Current News

Senate EPW Committee Releases Five-Year $287 Billion Surface Transportation Bill

Reprinted from the ACEC Last Word, July 29, 2019

The America's Transportation Infrastructure Act of 2019 (ATIA), released by the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee today, authorizes $287 billion in surface transportation investments over five years. The proposed bill would increase current funding by 27 percent.

"This bill provides funding to grow the program and long-term certainty; the two most important ingredients for addressing the nation’s transportation needs," said ACEC President/CEO Linda Bauer Darr.

Of the $287 billion in highway funding, 90 percent ($259 billion) would be distributed to states by formula. The legislation would maintain each state's share of highway formula funding and expand the flexibility and eligible uses of formula funds.

The bill would codify core elements of the "One Federal Decision" policy for highway projects including:

Two-year goal for completion of environmental reviews
Ninety-day timeline for related project authorizations
Single environmental document and recrod of decision signed by all participating agencies
Accountability and tracking system managed by the Secretary of Transportation

The bill would provide $5.5 billion in funding for the Nationally Significant Freight and Highway Projects program, increase funding flexibility, and prioritize certain critical interstate projects.

The legislation authorizes more than $6 billion over five years, including $3.3 billion from the Highway Trust Fund, for a competitive bridge program. At least half of the funding would support bridge projects that cost more than $100 million. The legislation would invest $4.9 billion over five years in a new resilience program to protect roads and bridges from natural disasters such as wild fires, and extreme weather events such as hurricanes, flooding, and mudslides.

The bill would establish a $1 billion competitive grant program over five years for states and localities to build hydrogen, natural gas, and electric vehicle fueling infrastructure along designated highway corridors.

The EPW Committee is scheduled to mark up the bill on Tuesday. Legislation is moving more slowly in the House of Representatives and is not expected to be released before the August Congressional recess.

Click here for a fact sheet on the bill and here for a copy of the bill. Click here for a copy of the ACEC letter of support for the bill.

ACEC/SD AND SDES
OUTSTANDING ENGINEERING ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

Presented at April 2017 SDES Annual Conference

12TH STREET BRIDGE REPLACEMENT PROJECT

SUBMITTED BY HDR, INC.

The project is located within the central portions of the City of Sioux Falls on 12th Street, just west of the intersection with Grange Avenue. 12th Street is one of the City’s most heavily traveled streets, being only 1 of 4 of the City’s east-west Principal Arterials. The existing bridge was originally built in 1965 and was suffering from deterioration of both the bridge structure and associated retaining wall structures. Due to the severity of the deterioration, the City decided it was more economically feasible to replace the structure than to attempt to rehabilitate a 50 year old bridge with extensive issues.

Success on this project required bringing together almost all the disciplines one would expect on a complicated urban transportation project. Traffic analysis and phasing of the bridge construction, along with public involvement, were key items that were critical to the success of this project. Engineering analysis was used to determine the unique traffic control & construction phasing. After evaluating alternatives, costs, and impacts to the public, a 3 lane configuration was selected that would keep traffic open at all times and provide 2 lanes in the direction of the majority of traffic (middle lane switched during the day). Along with the traffic control, bridge construction methods were evaluated to accelerate the construction time and build the bridge in halves. Use of unique ABC (Accelerated Bridge Construction) such as pile sleeves, geofoam and precast panels were ABC methods used to get the bridge portion constructed entirely within one construction year.

The final plan for construction of the project involved breaking construction up into 2 years. During 2015, all work that could be done prior to affecting traffic on 12th Street was accomplished. This work included constructing retaining walls and access roads parallel to the railroad up to the 4 corners of the bridge. The access roads were needed to provide access, and work platforms during construction of the bridge. Relocation of billboards and upfront utility work was also accomplished in 2015. Traffic lanes were not impacted as part of the 2015 work.

During the 2016 season, the bridge was successfully built and impacts to traffic were minimized to just the one season. The new bridge footings were constructed below the existing structure prior to the old bridge being removed. This enabled a significant reduction in the time in which traffic was impacted by allowing the traffic lanes on 12th street to remain untouched until the very last moment. The 3 lane traffic control plan was then implemented and half of the existing bridge was removed. Piles were driven for the footings, through the pile sleeves that were cast as part of the footing, and were quickly grouted into the footing. The abutment walls were cast, and then geofoam was used to quickly fill in the area behind the abutments. The geofoam allowed for quick backfilling of the abutment areas, with no need for large equipment to compact regular fill. Girders were set on the abutments and a concrete distribution slab was poured over the geofoam. Precast enclosure walls were placed around the geofoam and connected to the distribution slab. The deck and approach slab for the bridge were then placed and pavement was installed on the roadway for the 1st phase of work. Traffic was then allowed to cross over the new half of the bridge in July of 2016. The whole process was repeated for the remaining half of the old bridge.

Using experience gained on the first phase of work, the contractor was able to do the work significantly faster on the 2nd half of the bridge, and was able to complete most of the work and open the entire bridge up in October 2016. The effort by the contractor required multiple crews and very long work weeks for the contractor, HDR, and the involved City personnel. In the end, the Contractor received full incentive for their efforts in meeting the schedule.

ACEC/South Dakota
Emerging Leaders Program

Invest In The Future

The American Council of Engineering Companies of South Dakota (ACEC/SD) is pleased to announce the 2016-2017 Emerging Leaders Program. The Emerging Leaders Program, provided exclusively for the benefit of young professionals within the ACEC/SD membership companies, aims to prepare young professionals on the fast track to firm partnerships, management, and potential succession ownership opportunities.

Congratulations to the following for their selection to the 2016-2017 ACEC/SD Emerging Leaders Program!

Rebecca Baker, HDR Engineering, Inc.
Kristin Bisgard, Banner Associates, Inc.

Kevin Heiberger, RESPEC

Gabe Laber, DGR Engineering

Josh Larson, McLaury Engineering Inc.

Bradley Letcher, American Engineering Testing, Inc.

Jeff McCormick, SPN & Associates, Inc.

Jody Page, HDR Engineering, Inc.

Pete Raush, RESPEC

Scott Schneider, Sayre Associates, Inc.

Kyle Young, Kadrmas, Lee and Jackson