knowledge that our actions today impact the generations of tomorrow.

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OUR SUSTAINABLE IMPACT

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S U STA I N A B I L I T Y

AT M I C H A E L B A K E R

Mic hael B a ker In ter n a t i o na l work s ha rd t o se r ve as a r esp o n sib l e s t eward o f t h e worl d .

This mi n d set d efin es wh o we are , h ow we d o busine s s a n d h ow we a pp ro a ch t he f u t ure .

We strive to embrace the broadest sense of social, economic and environmental sustainability and build our global footprint accordingly. We respectfully consider the lasting impact of our planning, design, engineering, building and revitalization efforts, as well as our own actions, on the environment, natural resource management, energy conservation, economic vitality and quality of life.

For us, it’s about making sure our team members, project partners and stakeholders work together to ensure a balanced ecosystem that leaves our land, water, air and communities cleaner, safer, more environmentally friendly, and more socially and economically viable. It’s about making our world a better place.

This overview highlights our accomplishments in social, economic and environmental sustainability. We are proud of our progress, and we continue to make strides to reduce our use of paper, lower our energy consumption and promote diversity and inclusion programs, among other areas, to ensure Michael Baker remains a Great Place to Work.

We Make a Difference

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OUR SUSTAINABLE IMPACT

SOCIAL ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENTAL

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$17,844 D O N AT E D BY T H E C O M PA N Y A N D T E A M MEMBERS IN 2016 TO S U P P O RT F LO O D R E L I E F E F F O RT S I N W E ST V I R G I N I A A N D

2 0

SA F E T Y

G R E AT PL AC E TO W O R K Investing in our people is core to

LO ST - W O R K DAY C AS E S

who we are. Michael Baker

FATA L I T I E S

its certification as a Great Place to

International’s employees have spoken: the company has earned Work®. This independent national recognition program surveyed

LO U I S I A N A .

Michael Baker employees in 2016 and found that:

74 %

E M P LOY E E S S AY I T ’S A G R E AT W O R K P L AC E

84 %

TA K E G R E AT PRIDE IN WORKING THERE

N E A R LY

13,000

C A N S O F F O O D C O L L E CT E D F O R F O O D B A N KS B Y E M P LOY E E S V I A O U R PA RT I C I PAT I O N I N T H E N O N P R O F I T C A N ST R U CT I O N ' S DESIGN-BUILD COMPETITIONS.

$1.4B

2016 REVENUE

$1.3B

NEW WORK ADDED

$1.8B

B AC K LO G O F P R O J E C T S

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OUR SUSTAINABLE IMPACT

C O RP O R ATE CODE Every employee re-certified his or her commitment to uphold Michael Baker’s Corporate Code of Conduct, to act in the best interests of the Company in accordance with high ethical, moral and legal standards.

$49,000 +

LEED |

111 10 88

AWA R D E D AC R O S S 2 2 S C H O L A R S H I P S

1,628

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design

C E RT I F I E D E M P LOY E E S ENVISION S U STA I N A B I L I T Y PROFESSIONALS P R O J E CT S DESIGNED FOR LEED C E RT I F I C AT I O N

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N E W H I R E S G LO B A L LY

N E W - G R A D UAT E H I R E S

BUILDING BRIDGES Michael Baker sent 12 employee volunteers to El Zarzal, Nicaragua, in partnership with Bridges to Prosperity, to build a 190-foot suspension bridge that would allow the community’s 2,000 residents to safely cross the Rio Calico river during the rainy season. Michael Baker has made a three-year commitment to the nonprofit. (S e e stor y on Pa g e 4 0 . )

L E A R N I N G & D E V E LO P M E N T

157 274 14,872 COURSES OFFERED

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CLASSES OFFERED

ENROLLMENTS IN 2016

OUR SUSTAINABLE IMPACT

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RUST BE LT RIVER RESTORATION Transforming the Cuyahoga River’s industrial ship channel – and Cleveland – with trails, fish habitat, education and a natural park setting

B

etween the shores of Lake Erie and the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, a stretch of aging, under-utilized industrial land and an old shipping channel lined with metal plates – armor – wound their

way unremarkably south around this northeast Ohio city. The river and shoreline, framed by an impressive city skyline and an iconic steel verticallift drawbridge, meandered slowly past neglected red-brick warehouses, rail yards and overgrown vacant lots. It flowed almost unnoticed beneath several highway overpasses, paying a sort of homage to the region’s oncethriving rustbelt heyday but offering little in the way of fish habitat, recreation, education – or nature – on its way through the city.

It offered much potential, though, according to a diverse consortium of economic development agencies, city planners, developers and environmental organizations. A potential, they concluded, to rethink, reshape and rebuild that urban river corridor into something purposeful, aesthetically beautiful, educational, restorative and sustainable socially, economically and environmentally. And that’s just what this group has done, with design and engineering guidance from Michael Baker International.

They called the multi-phase restoration project the Cuyahoga River AOC Restoration (AOC stands for “Area of Concern,” an official governmental designation). A team of Michael Baker engineers, designers and scientists from the firm’s Cleveland office served as the lead contractor for this multimillion-dollar, long-range sustainability effort that already has proven popular and a welcome improvement to the waterfront in Cleveland.

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WeTrail Make a Difference Cleveland's Towpath along the Cuyahoga River

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project.

“[Michael] Baker’s ability to manage this

context-sensitive design project, coupled with complex coordination of the multiple stakeholders, was exceptional.”

ARMORED OBSTACLES FOR FISH, PEOPLE The project has focused on the armored and dredged ship channel in the lower 5.5 miles of the Cuyahoga River, which connects Lake Erie to the natural river upstream. Armored plating and vertical bulkhead line virtually the entire shoreline of the ship channel to allow 650-foot freighters adequate shore-to-shore navigation space through the channel.

The project’s stakeholders had realized over time that, while accommodating to large cargo vessels, the ship channel had become a source of impairment to the Cuyahoga River and the Cleveland area because of the river’s dredged depth, slow flow, armored shoreline and the absence of a functional riparian edge. From a purely environmental perspective, the channel created a difficult habitat especially for fish, which migrate annually from Lake Erie through the channel, on their way to upstream spawning beds.

The project, according to Jeff Broadwater, manager of Michael Baker’s highway and bridge engineering practice in Cleveland, encompassed the restoration of 3,000 linear feet of fish habitat within the ship channel, while also transforming two adjoining properties – 11 acres that had served local industry as a rail yard and coal storage area – into a restored native habitat and park. With that restoration complete, the AOC Restoration group then added a new mile-long, shoreline Towpath Trail that would traverse through the new habitat, as well as visitor facilities, educational exhibits and other amenities.

In addition to habitat restoration services, the Michael “The stakeholders are extremely pleased with the

Baker team designed an almost-one-mile section

completed project, which was opened to the public

of the habitat-restored trail, including alignment

this past summer,” cited a letter from the Cuyahoga

development, evaluation of drainage impacts, and

County Department of Public Works, in nominating

preparation of best management practices. The team

Michael Baker for a national award based on this

also provided Phase II environmental site assessment, a

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Aerial view of the Cuyahoga River ship channel

remediation work plan, and an asbestos and hazardous materials investigation to address possible soil and groundwater contamination.

THE IMPORTANCE OF STAKEHOLDER BUY-IN This project, with all of its layers of complexity,

That also included the proper disposal of 5,000 cubic

represents a multi-agency collaboration involving a

yards of soil that had been dredged from the river, and

wide and disparate number of organizations. Among

the “hotspot” removal and disposal of 7,000 cubic

them: The City of Cleveland, Cuyahoga County

yards of contaminated soils. The effort resulted in a

Department of Public Works, Cleveland Metroparks

long stretch of public-friendly, natural – and attention-

and Canalway Partners. All entered into a project

getting – riverside park.

development agreement with defined responsibilities

“As the project has advanced, it also has served as a catalyst to stakeholders to move design forward for the remaining Towpath Trail projects, creating excitement among the stakeholders and public to find ways to overcome any new challenges associated with the trail projects in the urban environment,” says Broadwater, who led the Michael Baker effort. “We saw this, as

to construct the remaining six miles of Towpath Trail in the City of Cleveland as part of a 100-mile-plus trail system called the National Heritage Corridor Ohio and Erie Canal Towpath Trail. The formal agreement helped cement stakeholder buy-in of this long-term sustainability initiative and secure funding to advance the construction.

the various groups involved in this project helped with

The agreement also helped the group move its project

grant applications and securing additional funding to

plans forward in light of the goals of other regional

complete the trail.”

organizations, which coincided with this group’s.

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Additional stakeholders included: the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Ohio Cultural Facilities Commission, Ohio Department of Transportation, Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District and Cuyahoga River Remedial Action Plan. The Port of Cleveland also has contributed time, equipment and staff to help repair shoreline cargo booms and remove debris.

A MORE FISH- AND VISITOR-FRIENDLY SHORELINE One of the outcomes of the project was to modify existing riverbanks to support fish habitat. That meant adjustments to the shoreline, which is lined with vertical metal plates or bulkheads along most of the river in the ship channel. To accomplish this, Michael Baker’s plans called for underwater inspection and assessment of the bulkheads, whose conditions varied wildly, from good to failed. Bulkhead replacement would prove extremely expensive – estimated at $3,000 per foot, multiplied by close to 3,000 feet of shoreline in question. Replacement of the existing bulkhead became a major cost concern for the restoration group.

In response to this challenge, the Michael Baker team developed a holistic site renovation approach to site development, given sheeting and bulkhead conditions.

Failed sheeting or wooden bulkheads were removed, retrofitted or abandoned where the shoreline could be pushed back, with slopes to create more natural riverbanks. This approach also included allowing for river enthusiasts closer access to the channel for fishing or viewing freight vessels in areas of good, intact sheeting.

The Michael Baker team also worked with stakeholders to develop a rehabilitation plan for the deteriorating sheeting to both extend the life of the sheeting and improve the fish habitat.

Overall, the excavation and embankment portion of the riverfront project entailed removal of 7,000 cubic yards of contaminated soils. The contractors then repurposed any remaining non-contaminated soils onsite to build the Towpath Trail – 33,000 cubic yards in all – plus a one-foot clean-fill cover of natural embankment totaling 12,000 cubic yards.

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We Make a Difference A vibrant floral mix along the Towpath Trail

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Northbound on the Towpath Trail

RECLAIMING A BEAUTIFUL LANDMARK The project also included the acquisition of vacant post-industrial and commercial property, along with environmental cleanup of contaminated soils on the site and site restoration, planting of native species of trees

public assets, into the inner city. Metroparks also has developed educational programs around the trail system for school kids to experience nature within the city, further enhancing the trail’s value as a long-term educational resource and source of community outreach.

and other plants, and construction of a trail and river

The Towpath Trail extension in Cleveland consisted

overlook. This overlook has proven one of the most

of four stages. Stage 2 has been completed; Stage 3

popular elements of the project, providing visitors with

construction, with 1.9 miles of trail, is scheduled to begin

free access via the new trail to observe the juxtaposition

in 2017; and Stage 1 and remaining portions of Stage 4

of the working river, industrial activity, city skyline and

are scheduled to begin in 2019 and 2020, respectively.

natural habitat.

“The catalyst for those adjacent trail projects to

The new development extends the Towpath Trail, a

provide enhanced connectivity has been the Cleveland

100-mile-plus national heritage corridor, into downtown

Foundation’s Centennial Trail, which was constructed by

Cleveland. It also expands the footprint of Cleveland

Cleveland Metroparks,” says Michael Baker’s Broadwater.

Metroparks, one of greater Cleveland’s most revered

“They also have served as a catalyst for reconstruction of

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the adjacent Scranton and Carter Roads, long-neglected roads in poor condition. Even though connectivity to the Towpath Trail, as well as nearby residences, has yet to be fully established, the trail has seen regular use by joggers, walkers and bird watchers.”

ENVIRONMENTAL REBIRTH IN THE CITY The comprehensive environmental cleanup of contaminated soils and overall restoration of this site to a natural state clearly has improved habitat for fish and birds in the Cuyahoga River ship channel. Michael Baker’s plan called for construction of four fish habitat zones and six bio-retention cells to provide not only improved fish habitat, but also to assist in more sustainable stormwater management.

The design included a segregated area for fish, located away from public access, to ensure more successful fish migration and spawning. It also called for the installation of a floating boom to keep out debris and reduce artificial lighting, which minimizes light pollution.

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"It’s amazing to see how many people come down there now.”

Doug Blank | Michael Baker International

Ohio eBird Hotspots, a statewide avian resource, reported recently that 94 species of birds have been

Even greater, Blank adds, is the fact that, as the project

spotted in the natural habitat area since its opening. The

moves forward, more parts of the trail will come together

types of birds returning to the area include: ducks, geese,

into a larger network of nature trails.

swans, grebes, cormorants, herons, vultures, coots, jaegers, kingfishers, woodpeckers, thrushes, starlings, old world sparrows, hawks, kits, eagles, pigeons, doves, caracaras, falcons, jays and crows, among others.

“It just builds more excitement,” Blank says. “All of the connections are scheduled to be made by 2020.

This new habitat and Towpath Trail encourage people to get out and about. It’s amazing to see how many

As the project partners complete each phase of the

people come down there now. What a great feeling for

revitalized area, Cleveland Metroparks has assumed

a designer to see the benefits of their work.”

maintenance responsibilities, including the planting of supplemental and replacement plantings of native trees, shrubs and flowers along the riverbank, as well as management of the fish habitat.

“It has been so refreshing to attend meetings where the people are excited about a project and can’t wait to see construction start,” says Doug Blank, an engineer with Michael Baker’s Towpath Trail team. “All through this project, we’ve had excited stakeholders and residents. As we were building a big park, people who weren’t aware of what was going on may have thought we were putting in apartments or something, but since people started to see the entire trail come together, the response has been great.”

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TALES OF THE

TUNDRA Michael Baker embraces ice roads, rivers, permafrost, caribou and summer thaw to engineer a sustainable arctic pipeline on Alaska’s North Slope

C

reated in 1923, the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A) was designed to provide a secure supply of oil for America. The 23-million-acre, Indiana-sized tract boasts an estimated 900

million barrels of oil, much of it located under federally owned property but some situated beneath land owned by Alaska’s Inupiaq people. Given the volatility of oil supply and prices, NPR-A seemed like a good hedge for America.

That hedge became a reality in 2015 when ConocoPhillips Alaska, with help from Michael Baker International, completed construction of the CD5 development and sent the project's first oil, through several hops, to the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. Michael Baker, whose environmentally sensitive arctic pipeline expertise and experience date back to the development of the famed 800-mile Trans-Alaska Pipeline in the 1970s, served as a key player on the project team, providing hydrology and pipeline design services.

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Now, with CD5 up and running, ConocoPhillips is planning another NPR-A development that will further enhance benefits for the local economy, the State of Alaska and end users, and Michael Baker will assist.

EXTREME-TEMPERATURE ENGINEERING Given the extreme climate, the Michael Baker team faced many design and construction challenges on the North Slope — located about 250 miles above the Arctic Circle.

ConocoPhillips, only a few years into the 21st century,

First, as counter-intuitive as it may seem, construction

had envisioned the $1 billion CD5 project and began

must take place exclusively in the winter, when crews can

laying the groundwork for the final configuration, which

drive on temporary ice roads to reach the construction

included a drill site, a five-mile gravel road with four

sites. During warmer, ice-free months, motorized vehicles

bridges over channels of the Colville River and seven miles

otherwise would disturb the tundra.

of pipelines back to the Alpine processing facility. Michael Baker served two primary roles: hydrology work, including bridge hydraulics and modeling and pipeline engineering.

The development sits on land owned by Kuukpik Corporation (the corporation for the village of Nuiqsut, about seven miles from the CD5 pad). As a result, federal regulators and local residents were concerned particularly about the project footprint and the crossing locations of the Colville River’s Niqlig Channel.

“Our construction support is basically 24-7.”

That meant soliciting local input and developing

Toby Lovelace | Michael Baker International

strong economic and environmental partnerships.

ConocoPhillips worked with all the stakeholders to minimize concerns.

Even with that cooperative spirit, the permitting process took more than 10 years for ConocoPhillips to attain all of the required permits, according to Jeff Baker, regional director for Michael Baker’s Anchorage-based Mountain Region. He says that his team — about 20 staff overall — kicked off the hydrology and design phases of the project even before ConocoPhillips completed the permitting process.

“It probably was more challenging than some other projects,” Baker recalls. “It took time to get through the permitting process and to get the technical issues ironed out.”

“The regulations are very tight,” says Toby Lovelace, an Anchorage-based Michael Baker project manager who worked on the CD5 energy project. “Ice road seasons are heavily regulated. The temperature of the tundra is monitored by regulators, and construction isn’t allowed to begin until the top layer of tundra is frozen and sufficient snow cover is available to protect the tundra surface.”

Of course, the frigid winters posed their own construction management challenges, according to Cory Wilder, Phoenix-based senior vice president and national pipeline engineering practice lead for Michael Baker.

When temperatures plunged below -40 degrees Fahrenheit, as they sometimes do on the North Slope, all work had to shut down. A sensible rule to be sure, yet,

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with ConocoPhillips planning to complete CD5 in two

-50 degrees Fahrenheit and +70 degrees Fahrenheit,

short winter construction seasons, days lost to weather

one must anticipate quite a bit of movement. To

could prove crippling. Moreover, at temperatures that

accommodate all of that motion, Michael Baker designed

low, even the laws of physics sometimes run for cover.

expansion loops into the system to allow the pipe to

“Many materials — metals, liquids, plastics — don’t

move on fixed supports.

behave normally at -40 degrees Fahrenheit,” says Wilder.

AVOIDING FROST-JACKING

Also counterintuitive, Wilder explains, is the fact that

In addition, the Michael Baker team designed the arctic

virtually all pipelines on the North Slope run above ground due to the region’s permafrost, a phenomenon that creates additional technical challenges. One, he says, is expansion and contraction of the pipeline system itself.

While a buried pipeline is constrained by soil friction, an above-ground pipeline maintains a freedom of movement to adjust to the extreme temperature range.

With temperatures on the North Slope varying between

pipeline system to sit on support piles known as vertical support members (VSMs), which are installed by drilling oversized holes in the permafrost, then inserting the VSMs before back-filling the holes with a sand slurry.

The installation is complete once the sand slurry freezes.

Interestingly, engineers determine the embedment depth of each VSM based on the forces necessary to resist “frost-jacking” of the pile out of the ground. In most

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cases, the upward forces of frost-jacking are greater than

On Oct. 27, 2015, ConocoPhillips announced that CD5

the vertical load being supported by the VSM. Not your

would send its first oil – up to 16,000 barrels a day –

typical pipeline installation, certainly, but Michael Baker

to the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. Yet the significance of the

engineers have accommodated such extreme conditions

project extends even beyond that historic development.

for close to 40 years.

CD5 is helping invigorate Alaska’s oil industry while also

“We’re used to dealing with these conditions,” Jeff Baker says. “But for somebody who has never designed a pipeline in these conditions – wow!”

Perhaps Michael Baker’s most important role during construction was remaining on call at all hours, ensuring completion of the pipeline project without unnecessary implementation delays caused by challenging weather conditions. As Lovelace notes, the construction season

providing jobs and a valuable revenue injection for the State of Alaska, the Kuukpik Corp. and the villagers represented by that corporation.

"I'm really proud of the partnerships that allowed us to bring CD5 online," says ConocoPhillips Alaska President Joe Marushack. "It's 16,000 barrels of new production for Alaska, so it's a great story. It's incredibly important to the state and to the people of Alaska."

is so short and conditions so demanding that Michael

HEADING BACK TO THE NORTH SLOPE

Baker engineers must remain ultra-responsive to ensure

The success of CD5, Baker says, has paved the way

that issues are addressed and delays avoided.

“We have to be very responsive,” he says of this specialized pipeline engineering. “We don't want to put a contractor on stand-by waiting for design answers. We need to turn things around very quickly when questions come up. Our construction support is basically 24-7.”

EARLY BOOTS ON THE GROUND Wilder is quick to contend that few, if any, engineering contractors have more experience in arctic conditions than Michael Baker, which has been active in innovative arctic pipeline development in Alaska since 1971

for additional construction on the North Slope.

ConocoPhillips already has green-lighted its next North Slope development – construction of what has been named the Greater Mooses Tooth 1 project that includes a pipeline to carry more new oil out of the NPR-A. For that project, Michael Baker will reprise the vital roles it played on CD5.

“CD5 is a key development for the oil industry out here,” Baker says. “Throughput has been steadily going down the last several years. CD5 is a boost to help get that going. It creates jobs.”

and even hopped across the Bering Sea to assist

Adds Lovelace: “To be the first project to produce oil

ConocoPhillips with several 1990s-era pipeline projects

from a drill site within NPR-A – that’s a huge milestone.

on Sakhalin Island, Russia. Wilder points out that Michael

Other developments near CD5 are in the news. This is

Baker was the lead pipeline and civil engineering

just the first piece in something that’s much larger. I think

company on the original Alpine project on the North

there’s a future in NPR-A.”

Slope, which was the feeder development for the jump into NPR-A. “We were some of the first boots on the ground and utilized small reconnaissance teams to lay out the pipeline system, river crossings and airstrip by helicopter and on foot,” Wilder recalls. “It was a fun time to work on the project. We spent our days walking the islands and riverbanks of the delta, and our nights in the village of Nuiqsut.”

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MONITORING ICE ON THE COLVILLE Michael Baker International has been worked with ConocoPhillips for 20 years to provide so-called “breakup studies” for the oil company within northern Alaska’s Colville River Delta. Breakup refers to the period each spring when arctic rivers begin to thaw and flow.

The Colville is the largest river on Alaska’s North Slope, and the Colville Delta along the coast is home to the Alpine Development, which is owned and operated by ConocoPhillips. Each spring, according to Jeff Baker, regional director for Michael Baker’s Anchorage-based Mountain Region, Michael Baker sends engineers and hydrologists to the field to monitor breakup and how it affects ConocoPhillips’ facilities in the delta.

360 554 120 43,000

HOUSING UNITS

PARKING SPACES

-SPACE BIKE SHELTER SQ. FT. RETAIL

Michael Baker’s Jeff Baker, right, and a colleague take a first-hand look at the spring breakup of ice in northern Alaska’s Colville River Delta.

The Michael Baker team initially began to document river conditions to determine how best to design infrastructure in an area sometimes inundated with water and massive ice. The program continues to help ensure safe field operations and environmental compliance, and to provide ongoing data as field operations in the area expand.

Michael Baker was awarded the “Spring Breakup Team,” the company’s Corporate Safety Award, in 2011, in recognition of 10 spring project cycles without a recordable injury.

“We’re both proud and honored to be trusted by ConocoPhillips to execute this program on their behalf,” Baker says. "We're looking forward to more safe and effective field seasons on Alaska’s North Slope."

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SA F ETY AN D

S U STA I N A B I L I T Y M i c h a e l B a ke r h e l p s F l o r i d a ’s M e r r i t t I s l a n d A i r p o r t ex t e n d i t s r u n w a y s a fe t y a r e a fa r t h e r i n t o t h e r i ve r w h i l e p r e s e r v i n g and upgrading the natural habitat around it

S

unken and abandoned boats. Dead seagrass. Invasive plant species, mosquitos, hungry manatees, disturbed alligator habitat, an unexploded World War II bomb and an airport with a need

to extend its short and fast-eroding runway safety area farther into the river around it.

All in a day’s work for Michael Baker International’s Florida-based team of aviation engineers and environmental scientists. Armed with airboats, pontoons, waders, seagrass seedlings, years of aviation and environmental know-how and caring local partners, this team has helped Merritt Island Airport make its runway safer – while ensuring the sustainability of the airport, the inland waterway, its shoreline, and the wildlife and flora around it.

Merritt Island Airport, owned and operated by the Titusville Cocoa Airport Authority (TICO), sits within the environmentally sensitive Banana River Aquatic Preserve, not far from Cape Canaveral and Cocoa Beach along the east coast of the Florida peninsula. This public-use, generalaviation airport occupies 129 acres and boasts a single 3,601-foot-long runway and safety area, which is partially surrounded by the Banana River and extends approximately 1,000 feet into Newfound Harbor.

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We Make a Difference Photo caption Merritt Island Airport’s extendedhere runway safety area on theLiberty Banana River Northern entrance into Station

IMPACT

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S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y

SEVENTY YEARS OF EROSION

ENVIRONMENTAL

The problem with the airport, according to Michael

BOMBSHELL

Powell, chief executive officer of the Titusville-Cocoa

Michael Baker team member Aaron McDaniel, an

the riverbank over the years – as much as one foot a

engineer from the firm’s Jacksonville, Fla., office

year, in fact. The runway area ended approximately 60

who also served as the construction manager of

feet from the water's edge, falling short of the current

the Merritt Island Airport project, recalls a rather

240-foot safety area required by the Federal Aviation

interesting find in the river around the airport as the

Administration beyond the end of the runway.

runway construction began in the river.

Airport Authority, was that the runway’s safety area, which jutted into the river, had suffered erosion along

“We had seen the required runway safety area slowly eroding away over many years along its shores in the

“Eventually, we realized it was an unexploded bomb.”

Aaron McDaniel | Michael Baker International

Banana River,” says Powell. “While the Airport Authority needed to ensure the safest environment possible for our valued tenants and the traveling public, we also were very cognizant of the possible delicate environmental impacts of our needed improvements and sought to exceed requirements.

“Airports – especially those embedded into a natural environment or shoreline – must be cognizant of the negative impact that improvements can have on the natural surroundings,” Powell continues. “Due to the unique positioning of our runway, as we embarked on this

“As we dewatered and began construction in the

project, we were duly aware that it must not only aid in

river, we heard a scraping noise,” McDaniel recalls.

passenger safety, but also have limited negative impact

“Eventually, we realized it was an unexploded

on the environment.”

bomb. We called the Brevard County bomb squad, who arrived in protective gear and with special equipment. They saw it had U.S. markings on it, so they contacted a nearby Air Force base.”

TICO turned to Michael Baker to find a solution that would effectively strike a reasonable balance between ensuring airline passenger safety and good environmental stewardship. Michael Baker, in addition

The Air Force team, he says, arrived at the scene

to providing environmental analyses, mitigation plans,

with what seemed at the moment like an unusually

restoration, engineering, construction management

casual attitude. “The Air Force team came in

and other services, also helped the airport up front to

regular-duty clothes, walked past the county bomb

secure the necessary permits to initiate and complete

squad guys, went right up to the bomb, lifted it up

the project.

by hand, threw it on the back of a truck and drove off with it,” McDaniel says. “It was an old World War II test bomb that they still discover every now and then.”

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“TICO challenged Michael Baker to design a runway improvement project that would not only mitigate the unavoidable environmental impacts but also help

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IMPACT

improve the ailing Banana River,” says Mariben Andersen, a Tampa-based environmental manager with Michael Baker’s environmental practice.

“So the team was

able to take a project that seemed to have seen some damage to area wildlife and turn it into something that has benefitted the environment. Fisheries had dropped significantly, and seagrass was dying. There were many unintended consequences. We were able to repair a

A MORE

SUSTAINABLE MERRITT ISLAND

ENVIRONMENT

lot of that.”

The Merritt Island Airport project included the

MANY ENVIRONMENTAL CHALLENGES… AND STAKEHOLDER GROUPS

following, as designed by the Michael Baker

Make no mistake, safety concerns loomed large at

•

Merritt Island. From 1988 to 2014, the airport suffered

International engineering team:

concrete block to prevent future erosion

34 reported incidents of airplanes rolling off the runway, resulting in aircraft damage and minor injuries. As a result,

•

course, created a host of other challenges for the Michael Baker team to address.

•

Building a one-acre seagrass island platform

•

Connecting an existing off-site mosquito wetland to the river using large corrugated pipes

Additional project design considerations included the following: •

Sustainability remained a key driver, with design

Filling in a portion of the harbor with sheet piles to contain water-quality impacts during construction

the Runway Safety Area (RSA) needed to be extended by 185 feet to meet current FAA design standards. That, of

Armoring the shoreline with articulated

•

Removing four abandoned and sunken boats from the Banana River and Indian River Lagoon

sufficient to withstand a 100-year storm, and the resulting structures built to enjoy a life span of 75plus years.

•

The design would need to consider the mitigation of habitat damage, since the RSA would have to extend into an existing nature preserve, producing unavoidable damage to seagrass habitat.

•

The design had to incorporate measures to prevent further shoreline erosion and passively accommodate the management of stormwater runoff.

•

The Michael Baker team would have to design the project to minimize any environmental impact on a nearby shellfish harvesting area, surrounding mangroves and overall airport operations.

Seagrass-planting boat, above, and protective seagrass cages out in the river

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Titusville-Cocoa Airport Authority’s Richard Jones transports Michael Baker’s Jay Gable (in boat), Austin Gower and Aaron McDaniel to the mosquito mitigation site via airboat.

In

addition

to

those

design

considerations, the team had to work closely with a diverse host of stakeholder groups to come up with a plan that would duly satisfy all stakeholders on both the safety and environmental sides of the project, as well as pilots, boaters and other endusers. Among them: the airport owner and client, the Titusville Cocoa Airport Authority; the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; National Marine Fisheries Service; Florida Fish and Conservation Commission; St. John’s River Water Management District; Florida Department of Environmental Protection; State and Banana River Aquatic Preserve Management; Indian River Lagoon National Estuary Program; and Brevard County Stormwater, Environmental Lands and Mosquito Control Departments, among others.

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A bigger-than-life-sized seagrass seedling prepared for the Banana River restoration

S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y

The collaboration also included the following: Welsh Construction, LLC, the contractor responsible for the shoreline stabilization and construction of the RSA and a seagrass island platform; Sterling Enterprises, LLC, the contractor responsible for construction of an offsite mosquito impoundment enhancement wetland mitigation area; Florida Institute of Technology, which provided for a marine biology professor and graduate and undergraduate students the unique opportunity to conduct fish monitoring at both restoration sites and work side by side with real-life biologists; and even the Brevard

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IMPACT

HURRICANE-

TESTED

Not long after the completion of the construction of the extended runway safety area into the Banana River, Hurricane Matthew – measured as a Category 4 storm – sorely tested the design and construction of the articulated concrete block shoreline protection device.

Zoo, which partnered with TICO to plant seagrass at the seagrass island platform.

FIRST, A SAFER RUNWAY With a coordinated team in place and a dynamic design plan in hand, the project team moved into action. The team focused its initial primary work around the runway, making sure the safety area reflected current FAA standards.

“The first concern during this entire project remained the safety of those flying into and out of the airport,” says Brian Russell, part of the Michael Baker team on the Merritt Island Airport project and now office executive of the company’s Jacksonville, Fla., office. “Now it has improved the airport community, serving businesses and recreational flyers.”

The work included approximately 15,000 cubic yards of excavation and embankment to extend and rebuild the runway safety area. The team then stabilized the extended and existing shoreline along the runway with approximately 37,000 square feet of articulated concrete block to prevent future erosion into Newfound Harbor.

Today, Merritt Island boasts an FAA-compliant safety area and increased safety for pilots using the runway by providing sufficient level runway surface in the event that an aircraft undershoots, overruns or veers off the runway.

On October 7, 2016, Hurricane Matthew skirted the coastline of Merritt Island and the rest of the Florida coastline, packing a punch of 90 mile-perhour winds and a six-foot storm surge. After the seas retreated, the shoreline around the airport remained intact and performed as designed.

Aaron McDaniel, an engineer from Michael Baker International’s Jacksonville, Fla., office and construction manager of the Merritt Island Airport

“It’s interesting to note that this airport, which was built

project, inspected the shoreline shortly after the

around the time of World War II, was designed to handle

storm and found no areas of failure.

light aircraft,” Russell says. “But after many years, the erosion shortened the runway safety area so that the facility didn’t have adequate safety standards. Now that it has been repaired and restored, the runway may never have been in as good a condition as it is today.”

"After a major storm event like this, you never know what you’re going to find, and your stomach remains uneasy until it’s all over and you put your eyes on it,” McDaniel says. “I was very happy to see that the facility passed its first test with an A+.”

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PUNKTREES AND BRAZILIAN PEPPERS

CREATING AN ENVIRONMENTAL TRAINING GROUND Michael Baker’s mitigation plan also had to address the

As environmental scientists from Michael Baker International’s Tampa, Fla.,

project’s impact on seagrass,

office step off the Titusville-Cocoa Airport Authority-owned airboat onto a

salt marshes, mangroves, the

marshy mosquito mitigation area adjacent to the Merritt Island Airport, the

wood stork, the manatee,

last thing they want to see is the Schinus Terebinthifolia.

a shellfish harvesting area,

More commonly known as the Brazilian Pepper or Florida Holly, this invasive plant species has a tendency to spread quickly in Florida’s salt marshes, shading and crowding out more welcome native species of trees and shrubs.

sovereign submerged lands and an aquatic preserve, among other challenges. Because of the projected unavoidable environmental impacts, including algal blooms and fish kills at the Banana River Aquatic Preserve and Indian River Lagoon, the team incorporated into its project design a number of opportunities for contributing to improved water quality and ecological conditions at the river and fostering community

Environmental scientists Austin Gower, left, and Jay Gable, right, conduct a “quadrat” sampling of native plant growth.

involvement from the likes of students and researchers at the Florida Institute of Technology (FIT).

As part of Michael Baker’s Merritt Island Airport project, the environmental

Marine biology students from

team led an effort to restore a nearby mosquito mitigation area – a job that

FIT, including graduate and

included the attempted removal of Brazilian Peppers, Punktrees, cattails,

undergraduate

Australian Pines and other invasive species, as well as replacement with

continue to use the site for field

other native plants.

study, comparing fish species

The idea behind a marshy mosquito mitigation area is to create an environment that attracts mosquitos. During the breeding season, area officials then flood that area with saltwater via corrugated pipes carrying water from the river, killing the mosquitos and larva. However, this area, overgrown with invasive plants, no longer functioned properly.

Environmental scientists Austin Gower and Jay Gable travel to this marsh regularly to measure and track the progress of the native plants versus the invasive plants – often a daunting task.

“The Brazilian Pepper – it’s a force of nature,” says Gable of the stubborn exotic plants.

Undaunted, this environmental team presses forward. Says Gower of their efforts: “It’s important to see a diversity of plants growing here since our restoration efforts. We want to reintroduce more Florida-native plants.”

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students,

from inside the mosquito impoundment to those from the river. The site provides students with

different

ecosystems

to study and allows them to observe the transition of the site, from a habitat disturbed and impacted by non-native, invasive plant species to one dominated by native species.

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IMPACT

“This project serves as an excellent model of community

“The team, led by Michael Baker, maximized the positive

and environmental awareness that could be applied by

environmental impacts both onsite and at the mitigation

other airports and organizations,” says Jonathan Shenker,

location,” says Powell, Airport Authority CEO. “Using

an FIT professor of marine biology and aquaculture, who

native vegetation as well as coordinating with the Brevard

has led teams of FIT students in studies of the area.

Zoo to allow additional seagrass transplantation to help the

Again, sustainability represented a core principle behind

overall health of the river, we have a real showcase today.”

all aspects of the Merritt Island Airport project. As such,

That showcase offers an additional benefit, according

the work addressed environmental issues of local,

to Michael Baker’s Mariben Andersen. “The real reward

regional or statewide concern, providing increased

from this project came with the realization that we could

environmental awareness and/or partnerships with

do something to help Mother Nature and the wildlife that

entities outside of the aviation industry.

live around that airport,” she says of her team’s efforts around the airport. “We took very intentional steps to pick the brains of the local environmental experts, since they could tell us what has not worked and what has been successful in other places within the river.”

FIT students netting fish species for study

“Baker emphasizes teamwork and collaboration,

Preserving Manatee habitat

along with fostering a culture of innovation to solve complex problems,” Russell says. “This project has represented the concerted efforts of a team of airport

Seagrass, for instance, had been disappearing from

engineers thinking and acting as environmental stewards who

the river habitat, which threatened the future of local

also promote safety.”

manatee populations. “So during the project, we

SEAGRASS INNOVATIONS AND HEALTHIER MANATEES

harvested seagrass, brought it back and replanted it

The project also led to innovative environmental

“Today, the site is doing very well. That’s the essence of

solutions that could be replicated elsewhere. Creation

environmental sustainability.”

along the shoreline and within cages that will protect it while it takes root and grows,” Andersen explains.

of the seagrass island platform and the off-site mosquito impoundment enhancement wetland mitigation area, for example, used methods that could be used in future restoration efforts within the Indian River Lagoon.

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S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y

H I STO R I C A L S U STA I N A B I L I T Y S U P P O RT:

L I G H T H O U S E A DV E N T U R E S

T

he scene begins with an experienced team of

several years ago, the team since has been plying its

adventuresome investigative experts boarding a

collective expertise in assessing the historical authenticity,

ferry boat with cameras, equipment and luggage

physical condition, historic significance and archeology

for a more-than-two-hour boat ride to the island. Once

of lighthouse stations along the coast, from Nantucket

there, they rent bicycles and pedal to a plot of land along

Island and a quarantine station in New York harbor to

a harbor where soldiers once stopped loyalist privateers

Charleston, S.C., Brunswick, Ga., and even San Juan,

with cannons, and where fire, wind and storm surges have

Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The team also

taken their toll.

provides extensive photographic documentation of

It’s dramatic, but the likes of Nantucket Island and its Brant Point Lighthouse are the kinds of historical backdrops that attract this team – actually a specialized team of architectural historians and an archaeologist from Michael Baker International – to this unique kind of investigative work.

We’re really talking about investigating lighthouse stations – beacons of light, history and tourism – along the Atlantic coast that are operated by the U.S. Coast Guard. This team has been island-hopping systematically on behalf of the Coast Guard over the last several years to shine a light on the long-term sustainability

each site, while studying historical archives, blueprints, construction

documentation

and

even

past

flood damage.

“We study the historical context of these light stations, and the threshold of all of these studies is whether the light station resources are eligible for the National Register of Historic Places [in accordance with the National Historic Preservation Act],” says Timothy Zinn, a senior architectural

historian

from

Michael Baker’s Pittsburgh, Pa., office, and project manager for the lighthouse contract.

Joining him on this adventure:

of a number of the Coast

Jesse Belfast, a senior historian from

Guard’s most historic

the Pittsburgh office; Brian Seymour,

lighthouse stations.

Hired by the Coast Guard’s Miami-based engineering unit office

an archaeologist from the Pittsburgh office who specializes in underwater archaeology; and Katherine Molnar, an architectural historian from the Cleveland office.

The purpose of the Nantucket study in particular was to provide for the Massachusetts State Historic Preservation Office

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what Zinn, who has worked for Michael Baker for more than 23 years, describes as a “clear understanding” of the historical resources at the light station, including potential underwater archaeological resources, within the context of the greater Nantucket Historic District and National Historic Landmark District. While that study had been completed, this history-driven team continues to work with the Coast Guard to survey other lighthouses along the Atlantic coast, including island territories owned by the U.S.

SUSTAINABLE LEGACY

A GREAT PLACE TO WORK

M

ichael Baker International’s employees have spoken: The company certifiably has earned its rank as a Great Place to Work®.

This independent national recognition program, which conducts the largest workplace culture study in the world, surveyed Michael Baker employees this past summer and found that 74 percent say it’s a great workplace and 84 percent take great pride in working for the company. The company also earned high rankings on: great atmosphere; great communication; great bosses; and great rewards.

“This recognition reaffirms our pride in what our team accomplishes for clients and each other on a daily basis,”

From left to right: Michael Baker’s Brian Seymour, Timothy Zinn, Katie Molnar and Jesse Belfast

says Michael Baker CEO Brian Lutes.

Adds Kim Peters, vice president of Great Place to Work’s recognition program: “These ratings measure Michael Baker’s

Consequently, this multi-disciplinary

capacity to earn its own employees’ trust

collaboration continues, whether by

and create a great workplace – critical

bicycle or boat.

metrics which anyone considering working

“We’ve all worked together for a number of years and have similar interests,” Zinn says of his historical-

for or doing business with Michael Baker International should take into account as an indicator of high performance.”

survey team. “We all do field work together. We have been a pretty successful team.”

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S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y

RAIL OPPORTUNITIES

T

o capitalize on new growth opportunities in the railroad

“With the growing demand

and transit market, Michael Baker International has

we see for transportation

appointed a new senior vice president/national practice

solutions

that

offer

increased fuel efficiency

lead in the railroad and transit practice.

and yield a lower carbon

Rail and transit industry veteran Bonnie Shepherd brings

footprint, coupled with an

nearly 30 years of experience to her new role with the

upswing in the demand

company, including a focus on multi-modal transportation

for bulk-freight transport,

in architecture and engineering, as well as strategic

Bonnie’s

marketing and analytics of transportation systems.

expertise

will

further position Michael Baker to deliver innovative and cost-effective solutions,” says Brian Lutes, CEO of Michael Baker. Shepherd also will provide oversight for all of the firm's practice leads across the enterprise. She is based in the company’s Baltimore office.

LIFETIME ENERGY ACHIEVEMENT More than 38 years – that’s how long Michael Baker International engineer Christine Mayernik has been serving the energy industry in southwestern Pennsylvania. Her longevity recently earned for her a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Pittsburgh Business Times as part of the publication’s 2016 Women in Energy Leadership Awards program.

Mayernik, who currently serves as vice president, regional oil and gas market, in the company’s Pittsburgh, Pa., office, has been with Michael Baker since 2002.

“During my time in the energy industry, I have been fortunate to experience the full spectrum of the industry, from directly servicing natural gas utility consumers to working in support of important pipeline safety issues and to interfacing with Michael Baker’s oil and gas clients,” says Mayernik. “I look forward to participating in the development and growth of the industry in the tri-state area.”

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A

TOP-FIVE

Q

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ACROSS THE CONTINUUM

B R I D G E TO C R O S S

uestion: How do you design a new bridge that has

“This high-profile, complex project had so many unusual

to span across the expansive, 70-foot-deep Kentucky

site challenges,” says Greg Stiles, an engineer from

Lake in western Kentucky and withstand potential

Michael Baker’s Asheville, N.C., office, who served as

seismic displacement because it’s located only 80 miles from the

project manager of the Kentucky Lake Bridge’s design and

New Madrid fault line? Answer: First, you turn to the innovative

construction management services contracts. “Our team

bridge designers of Michael Baker International for help.

was constantly challenged to come up with innovative

This 3,600-foot bridge ultimately included: 12-footdiameter footers with more than 2,500 cubic yards of concrete; 51 piles weighing 330,000 pounds each; and a 550-foot-long, 110-foot-high basket-handle arch main span.

To withstand possible seismic activity, the team designed some of the approach piers to include only three pilings to create more elasticity, and the team designed the main

structural solutions. Guiding our design team through many unique and creative-thinking processes ultimately was very rewarding.”

Contractor Johnson Brothers Corp. constructed the new bridge, and the Michael Baker team also provided construction management services, including document control, submittal reviews and safety oversight.

span to sit on lead core elastomeric isolation bearings,

“I think it’s a great accomplishment for the entire team that

providing seismic displacement of up to nine inches. Cost

worked on this effort,” says Jason Stith, a bridge designer

of the new bridge and its construction: $132 million.

from Michael Baker’s Louisville office who worked with

This design and construction feat, which also required

Stiles on the project. “It further validates that we’re doing

innovation to meet an accelerated design schedule,

a good job and being recognized as a national leader in

received plenty of attention recently from Roads & Bridges

bridge engineering.”

Magazine. The magazine ranked the bridge No. 5 nationally on its Top 10 Bridges list. The list ranks North American bridges based on project challenges, impact to the region and the overall scope of the work.

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F LO O D RESPONSE Developing an innovative new first-responder tool for Homeland Security

T

hat premise recently drove the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s

High-flying, heat-detecting

INSPE CTION INNOVATION

M

ichael Baker International’s Geospatial Information Technology (GIT) group has acquired a new highflying remote-control tool to measure heat loss

and thermal leakage in hard-to-reach places, while also collecting mapping data.

Science and Technology Directorate

to contract with Michael Baker International, in partnership with the National Alliance for Public Safety GIS (NAPSG) Foundation, to develop national guidelines and a tool that would allow public safety officials to gather better real-time data and make better and more informed actionable decisions during flooding disasters.

“The project’s new approach for defining common operational information and support guidelines will serve as a solid foundation for technology innovations to build upon

and

achieve

success in changing outcomes for survivors,” says Peter O’Rourke, executive director of the NAPSG Foundation.

Adds Sandi Stroud, public safety national director at Michael Baker: “We are motivated by the data structure that will be produced from advances in 9-1-1 technology and eager to explore how that is applied to sharing other core mission-critical information. We are excited to begin working on this innovative project.”

The development team expects to complete and launch a prototype solution in test markets

by June 2018, when the contract is set to expire.

The new Topcon Falcon 8 unmanned aircraft system (UAS), added recently to the company’s growing UAS fleet, allows Michael Baker UAS pilots, with help from another inspector wearing 3D goggles, to capture highly precise aerial imagery and mapping. The eight-rotor UAS is equipped with three individual inertial measurement units, a 32-megapixel digital single-lens reflex camera and an integrated thermal camera that can monitor heat loss and thermal leakage in, for instance, concrete and pipelines and provide heat surveys of buildings being considered for LEED certification.

Michael Baker already has used this UAS to support a contract with the Nevada Department of Transportation for digital aerial imagery, as well as a task order for the Wisconsin Department of Transportation in determining the future feasibility of using UAS for bridge inspection.

Says Robert Hanson, senior vice president and market leader for Michael Baker’s GIT practice: “As new technologies have emerged, including UAS, the company has been at the forefront of adopting and incorporating those practices into our existing capabilities to enhance our full continuum of innovative solutions.”

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WHERE THE WATER GOES IN UTAH

W

hen it rains, it pours … and floods

Phase two includes mapping of UDOT’s

and pollutes. But not if Michael

storm drain system and outfalls across

Baker International’s water

the state.

management experts can help matters.

“Effective stormwater management is

This water team recently was called

a critical mandate for communities

into action by the Utah Department

large and small – from protecting

of Transportation (UDOT) to develop a

comprehensive

the water supply and preventing

stormwater

flooding to reducing pollution,

management plan for the state,

says Michael Arens, vice president

as well as individual pollution prevention plans for more than 100 UDOT maintenance and equipment facilities.

and office executive for Michael Baker’s operations in Salt Lake City. “Our solutions are focused on U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

The initial phase of the contract calls for an evaluation

compliance, as well as the anticipated demands of

of UDOT facilities statewide, followed by the creation of

tomorrow, particularly in areas that are expecting growth

standard operating procedures and design guidelines for

in the years to come.”

storm water pollution prevention measures, as well as a training program for UDOT staff.

‘REBUILDING THE SYSTEM’ WITH SEPTA

A

s the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) in Philadelphia ramps up its ‘Rebuilding the System’ transportation infrastructure improvement initiative, this

transportation authority has turned to Michael Baker International to join its team.

“The programs and projects...represent some of the most

SEPTA has awarded Michael Baker a three-year engineering and construction management contract aimed at ensuring quality, enhancing customer service and avoiding delays, changes and claims as SEPTA

comprehensive reconstruction projects,

rebuilds its regional transportation system.

improvements and

"SEPTA is increasing its investment in infrastructure

upgrades in the Transit

improvements based on recently passed, landmark state funding legislation,” explains Edward La Guardia, chief engineer, railroad and transit, for Michael Baker in its Philadelphia office. “The programs and projects both planned and in progress represent some of the most

Authority’s history."

Edward La Guardia | Michael Baker International

comprehensive reconstruction projects, improvements and upgrades in the Transit Authority’s history. Our contract with SEPTA is yielding excellent opportunities for Michael Baker to showcase our ability to provide engineering services across the Authority.”

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ACROSS THE CONTINUUM

OF

I

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BRI DGES A N D BIRDS

magine the many sustainability challenges of designing a massive rehabilitation plan for a 2,700-foot-long, 103-year-old landmark bridge that originally had been

built to accommodate trolley cars, horse-drawn wagons and tolled automobiles. The plan, of course, had to take into consideration the fact that, in modern times, the Allentown, Pa.-based 8th Street Bridge accommodated more than 17,000 vehicles a day.

And peregrine falcons.

The Michael Baker engineering team, in addition to considering period-style architectural integrity, pedestrian safety and long-term durability, had to build into its plans the attempted relocation of peregrine falcons that had been nesting under the bridge for several years. Plans called for redirecting those endangered birds, with assistance from the Pennsylvania Game Commission, to a newly constructed nesting box nearby to protect them from any disruption during this $18 million construction project.

Ultimately, though, according to the Game Commission, the falcon pair didn’t adopt the new nest and instead took up residence under Allentown’s Tilghman Street Bridge a couple of miles away.

The Michael Baker team provided inspection, design and construction consultation services for the project.

8th street bridge, Allentown, Pa.

E N V I R O N M E N TA L Q U A L I T Y Q & A S

C

alifornia city officials don’t have to remain stymied

Once there, you can submit your questions simply with

over California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA)

the touch of a button, and a member of the squad will

regulations, thanks to the CEQA Squad.

respond within one business day.

Not quite caped crusaders, this technical squad is

“The CEQA Squad Web app has allowed us to reach new

made up of a group of California-based Michael Baker

clients and to stay connected with our existing clients,”

International experts who have made themselves

says John Bellas, a technical planning manager from

available – for free – to answer CEQA-related inquiries

Michael Baker’s Long Beach, Calif., office who oversees

submitted to them via the company’s Web site.

the Web app. “We have received a lot of positive feedback about this service.”

You'll find Ask the CEQA Squad at: http://mbakerintl.com/CEQA-Squad

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Says one those clients: “My compliments to your firm for providing this service to cities free of charge. It is this type of forward thinking that places your firm above the rest.”

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DRIVING THE

DRIVERLESS As Pittsburgh-based Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), Uber and others work on developing connected and driverless cars, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) continues to work toward preparing for them on Pennsylvania roads, with help from Michael Baker International.

Michael Baker is working with both PennDOT and the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission to establish public policies and actual driverless test beds with traffic signals and other infrastructure that “talk” to the automated vehicles. Jeff Bergsten, director of planning and technical services for the company’s Harrisburg, Pa., office, facilitates PennDOT’s Autonomous Vehicle Policy Task Force.

Larry Bankert, director of toll operations for Michael Baker’s turnpike commission general engineering consulting contract, and a team of engineers, in partnership with CMU, are facilitating the creation of a network of test bed roadways, including a one-mile loop in Harrisburg that was completed this past fall. The team then demonstrated the test bed with government officials, including a ride for Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf in one of CMU’s automated vehicles.

“We have to update traffic signals and other roadway traffic infrastructure to create an environment that optimizes the safety features of connected vehicles,” says Todd Trautz, an engineer and traffic division manager with Michael Baker’s Harrisburg office. “Modifying the roadway technology is just as important as modifying the vehicles in reducing or

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf

eliminating crashes caused by human driving errors.”

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Making a Sustainable Difference

T H E B R I D G E TO E L Z A R Z A L The Rio Calico river through El Zarzal, Nicaragua, might not have seemed like much during the dry season, but when the rains came, the small community’s 139 families couldn’t reach health care, education and commerce on the other side without risk.

That is, until a team of 12 volunteers from Michael Baker International, in partnership with the nonprofit Bridges to Prosperity, traveled to this Central American country this past summer to assist in the building of a 190-foot-long suspension foot bridge over the river.

The two-week effort left the community with a bridge that now provides better year-round access and mobility for nearly 2,000 residents of El Zarzal and other nearby communities.

“Our trip to Nicaragua was nothing short of life-changing,” says Danielle Cemprola, an environmental specialist in Michael Baker’s Greenville, S.C., office and a volunteer who coordinated the logistics for the trip. “The experience challenged me in every possible way and forced me to examine the way I see myself, my career and the world. The faces of the community members as they crossed their bridge for the first time was something I will never forget.”

The project’s success has led Michael Baker to commit to sponsoring a three-year bridge-building partnership with Bridges to Prosperity, an organization dedicated to constructing sustainable foot bridges in remote, underdeveloped areas of the world, creating better access to economic, educational and health care opportunities.

“We look forward to continuing our collaboration with Michael Baker as one of our newest partners,” says Bridges to Prosperity CEO Avery Bang. “We appreciate and value Michael Baker’s commitment to volunteering their resources and expertise to help create a world where rural isolation is not a barrier to growth and development.”

Adds Brian Lutes, Michael Baker CEO: “The El Zarzal bridge serves as a humbling reminder that our commitment to making the world a better place, one project at a time, can have a profound and immediate impact on people’s lives.”

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We Make a Difference Members of the El Zarzal community cross their new suspension bridge

COLLABORATION

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S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y

TO THINK BIGGER H E L P I N G TO W N S

H o w M i c h a e l B a ke r ’s U r b a n D e s i g n S t u d i o g u i d e s c i t i e s a n d towns through complex, long-term, transformative planning and social, economic and environmental sustainability Michael Baker’s Howard Blackson III, center, leads a planning tour in Harrisburg, Pa.

When Michael Baker International visionaries Susan

But they don’t, at least not on their own. Instead, they

Harden, Howard Blackson III, John Fennell and others

facilitate an informative creative process. This innovative

arrive at a community meeting anywhere in the country

team – which leads the Michael Baker Urban Design

with all of their enthusiastic planning, design, and place-

Studio (MBUDS) – works with community stakeholders

making expertise and experience, they probably could

to think more broadly and strategically about their

sell their stakeholders on just about anything. After all,

communities’ social, economic and environmental

they know how to imagine, plan and generate ideas.

sustainability. They bring in multi-disciplinary teams

And they independently could sketch meaningful and

of Michael Baker planners, architects, designers,

inspiring futures for their urban clients.

environmental scientists and water services professionals

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COLLABORATION

to round out perspectives. They enable imaginative

the team worked with the city to redesign the entire

collaboration, creative thinking, communication, choices

pedestrian mall and provide construction documentation.

and, ultimately, consensus. Then they lead the emerging

In addition to new underground utilities, the design called

transformations of those towns and cities, accounting for

for the following: three “monumental” gateways based

the desire to grow, prosper and improve quality of life.

on a gateway into an old cemetery; a seasonal splash

“We’re more like curators of complex urban planning and design projects,” says Blackson, an energetic national leader of the MBUDS who is based at Michael Baker’s San Diego office and works with cities from coast to coast. “We bring the cutting edge of urban planning

fountain for kids; brick and stone pavement patterns to reflect the mix of materials on historical buildings; new lighting; story-telling banners and signs; decorative plantings; and even manhole covers that depict the city’s 275-year-plus history.

and design to complex town-making projects. We also

Among the unexpected features of the redesign, Fennell

bring in the right experts at the right time to assemble

says, was the public restroom facility, with its external

on those projects, ultimately to help create complete

period design, cut-stone walls, and sleek, futuristic doors,

places – compact, connected, convivial and complex.”

toilets and sinks on the inside. Outside the facility, built

As John Fennell, a landscape architect from Michael Baker’s Alexandria, Va., office, adds, the key to success

into the brick plaza, are lighted water spouts and a drain system that create an entertaining splash fountain for kids.

for the MBUDS team is making the community an integral

Michael Baker received an ENR Merit Award for the

part of the planning and design processes.

Winchester Pedestrian Mall design in 2014.

“It’s not about designing for design’s sake, but to make better places for people,” says Fennell, whose project successes include the complete revitalization of a historic pedestrian-only commercial district in Old Town Winchester, Va. “Sometimes stakeholder groups can’t see or understand what they don’t already know. We do a lot of immersion workshops and let people see a diverse set of visual preferences. We inspire them and help them figure out what they want. When you have that, magic happens.”

DRAMATIC GATEWAYS When the city of Winchester, Va., approached MBUDS

Michael Baker planning lead Susan Harden

about its Old Town pedestrian mall, this historic town center had begun to deteriorate both above ground and below. Instead of simply replacing underground

BEYOND TRADITIONAL PLANNING

utilities and repaving the walkway, city planners decided

“It’s tremendously inspiring,” Fennell says of this kind

to broaden the scope of their revitalization initiative.

of collaborative planning and design experience. “It’s

So they called in MBUDS to facilitate their public

beyond design, beyond construction. We design

outreach and involvement efforts with various local

facilitated spaces for people. This is the kind of work we

stakeholder groups.

all want to do.”

Following a series of meetings and workshops with those

Susan Harden, Irvine, Calif.-based national lead of

groups, as well as research to study the area’s history and

Michael Baker’s planning practice, says MBUDS takes a

what Fennell describes as “the significance of the space,”

more creative and interactive approach to urban planning and design than traditional planning.

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COLLABORATION

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S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y

“We don’t use the same team, same approach and same process each time,” he says. “You have to balance according to client needs. We also bring design principles and a wealth of professional specialists.

“It’s physical and social,” Blackson says of the MBUDS approach to working with communities. “It’s building economic value. It’s literally like putting together a complex puzzle, and the picture keeps changing. So we keep the energy sustained through the process.”

PEDESTRIAN-FRIENDLY ISLAND ENTRANCE Old Town Winchester, Va.

Case in point is MBUDS’s work with the city of Coronado, Calif., also known as Coronado Island, and the citizens of this island along San Diego Bay. The traditional entrance to the island has been a multiple-lane highway and bridge extending over the bay. Once on the island, the busy road creates traffic-flow problems, as well as crossing difficulties for pedestrians and bicyclists – and without any welcoming entrance to this upscale community.

So the city launched its Vision Plan Project in 2014 to address the gateway and traffic issues. It hired MBUDS, then, to help create a plan. Blackson says MBUDS provided extensive public engagement, visioning, urban design, landscape architecture and mobility planning in collaboration with the city and its citizens. To accomplish the plan, MBUDS held intensive community workshops,

New restrooms, with a splash fountain embedded in the plaza in the foreground

small-group meetings, exhibition booths, and Web-based polling and dialogue to inform the planning process.

Among the final options, Blackson says: a giant gateway

“We bring together most of Michael Baker’s disciplines

round-about with a public park and fountain in the center

within the planning practice and get a more innovative

and lots of green space around it as well as a tunnel

and creative approach and urban design solution,”

gateway that would take commuters beneath a large,

Harden says. “It’s more of a mindset that implies

public park that would serve as the gateway to the

collaboration, partnerships and creative solutions. It’s

island. The city this past year adopted a phased plan

something that communities can get more ownership

that would enhance the gateway and improve mobility

in – and excited about.”

for automobiles, pedestrians and bicyclists.

Blackson says the MBUDS team uses a variety of planning and design process tools, including workshops, an intensive “immersion” process, design charrettes, visioning meetings and even creative “film festivals” to showcase other urban design successes.

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Rendering of Coronado Island, Calif., gateway round-about, one of several proposed options for improving entry to the island from San Diego

NOT JUST A HISTORIC TRAIN STATION This past fall, both Blackson and Harden converged in

structures, a better-managed creek with trails and green space, and even new housing.

force on Harrisburg, Pennsylvania’s capital, at the invitation

“We used a variety of tools to get attention and tried to

of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation

generate lots of ideas and creativity in a short period,”

(PennDOT), to help PennDOT and the city think more

Harden says of the process that immersed her in rooms

strategically about creating a friendly destination and

full of Post-It notes, white boards, maps, drawings and

transit-oriented community development around its local

people. “We kept pushing each other. It was a very

train station, bus terminal and a number of old, vacant

holistic approach.”

buildings in the area. Add to that the perils of the oftenflooding Paxton Creek nearby, Harden says, and MBUDS found itself amidst “a pretty intensive effort” to revitalize

Blackson, meanwhile, led his own groups, sharing ideas about the neighborhood, transforming arterial

this aging area of the city.

roadways into “main streets,” leveraging the creek

Stakeholders for what eventually will become the

shared safety concerns. He says he also held a short “film

Harrisburg Transportation Center included city officials,

festival” showcasing other successful transit-oriented

PennDOT, Amtrak, the Norfolk-Southern Railroad,

developments. He even took small groups on animated

developers, residents and community development

walking tours of the area to help them better envision

groups, all with their own ideas and agendas.

options regarding an old newspaper building, post office

Harden says her team introduced what she refers to as

(after solving much-needed stormwater issues), and

warehouse and parking structure.

a Visioning Week – four intensive days of “high-profile

“When I talk about things on the tour, I try to reflect the

community engagement” at and around the site

plan,” Blackson says. “It’s all about capturing and creating

to help constituent stakeholders imagine a

community character. It’s about memories and expectations.

destination development incorporating the

It’s about safety, resiliency, sustainability. It’s about how

train station, bus terminal, new parking

much fun you’re having. It’s about building a village.”

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INNOVATION

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V IS UALI Z I N G

WHAT-IF S

H ow M i cha el Baker is h elping c o mmunit y s t akeho lder s b et te r i ma gine th eir sustainable, c o nnec t ed t r ans it n et wo r k o ption s with new t ec hno lo gy

I

t’s one thing to tell community constituents they have

Consequently, city officials and commuters could type in

three options for establishing a more connected

their own addresses and other personalized information

public bus system in their community. It’s another

or simply “click a place” to see how each option would

thing altogether to let them see for themselves – at

affect their own commutes to and from home, work and

the push of a few buttons – which option would prove

other points of interest within Richmond. Constituents

best for each of them.

could use the interactive isochrones map, participate

Working with the city of Richmond, Va., and its residents, a team of planning experts from Michael Baker

in in-person meetings and vote on the concepts via an online or paper survey. The results of the survey ultimately

International over

directly impact the

the past year has been

will

implementation

assisting

plan and proposal

in the redesign

to be developed by

of the Greater

the Michael Baker

Richmond Transit

team as phase three

Company’s bus

of the project.

system to create a more connected

“This tool is the

and sustainable

first of its kind in

transit network.

the industry and has been a major

The Michael Baker team partnered with the city and Jarrett Walker +

asset to the project overall,” says Scudder Wagg,

Associates to engage in a collaborative effort with city

project manager and senior planner from Michael

leaders and commuters to consider several concepts

Baker’s Richmond office. “Our team needed a unique

for redesigning bus system operations.

way to visually demonstrate the potential transit options

The team presented three options for a new transit program – a familiar model, a high-ridership model,

to the community so they would be empowered to make an informed decision on the direction of the plan.”

and a high-coverage model – and laid them out for

The team developed the tool to allow residents and

stakeholders to consider. But the team didn’t just roll

city leaders to personalize the transit options to their

out routing maps and proposed stops and schedules

everyday activities. Of course, the Michael Baker team

to educate the community. Starting with traditional

also will be able to utilize this new innovation to help

isochrones maps, which are maps that show connecting

guide other communities looking to improve their

points, routes and times, the planning team developed

transit systems.

a first-of-its-kind interactive computer tool driven by geographic information system technology.

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“It’s an approach that ensures the future system will meet

implementing the plan in early 2017. Michael Baker

the needs of the community, keeping people and places

also has been contracted by the City of Richmond for

connected,” Wagg says.

the design of the new Pulse Bus Rapid Transit.

The project began with phase one in January 2016, with

“This project is a great opportunity for the community

phase two running from June to mid-September. The final

and city leaders to work together on an important

phase of the project began in October with the drafting

initiative,” Wagg says. “Keeping residents engaged

of the proposal and seeking City Council support for

and giving them an active voice throughout the process truly demonstrates our commitment to the community.”

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LEADING CHANGE

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STRIKING A SUSTAINABLE BALANCE The ethics of good community planning that serves the public interest socially, economically and environmentally

By Howard M. Blackson, III Urban Design Studio Project Manager, Michael Baker International For many years now, Not-In-My-Backyard (NIMBY)

Howard M. Blackson

opposition has stymied new projects and development

III, is a national leader

via vocal and protracted public processes. These few

of Michael Baker

individuals seem to group together out of fear of change

International’s Urban

to stop improvements that would benefit the larger

Design Studio, which

community. This phenomenon has become such a deep

is responsible for

ethical issue in the United States that the White House

initiating innovative

recently issued a Housing Development Toolkit to assist

approaches to city

municipalities in taking action to enable new development

building.

in the face of this long-standing NIMBY opposition.

The role of community planning, then, is to help navigate this potential dichotomy of stakeholder interests, expertly guiding both municipal and private development clients through land-use decisions that build safer, stronger and more sustainable places. The

He holds a Master's degree in Urban Design from the University of Westminster, London, UK, and a Bachelor's degree in Geography from the University of Texas at Austin, as well as a Professional Certificate in Master Planning from Harvard University.

planning and design tools we use to achieve this include

He is a member of the General Services Administration’s

comprehensive plans, policy documents, regulatory

Design Excellence Review Committee, chairman of

codes, master planning, community visioning and

the California Chapter of the Congress for the

urban design plans.

New Urbanism, and a board member of his local

These techniques also must include public-engagement

Community Planning Group.

tools to educate and foster collaboration with key

His work has been published by: the American

stakeholders in local communities to build the

Planning Association/Wiley Graphics (Planning and

political will necessary to drive new development or

Urban Design Standards, 2006); Royal Institute of

redevelopment forward. Ultimately, our profession

British Architecture (Urban Design Practice, 2012);

provides expert guidance to enhance the overall

McGraw Hill (Charter for the New Urbanism, 2013);

livability of cities, towns and other places.

and Island Press (Tactical Urbanism, 2015).

The ‘livability’ of a place, according to city planner and author Bruce Appleyard, a professor at San Diego State University, in a 2014 article in Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, is best understood as an individual’s ability to readily

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access opportunities to improve a citizen’s personal

rail, streetcar and bus, to jitney, shared car, private car,

quality of life for living, working, playing, shopping,

bicycle and walking, determine the intensity of a given

learning, worshiping, resting and moving within his or

neighborhood or city and its ability to scale up or down

her city, town or neighborhood.

over time.

ETHICAL CHALLENGES

Think of the mobility options New York City offers

However, community planners face an ethical challenge in balancing these individual self-interests with the collective needs and interests of those many other individuals who comprise a given community, such as artists, the elderly, professionals and even social clubs.

The profession’s ethical principles, established by the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP), state,

as opposed to San Diego. While the example above focused on mobility, community planners – seen as stewards of shaping the places in which we live – also must focus as much attention on issues such as housing, jobs, parks and services. Measuring this balance between individual specificity and collective inclusiveness is at the heart of planning for ethical livability.

“The planning process must continuously pursue and

Moreover, this dialogue focusing on the greater

faithfully serve the public interest.”

common good versus individual self-interest happens

To add complexity to this balancing act, community planners also have to plan for these collective interests in terms of scale, time and intensity. An example of balancing these challenges is revealed in planning for mobility, such as main streets, transit corridors and bicycle lanes, as one’s personal travel inherently touches the private lives of many others along that public path.

Our municipal clients, for instance, typically are concerned with the safety, air quality, noise pollution, congestion and economic viability of public thoroughfares, while our private clients tend to express concerns with safety, maintenance,

in every city, town or neighborhood. Our profession’s purpose is to guide this dialogue toward building more livable and sustainable places for everyone.

DESIGN VS. PROCESS? I agree with famed New Urbanist Andrés Duany, who promotes giving equal value to both design principles and public process as keys to successfully navigating this balancing act. He says that relying only on design principles that have gone untested by local public participation is coercive and lacking authority.

time and accessibility.

Meanwhile, relying solely on a public process without

THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS

credible outcome. These are important because design

The definition of livability given above by Dr. Appleyard (i.e., people’s access to opportunities for the pursuit of improvements to their quality of life) is based on the

a basis in design principles lacks structure and a principles guide individuals and groups toward decisions, and the process provides the structure through which these decisions and compromises can be made.

pursuit-of-happiness clause in the U.S. Declaration of

The benefits created by balancing the rights of all

Independence. Couple this with AICP’s code of ethics,

people with smaller groups are found in increasing

and we can begin to think of planning for livability as a

the opportunities for everyone to improve the quality

tool to justify a basic American right that can be used, for

of their lives. Cities that enable new development to

example, to build transit-oriented development (TOD)

meet collective needs and interests, particularly since

that provides an accessible mobility option that serves

adequate housing development reduces mismatches

the greater public.

among housing, jobs and infrastructure spending, will

Today’s TOD development pattern is based on longstanding, traditional mixed-use, walkable villages and

find themselves in a better position to compete in the contemporary economy.

neighborhoods that have become cities over time.

Mobility supports urbanism. The number and types of individual mobility options, from commuter rail, light-

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DESIGNING FOR TRIBAL

S U STA I N A B I L I T Y O ut in the high desert east of the City of Temecula in southern California, on a 20,000-acre reservation, a team

of Michael Baker International architects and planners has

been working to bring to life the administrative, governmental and commercial future of the Cahuilla band of Mission Indians.

The Michael Baker team, led by Richard Beck, natural resources/ regulatory vice president, as well as architects Bruce Preston and Pawel Paszczuk, and designer Scott Waltenburg of the firm’s Irvine and Phoenix offices, has helped the tribe design a new 43,765-square-foot tribal administration complex to support the growth of the tribe’s government. Located on a hillside 12 miles south of Interstate 10, the radially designed complex will face the tribe’s sacred Cahuilla Mountain.

Waltenburg describes the complex as representing the patterns of the tribe’s hand-crafted baskets, with materials and colors representing both the tribe and the surrounding land. This design effort comes on the heels of two years of multi-disciplinary services provided by Michael Baker to the tribe, including biological, regulatory, architectural and land-use planning services.

“Our work effort started with outreach and surveys to get a thorough understanding of tribal traditions, needs and culture,” Preston says. “This project will be completed in three phases and will contain the administrative functions, tribal meeting rooms and a multi-purpose room.”

The Michael Baker team continues to work closely with the tribe to move the project into the next design phase and into construction documentation.

“Our team takes great pride in the marriage of function and design throughout all phases of the Cahuilla project," Preston says. "By meeting the immediate and future needs of the tribe, the project should stand the test of time as a treasured center for their community to come together and also to celebrate their rich cultural heritage and the land they cherish.”

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SUSTAINABILITY GLOBAL STATISTICS

P E R S P E C T I V E : G LO B A L S U STA I N A B I L I T Y STAT I ST I C S At Michael Baker International, our efforts to revitalize infrastructure around the world, along with our social, economic and environmental sustainability initiatives, contribute to the overall progress of global sustainability efforts. The statistics below demonstrate that, while progress has been made around global sustainability efforts, much work remains to ensure a lasting positive impact for future generations.

G LO B A L E N E R G Y C O N S U M P T I O N C O U L D G R O W

33 %

FROM 2010-2035

INVESTING $170 BILLION AV E R AG E R AT E O F R E T U R N O F 1 7 %

C A R B O N D I OX I D E E M I S S I O N S C O U L D

RISE

20 % BY 2035

EQUIPMENT MAINTENANCE, T H E RMOSTAT SE TTING S,

A N N U A L LY I N E N E R GY E F F I C I E N CY W O R L DW I D E C O U L D G E N E R AT E A N

G LO B A L E N E R G Y - R E L AT E D

A ND UPG RA DE S COULD REDUCE EMISSIONS BY U P TO

50%

UNIVERSAL ENERGY ACCESS

BY 2 0 30 C O UL D BE ACH I E V E D WI TH A N I NV E STMENT OF LES S THAN $5 0 B I LLI ON PER Y EAR

EFFICIENT BUILDING

P OT E N T I A L SAV I N G S F R O M E F F I C I E N T

U P G R A D E S C O U L D S AV E

R E S I D E N T I A L A N D S E RV I C E S L I G H T I N G I S

A S M U C H AS T H E A N N U A L

E Q UA L TO T H E E N E R G Y C O N S U M P T I O N O F

E N E R GY C O N S U M P T I O N O F THE US, RUSSIA, INDIA

60 MILLION US HOMES

AND AFRICA COMBINED. MORE EFFICIENT E N E R GY SAV I N G S I N C H I N E S E , I N D I A N A N D R U S S I A N I N D U ST R I E S A C C O U N T E D

48% REDUCTION IN ENERGY INTENSITY FOR A

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S I G N AT U R E - S P R I N G 2 0 1 7

M A N U FACT U R I N G C O U L D SAV E T H E E Q U I VA L E N T O F H A L F T H E A N N UA L G LO B A L E L E CT R I C I T Y CONSUMPTION

SUSTAINABILITY GLOBAL STATISTICS

AS C O U N T R I E S D E V E LO P A N D P O P U L AT I O N S G R O W, G LO B A L WAT E R D E M A N D ( I N T E R M S O F W I T H D R AWA L S ) I S P R O J E CT E D TO I N C R E AS E B Y 55% BY 2050.

ALREADY BY 2025,TWOTHIRDS OF THE WORLD’S POPULATION COULD BE LIVING IN WATER-STRESSED COUNTRIES IF CURRENT CONSUMPTION PATTERNS CONTINUE. WAT E R - R E L AT E D D I S A ST E R S A R E T H E M O ST D E ST R U CT I V E O F A L L N AT U R A L D I SAST E R S E C O N O M I C A L LY A N D S O C I A L LY. S I N C E T H E O R I G I N A L R I O E A RT H S U M M I T I N 1 9 9 2 , F LO O D S , D R O U G H T S A N D STO R M S H AV E A F F E C T E D

4.2 BILLION PEOPLE

( 9 5 % O F A L L P E O P L E A F F E C T E D BY D I S A ST E R S ) A N D C AU S E D $ 1 . 3 T R I L L I O N O F DA M AG E ( 6 3 % O F A L L DA M AG E ) .

TO S U P P O RT S O L A R E N E R G Y, G LO B A L P H OTOVO LTA I C ( PV ) C A PAC I T Y H AS B E E N I N C R E A S I N G AT A N AV E R AG E A N N U A L G R O W T H R AT E O F

MORE THAN 40% SINCE 2000 BRAZIL'S HYDROELECTRIC DAMS PRODUCE 83% OF THE COUNTRY'S ELECTRICITY.

S O U R C E S : S u s t a i n a b l e E n e r g y Fo r A l l . o r g , h t t p : / / w w w. u n . o r g / w a t e r f o r l i f e d e c a d e / w a t e r _ a n d _ s u s t a i n a b l e _ d e v e l o p m e n t . s h t m l

We Make a Difference

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We Make a Difference

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