Public and Private Works Projects Honored by Statewide Engineering Association

The American Council of Engineering Companies, California (ACEC California) and the ACEC California Scholarship Foundation, in partnership with public sector agencies and private companies, will be celebrating twelve engineering projects next week at ACEC California’s Engineering Excellence Awards banquet. These honor award projects are being recognized for demonstrating an exceptional degree of innovation, complexity, achievement, and value. The winner of the Golden State Award, an honor bestowed for the best overall project, will be announced during next week’s event.

“These ACEC California engineering firms are being honored for bringing an outstanding degree of innovation, accomplishment, and value,” said Brad Diede, Executive Director of ACEC California. “Californians deserve reliably built infrastructure that includes structurally sound buildings, dependable drinking water supplies, and safe and efficient transportation systems as well as safe bicycle and pedestrian routes. Our firms are committed to continually building a better California, as exemplified in these award-winning projects.”

Photographs of award-winning projects can be found at https://www.acec-ca.org/page/2023EEAWinners

San Diego Honor Award Projects:

Kleinfelder and McMillen Jacobs Associates (Now Delve Undergroud) provided professional engineering and construction services for the Courthouse Commons Tunnel Project. This 328-foot-long, three-story underground transfer facility shaft is used to transport inmates from the Downtown San Diego Central Jail to the new Superior Courthouse. Kleinfelder providing comprehensive geotechnical services for design of the tunnel – including serving as the project’s Geotechnical and Earthquake/Seismic Engineer of Record – as well as instrumentation and monitoring, geologic mapping, and special inspection and materials testing; and McMillen Jacobs (now Delve Underground)providing design of the transfer facilities shaft and engineering services during construction. Holland Partner Group is developing the Courthouse Commons site for the County of San Diego under a design-build contract. In addition to the tunnel project, the overall redevelopment encompasses three city blocks, including a 37-story mixed-use tower.

Moffatt & Nichol performed all preliminary engineering, led the environmental review and permitting, and completed final engineering for the San Elijo Lagoon Restoration Project contracted by the City of Encinitas. The San Elijo Lagoon Restoration project encompasses restoration to improve the physical conditions of hydrology, hydraulics, and elevations for increased habitat function and value. The project was developed to restore and maintain the lagoon ecosystem through hydrologic augmentation for the benefit of native estuarine and brackish marsh wildlife and vegetation.

Los Angeles Region Honor Award Projects:

Atlas Technical Consultants was contracted by the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) as the prime consultant to provide structural inspection services. Atlas successfully implemented new technologies and innovations in engineering practices, that included the use of tablets for data collection and photogrammetry scanning in tunnels and the use of artificial intelligence software to identify, quantify and size the defects, generate 3D models, and orthomosaics.

HDR was contracted by the Union Pacific Railroad for the 125-year-old Narlon Bridge is perched between ancient sand dunes. The 720-foot-long, 80-foot-tall structure suffered from advanced corrosion from the moisture and chloride-rich air. The joint project between Union Pacific and LOSSAN restores full speed train operation across the San Antonio CreekUsing a “light” approach, the HDR team modified the traditional CM/GC process for time and budget, substituted virtual meetings, forwent co-location and opted for remote coordination. Their 3D LIDAR scan provided a unique viewpoint into acomplex bridge geometry.  The single, longer outtage reduced impacts, risk, schedule and costs. Meanwhile, an innovative multi-coating system will keep the bridge functional for the next century.

HNTB Corporation was contracted by the City of Los Angeles Bureau of Engineering in collaboration with Los Angeles architect Michael Maltzan and Danish bridge architect Dissing+Weitling for the City of Los Angeles’s new viaduct, dubbed “the Ribbon of Light”. The design was selected by the City’s Bureau of Engineering through an international design competition. Construction was led by contractors Skanska and Stacy and Witbeck, a joint venture, and managed by T.Y. Lin International Group.  The bridge employs a series of 10 pairs of sculptural arches, recalling the iconic beauty of the original 1932 bridge while seamlessly connecting Los Angeles’s Art District with the Boyle Heights neighborhood. It’s designed not only as a transportation link supporting vehicular traffic, pedestrians and cyclists but also as a community destination, served by a future 12-acre park below the viaduct; the viaduct also can be closed to traffic on special occasions for community celebrations and parades.

P2S Inc.  was contracted by the Port of Long Beach as the prime consultant for the design of the new facility and is the engineer of record for the Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing and Telecommunications systems. This state-of-the-art building is operated by the Long Beach Container Terminal (LBCT) at the Middle Harbor Terminal (MHT) of POLB.  As the first fully automated container terminal in the United States, LBCT sets an example of how shipping facilities can increase terminal efficiency while utilizing zero emissions technology. The BXB utilizes LBCT’s Battery Exchange System to provide automated battery charging and exchanges of Automated Guided Vehicle batteries. This project is a key component of the automatic characteristics and zero emissions goals of MHT by reducing air pollution emissions from cargo movement for the residents of San Pedro Bay.

PACE Advanced Water Engineering served as the engineer-of-record and part of the PERC Water Team under the Kiewit Design-Build-Operate Team to design the AWTF, a contribution to the City of Santa Monica’s Sustainable Water Infrastructure Project (SWIP). The new 1.0 MGD AWTF treats a mixture of raw wastewater from the City’s sewer collection system, as well as stormwater harvested from the City’s stormwater drainage system for groundwater augmentation via direct injection. This alternative source of water diversifies and increases the resiliency of the City’s water supply portfolio by reducing its dependency on imported water.

Walter P Moore for the YouTube Theater project. The YouTube Theater is an intricate element of Hollywood Park, a 300-acre mixed-use development in Inglewood, CA, being developed by Los Angeles Rams Owner/Chairman E. Stanley Kroenke. In its inaugural year, the venue hosted nearly 100 events and over 300,000 fans with acts such as Alicia Keys, Eddie Vedder and the Earthlings, Sebastián Yatra, Aespa, and Jon Pardi. YouTube Theater is one of three venues—including American Airlines Plaza and SoFi Stadium—under a single ETFE roof canopy. During the construction of YouTube Theater, the project team overcame a myriad of challenges, including building the venue near a fault line and directly below the two primary flight approach paths to Los Angeles International Airport, just three miles away. The venue is not only underneath the same ETFE roof canopy as SoFi Stadium, but it is also integrated with 11 roof canopy columns. This integration was made possible by creative engineering experimentation and non-linear time-history analysis of the integrated structure. In addition to exemplary structural engineering solutions, the venue features advanced technology, as well as patron and artist premium amenities that make it a destination venue.

San Francisco Region Honor Award Projects:

Biggs Cardosa Associates, Inc. for the Warm Springs BART Pedestrian West Access Bridge & Entry Plaza. Biggs Cardosa was contracted by the City of Fremont as the prime consultant to provide engineering design for this project, which extends above rail lines to connect the new Warm Springs BART station to the city’s Innovation District, a major new employment center and residential area. The bridge navigates a highly constrained site and consists of two sections, a truss span and a cable-stayed bridge, in order to offer the iconic look of a cable-stayed bridge while avoiding high voltage power lines directly overhead. Biggs Cardosa solved multiple seismic stability challenges posed by the two-section bridge and developed a highly detailed construction staging plan that allowed for partial fabrication of the bridges in the shop and assembly of the truss bridge in the field, enabling contractors to lift the truss from the assembly location over rail tracks and raise the truss to the right elevation, all while maintaining a safe clearance to the high voltage lines just overhead and the BART station immediately adjacent..

BKF Engineers for the Bayfront Expressway Pedestrian & Bicycle Overcrossing in Menlo Park. Meta hired BKF as prime consultant to provide civil engineering and Caltrans permitting coordination and to lead the subconsultant design team. The overcrossing is based on an iconic architectural design by Gehry Partners. Biggs Cardosa Associates provided structural design. The overcrossing spans a busy expressway, giving residents a safe connection to the Bay Trail and to a public park Meta created as an amenity.  The bridge spans consist of angled, sloping, overlapping built-up steel girders and cross beams supporting composite concrete on a metal decking system of varying width, topped by chain link railings of varying heights and inclination angles. Because of the complex geometries, no two main connections on the overcrossing structure are alike.

Kimley-Horn for the San Francisco Oakland Bay Bridge Metering Lights System Upgrade Project. Kimley-Horn was the System Manager and System Designer for the replacement of the existing mainline metering lights system for the San Francisco Oakland Bay Bridge, which had been in operation for over 40 years. The project is a partnership between the Bay Area Toll Authority and Caltrans to modernize the metering lights system and improve regional traffic operations. The Kimley-Horn team provided an innovative solution to improve mobility in one of the most congested corridors in the country. The new SFOBB mainline metering upgrade provides a world-class transportation network that serves the entire traveling community who cross the bridge daily. These enhancements also provide direct benefits to rideshare and transit buses who receive priority in metering rates. The system is more reliable and responsive to changing conditions on weekdays and weekends, resulting in improved system performance, reduced greenhouse gas emissions, TMC operator efficiency, and cost savings.

KPW Structural Engineers, Inc., dba Salas O’Brien Structural Engineers for Gilead Sciences’ new Wellbeing Center. Salas O’Brien was contracted by Flad Architects, the prime consultant on the project, to provide structural engineering design and consulting services for the unique Foster City Campus. The sustainability target achieved was LEED Platinum and WELL Gold, which included systems for energy and water efficiency and the environmental impact of the project execution. The Wellbeing Center is designed to foster wellness by including many amenities for employees in a single site. Additionally, the 60,000sf facility includes fitness, yoga, and relaxing green areas for quiet reflection. A fully equipped medical services area provides employees with various services ranging from physical therapy to mental health counseling. The project showcases the value, ingenuity, and sustainable approach for a project with owner priorities and teamwork in mind.

ACEC California is a 60 plus year-old, nonprofit association of private consulting engineering and land surveying firms. As a statewide organization, we are dedicated to enhancing the consulting engineering and land surveying professions, protecting the general public and promoting use of the private sector in the growth and development of our state.