ACEC recognizes five Gannett Fleming projects

Harrisburg, Pa. — Five projects from Gannett Fleming were honored at the American Council of Engineering Companies’ (ACEC) 2017 Engineering Excellence Awards gala on April 25. The C.W. Bill Young Regional Reservoir and the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant received Honor Awards, while the Maintenance-IQ application, the Hulton Bridge Replacement, and the Central Services Facility received National Recognition Awards.

Gannett Fleming provided innovative solutions to repair the 15.5 billion-gallon C.W. Bill Young Regional Reservoir in Tampa, Fla., as a design engineer for Kiewit Infrastructure South Co. With a scope that included design and construction, the two-year-long renovation initiative addressed all of the reservoir’s active and credible failure modes and upgraded the reservoir’s intake tower and aeration system. As a result, this critical water resource for 2.4 million customers was restored to its optimum working condition and placed back into operation in 2014. The reservoir was named the Project of the Century by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection in 2016 and was awarded a Grand Award by the Florida Institute of Consulting Engineers in 2017.

The Newtown Creek Wastewater Pollution Control Plant (WPCP) in Brooklyn is the largest of the New York City Department of Environmental Protection’s 14 WPCPs and serves a population of approximately 1.06 million. Gannett Fleming, CB&I, and Michael Baker International formed a joint venture team for construction management of a six-year upgrade that increased the plant’s wet weather processing capacity from 310 to 720 million gallons per day. The team successfully completed the upgrade $71.7 million under budget, and the project also earned a 2017 ACEC New York Diamond Award in the waste and stormwater category.

Designed by Gannett Fleming’s enterprise geospatial IT division, GeoDecisions, the Maintenance-IQ application empowers the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation’s (PennDOT) maintenance community to process information from more than 10 technology systems and create maps using current data. An intranet-based time saver, the GIS mapping application enables bureau stakeholders to combine, analyze, and visualize data from multiple engineering districts and statewide locations. Using Maintenance-IQ, PennDOT is improving assets and infrastructure to enhance safety and facilitate route planning while saving millions in mobilization and labor investments.

The Hulton Bridge provided a vital connection between Oakmont Borough and Harmar Township for more than 100 years. However, the bridge no longer met the demands of increasing regional traffic. Working closely with PennDOT, Gannett Fleming designed the new $65 million Hulton Bridge to meet the region’s travel needs while retaining the unique aesthetics of the original structure. The design team utilized a strand jacking lift to erect the bridge, marking the first time that PennDOT used this innovative strategy. The new bridge – a 1,633-foot multi-span, steel girder structure – improves safety, traffic flow, and functionality. The Hulton Bridge opened to traffic in October 2015.

When the New Jersey Turnpike Authority (NJTA) needed a better way to manage the materials it uses on a daily basis to maintain 2,500 miles of roadway, Gannett Fleming partnered with the agency to create a Central Services Facility (CSF). A first-of-its-kind for the agency and a model for roadway inventory management, the CSF centralizes the purchasing, receiving, and distribution of inventory. Completing the design and construction of the building in just 17 months, the design team excelled at optimizing the 9.93-acre site to accommodate the four-story facility, 60,000 square-feet of outdoor storage, a salt shed, 249 parking spaces, regular truck traffic for shipping and receiving, storage for ITS signage, a large storm water detention basin, and a fuel island. Additionally, the team saved the NJTA $4 million by value engineering a geogrid to retain soil instead of the traditional retaining walls.