ACEC honors five Gannett Fleming projects

Harrisburg, Pa. — The American Council of Engineering Companies’ (ACEC) 2016 Engineering Excellence Awards recognized five projects from Gannett Fleming. The Rehabilitation of Gilboa Dam received a Grand Award, while the Towson Finished Water Reservoir, Amtrak Sunnyside Yard Master Plan, The City of Lebanon Authority (COLA) Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP), and Squirrel Hill Tunnel Rehabilitation were acknowledged with National Recognition Awards.

The $200 million reconstruction of Gilboa Dam was completed in 2014, two years ahead of schedule, despite a nine-month setback in the wake of Hurricane Irene. As part of a joint venture with Hazen and Sawyer, Gannett Fleming restored the 90-year-old dam to its original functionality, upgraded it to current industry criteria, and provided an enhanced dam safety monitoring and reporting system during a 10-year rehabilitation. Located in the Catskill Mountains of New York and owned by the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, the Gilboa Dam provides approximately 14 percent of the water supply for more than nine million residents in New York City and upstate communities.

The Towson Finished Water Reservoir in Baltimore, Maryland has been an integral part of the Baltimore drinking water system since 1927. Requiring upgrades to meet Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards, the reservoir was improved to reduce likelihood of a reservoir breach, nearly double the reservoir’s useable volume, reduce seepage concerns and fully satisfy the EPA requirements. The new covered reservoir will meet the drinking water needs of Baltimore’s water supply system through 2025. Gannett Fleming served as the prime consultant on the project.

The Amtrak Sunnyside Yard Master Plan was developed by a joint venture between Gannett Fleming and WSP|Parsons Brinckerhoff. Sunnyside Yard is one of the most important facilities in the entire 453-mile Amtrak Northeast Corridor, as it is the main storage and service point for Penn Station trains. Operating with much of the original technology and safety features installed during its construction, Sunnyside Yard required a master plan to accommodate anticipated future growth in service demands and employees. The yard’s location on a constrained site without any room to expand the footprint required an innovative phasing plan, developed to be unique to Sunnyside Yard, to address the necessary growth. The planned updates include sustainable features, like vegetative roofs that will improve energy efficiency and add aesthetic appeal.

Gannett Fleming was called on to modernize the more than half-century old COLA WWTP in Lebanon, Pa. COLA sought upgrades for its aging WWTP, built in 1960, to accommodate Lebanon County’s growing population. In order to continue attracting people and businesses to the area, COLA has made upgrades to provide cost-effective wastewater treatment service and expanded capacity. Gannett Fleming developed a four-pronged approach to meet these challenges and accommodate COLA’s WWTP expansion plan through 2035. It increased the plant’s rated hydraulic capacity from 20 million gallons-per-day (mgd) to 30 mgd, while remaining in the plant’s existing footprint, sustaining the environment, and saving money.

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, District 11 teamed with Gannett Fleming for a massive rehabilitation effort of the Squirrel Hill Tunnel in Pittsburgh. Serving 102,000 vehicles per day, the 4,225-foot-long tunnel’s aging structural, electrical, ventilation, control, and fire and life safety systems, indicated that it was time to update the critical infrastructure. The tunnel has been transformed into a modern mobility innovation that safely and efficiently connects commuters along I-376, the primary corridor between America’s Steel City and its eastern suburbs.

ACEC's annual Engineering Excellence Awards (EEA) competition pays tribute to exemplary Member Firm achievements from throughout the world. Since 1967, U.S. engineering firms have entered their most innovative projects and studies in ACEC's annual Engineering Excellence Awards program (EEA) — "the Academy Awards of the engineering industry" — which honors the year's most outstanding engineering accomplishments. Projects that are winners at state level EEA competitions are eligible for ACEC's national EEA competition.