Integrity in testingIt’s amazing to look back at the incredible projects we’ve been involved with. From

highways to landfills, industrial sites to energy plants, and dams to bridges, we can sum it

all up in one word. Wow.

With this in mind, we’ve put together this document as a tribute to the people,

places, and projects that inspire us. Feats of engineering. Challenges in testing.

Phenomenal results. And while the stories here are by no means exhaustive of the work

we’ve done over the years, we think you’ll find it as interesting as we do.

We are deeply honored to be a part of teams working around the globe. And we

don’t take lightly the responsibility entrusted with us for accurate testing and reliable data.

Though we can’t begin to imagine the projects of the future, we certainly know

what’s in ours. Integrity in testing.

A span for the ages

On May 30, 2008, the cursing and honking finally stopped. It was replaced by cheering, waving, and general jolliness—as the beleaguered and obsolete Woodrow Wilson Bridge was finally replaced with the new Woodrow Wilson Bridge.

Designed in 1956, the span was—and remains—one of only a handful of drawbridges in the interstate highway system. Originally designed to handle 75,000 vehicles a day, the old six-lane structure was handling 200,000 vehicles a day by 1999 and opening nearly 260 times a year.

After much debate, the solution was determined to be doubling the size of the span to twin, six-lane bridges, each including double-leaf bascule spans over the principal navigation channel. At their apex, the new bridges would allow 70 feet of vertical navigation clearance—20 feet higher than the previous bridge—requiring far fewer openings.

Construction of the bridge began with dredging approximately 340,000 cubic yards of material from the riverbed. Foundations for the new bridges would include steel pipe piles and 24-square-foot pre-stressed concrete piles, with larger steel pipe piles as much as 200

feet long. Construction continued with the installation of pre-stressed segmental concrete V-piers, steel box girders, concrete deck, operator’s house, machinery,

electrical controls, and the installation of eight massive bascule leaves, each with a deck encompassing at least 11,800 square feet (1,096 m3).

The cheering continued when the Woodrow Wilson Bridge Project was named the winner of the American Society of Civil Engineers’ 2008 Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement Award.

THE WOODROW WILSON BRIDGE

MARYLAND/VIRGINIA

Driving excellence

Build it and they will drive. That seemed to be the inspiration behind the birth of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission’s Mon/Fayette Expressway Projects. Originally planned as a vital connector of steel towns along the Monongahela River Valley, the new highway system now holds the promise of economic development and a link to nearby Pittsburgh.

Approximately 35 miles of the Mon/Fayette Expressway system are operational. The newest project, 17 miles north of I-70 to Route 51 in southeastern Allegheny County, opened on April 12, 2002.

Mon/Fayette Expressway Projects in Allegheny, Washington and Fayette counties have gained state and national recognition with more than a dozen awards, so far, for design and construction excellence. This includes the 2003 Diamond Award from the American Council of Engineering Companies of Pennsylvania, the 2002 Structure Award for Spans Greater Than 150 Feet from the Pennsylvania Partnership for

Highway Quality for the Joe Montana Bridges, and the 2000 Outstanding Highway Engineering Award from the Pittsburgh Section of the American Society of Highway Engineers

“These awards show that the Turnpike Commission is receiving state-of-the-art design and construction services from its consultants and contractors, not to mention our own staff professionals who contribute to and monitor this work,” said Frank J. Kempf Jr., Assistant Chief Engineer for Development Projects/Programs.

Drive on.

MON/FAYETTEEXPRESSWAY

PENNSYLVANIA

Leave the driving to bus

The Port Authority’s West Busway is a very popular transit option for thousands of people who live, work, and travel between western Allegheny County neighborhoods, Downtown Pittsburgh, and Oakland’s university hub. The busway’s immediate success is due, in large part, to the significant rapid transit benefits this facility provides and the many park-and-ride lots located at busway stations and in suburban areas serviced by buses using this route. The West Busway also serves as a reliable alternative to bypassing traffic congestion on the Parkway West (I-376).

Defining elements of the project include a highway interchange, four new bridges, 11 rebuilt bridges, and reconstruction of a 150-year-old railroad tunnel.

The West Busway project has received numerous awards for its innovative design and construction features, including the Diamond

Award for Engineering Excellence from the Consulting Engineers Council of Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania Quality Initiative Transit Award for 2001 from the Pennsylvania Partnership for Highway Quality, and the Governor’s

Award for Environmental Excellence in Land Use for 2001 from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.

PORT AUTHORITY OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY WEST BUSWAY

PENNSYLVANIA

A massive dam project

When updating a historical marvel, nothing less than another remarkable feat of engineering will do. When it was built in the late 1920s, the Saluda Dam was the largest earthen dam in the world, creating the world’s largest man-made lake, the 78-square-mile Lake Murray.

Meanwhile, another piece of history was being studied in relation to the dam. Studies indicated that a potential repeat of the Charleston Earthquake, which rocked the area in 1886, would cause the dam to liquefy, flooding a large portion of the area around Columbia, South Carolina. The challenge then became to build a concrete backup dam to prevent any such calamity. Building such a structure without lowering the water level of the lake or disrupting the operation of the dam’s hydroelectric plant would result in several innovations in engineering and construction.

Numerous wells were drilled in the existing dam to lower the groundwater and improve excavation slope stability. This dewatering

effort included 94 deep wells and 824 educator wells. A rock quarry was designed to utilize available gneiss rock formations. Approximately 200 million pounds of waste fly ash from the nearby coal-fired steam

plant were recycled into concrete for the new dam. And, based on innovative methods developed for this site, 18,590 cubic yards of roller-compacted concrete were placed in a single day—a North American record.

The Saluda Dam Remediation Project has been honored with the American Society of Civil Engineers’ (ASCE) 2006 Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement Award.

SALUDA DAMSOUTH CAROLINA

After the flood

On December 14, 2005, Jerry Toops, his wife, and three children took a wild ride on a 20-foot wall of water down the Black River and emerged with only minor injuries. Their home, the superintendent’s office of Johnson’s Shut-Ins State Park and Taum Sauk State Park, however, was obliterated by the cascading waters.

The cause of the disaster was a breach of the upper reservoir of the Taum Sauk pumped storage plant on the peak of Proffit Mountain in eastern Missouri. This plant is notable in that it is a pure pump-back operation. Electrical generators are turned by water flowing from a reservoir on top of Proffit Mountain into a lower reservoir on the East Fork of the Black River. The generators and turbines at river level are reversible, and at night the excess electricity available on the power grid is used to pump water back to the mountaintop.

Apparently due to mechanical failure in the pump-back system, the reservoir overtopped, causing the earthen levees to erode. It was likely that the reservoir failed when water overflowed, releasing a billion gallons of water in twelve minutes into the river valley below.

After much public debate, rebuilding of the reservoir began in late 2007. This time, instead of the previous rock-fill design, the new

dam is being built on bedrock and is made of roller compacted concrete (RCC). The special concrete, which contains fly ash, is drier than traditional

concrete and is made on site in three plants. It is laid down in 18-inch lifts, each of which is roller compacted. Construction is expected to be completed by May 2010.

TAUM SAUK DAMMISSOURI

Made-for-TV marvel

Tens of millions of tons of materials are floated up and down the

Monongahela River each year. And in 2001, no shipment generated

more interest than the 16,800-ton Braddock Dam Segment #1.

Thousands watched from the riverbanks and on television as it made

its way 27 miles up the Ohio River from a casting basin in neighboring

Leetsdale, into the Mon, and finally to its installation point as part of

the new Braddock Locks and Dam Project. This marked the first time

in civil engineering history that float-in technology was used to create

an inland navigation dam. This segment, and subsequently Segment

#2, was fabricated on land, shipped upriver, meticulously floated into

place, and finally submerged onto previously constructed foundations.

Once in place, Segments #1 and #2 made up the lower third of

the pier bases and overflow sections of the new five-bay gated dam.

The balance of construction was completed from a floating plant at

the dam site. The dam project was completed in April 2004.

Just as those who marveled at its novel trip up the river,

professional organizations were taken by its innovation in design

and construction. In 2003, the Braddock Dam was named the

Engineers’ Society of Western Pennsylvania’s Project

of the Year. The project was a finalist for the 2004

American Society of Civil Engineers’ Outstanding Civil

Engineering Achievement Award, and it garnered the

Civil Engineering Achievement Award from the Pittsburgh Section of

the American Society of Civil Engineers in 2005.

In a documentary on the history of the U.S. Army Corps of

Engineers, The History Channel highlighted the project in its series,

Modern Marvels. Today, it continues to inspire awe in all who learn

about it. And in all of us who worked on it.

BRADDOCK LOCKS AND DAMPENNSYLVANIA

That’s a big fill to fill

Trash talking. It’s going on everywhere these days. And whether it’s recycling, composting, or methane reclamation, it generally comes down to finding a way to carefully and safely dispose of our mountains of waste. And new methods and technologies continue to redefine the nature of these man-made mountains.

Seneca Meadows is one of the largest landfills in New York state, accepting 6,000 tons of garbage a day from communities in three states. Located in the Finger Lakes region of the state, few sites are more scrutinized and even fewer are as innovative in their protection of the environment and redevelopment of the land.

State-of-the-art safety measures include landfill liner systems that are constructed in roughly 20-acre sections. Groundwater under the facility is protected by a double composite liner system, comprising 2 HDPE liners, 2 soil liners, and leachate collection piping. Another innovation is a massive tire recycling plant, providing reuse of over two million tires per year.

A recent addition to the facility is the Seneca Meadows Renewable Resource Park, a landfill gas-driven industrial development initiative, with a capacity of 17.6 megawatt/hour. This facility is

anticipated to provide the equivalent power to satisfy the requirements of approximately 20,000 homes annually.

Seneca Meadows continues to build on its record of environmental stewardship with the construction of a wetlands restoration and education complex, and an environmentally focused community education center.

Based on all that’s going on at Seneca Meadows, we’re happy to continue trash talking.

SENECA MEADOWS LANDFILLNEW YORK

A rose by any other name

Most people have a pretty clear idea of what goes into a landfill. Smelly stuff. Lots and lots of smelly stuff. But thanks to new technologies and some very innovative engineering, some pretty smelly stuff is coming out of the Carbon Limestone Landfill as well.

In a remarkable act of recycling, Allied Waste has developed a method of collecting smelly garbage, capturing the mega-smelly

methane gas that results from its decomposition, and turning it into energy. Across approximately 340 acres of the facility are 200 methane extraction wells.

A pressure vacuum collects the gas, which is then burned utilizing $1 million engines to produce enough electricity to power 15,000 homes per day.

To make sure that nothing leaves the landfill that shouldn’t, they employ the Best Available Technology liner system and other environmental safeguards.

It’s a smelly job, to be sure, but one that we’re honored to be involved with.

CARBON LIMESTONE LANDFILLOHIO

Highway to heaven

Some coffee grounds here, some eggshells there, and the next thing you know, the landfill is full. All 130 acres at maximum capacity. So how do you top that?

In the case of the I-95 Municipal Landfill in Fairfax County, Virginia, it was a carefully engineered capping system. To maximize the long-term environmental safety of the landfill, a geomembrane cover was installed to prevent rainwater from leaching through and contaminating the groundwater below.

The cap system started with a layer of very low-density polyethylene liner, textured to prevent slippage of a covering layer of

topsoil. Much of the soil was recycled from the excavation of the nearby Washington Metrorail station. Normally unusable screenings were recycled from a nearby quarry and incorporated into the drainage system. The soil was

then seeded and fertilized with composted sewage sludge. The end result is a lush, green, fertile landscape.

Now if only they could do something about the I-95 traffic, too.

I-95 MUNICIPAL LANDFILLVIRGINIA

Meet and greet and green

The largest “green” building in the world is actually shiny, silver, and white. And it’s in Pittsburgh.

The David L. Lawrence Convention Center is defined by its roof, which sweeps down in a graceful arc, replicating the bridges that cross the city’s three rivers. The center’s signature suspension-style roof is one of the largest cable-stayed roofs in the world, suspended by 15 cable lines in the roof, each line consisting of 169 strands of steel that are each five-eighths-inch thick. Those strands are connected to steel trusses anchored to caissons 70 feet deep.

The shape and sweep of the roof is far more than a remarkable feat of engineering. It is designed to promote cross-ventilation

through the exhibit space and reduce air conditioning costs. The roof also functions as a giant rain (and snow) collector, feeding a water recycling effort that reduces potable water consumption by 60 percent. Large glass walls throughout the structure allow for 75 percent of the building’s 313,000

square feet of exhibit space to be illuminated naturally.

This innovative approach to design, engineering and construction set the standard for commercial sustainability. The David L. Lawrence Convention Center was the first convention center to be awarded the Gold Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification by the U.S. Green Building Council.

DAVID L. LAWRENCECONVENTION CENTER

PENNSYLVANIA

A life preserver for one of Mark Twain’sfavorite towns on the river

When Magnolia Street was threatened, they called in the army. Literally. A century of erosion and increasing instability of Hickman Bluff threatened to undermine the street, public buildings and, eventually, the public water supply of Hickman, Kentucky. Then the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was called in to save the day.

The resulting stabilization project used an innovative soil-nailing and shotcrete facing technology to reinforce and stabilize the bluff.

The soil nails provided an anchor for a shotcrete facing to the bluff. Shotcrete is concrete pumped through a hose and blasted at high velocity onto a surface. It undergoes placement and compaction at the same time due to the force with which it is projected from the nozzle.

In this case, the soil nails were epoxy-coated 45-foot-long reinforcing bars. Soil nails were installed in a pattern designed to ensure both the internal and external stability of the bluff wall.

Other features of the project included surface and sub-surface drainage systems to eliminate instability caused by surface and

groundwater movement; 26 deep anchors, each 233 feet in length; and a shotcrete reaction beam that supports the load of the reconstructed corner of the bluff above. The corner of the bluff was reconstructed

using a lightweight aggregate fill reinforced with geogrid and faced with limestone riprap.

It’s one of many projects we were happy to support.

HICKMAN BLUFFKENTUCKY

A nice accompaniment to peanuts and Cracker Jack

When fans of the Pittsburgh Pirates “root, root, root for the home team,” they’re doing so in one of the most beautiful ballparks in the world.

Designed as a tribute to classic ballparks of the past, PNC Park salutes the traditional homes of America’s favorite pastime: Boston’s Fenway Park, Chicago’s Wrigley Field, and Pittsburgh’s long-beloved and bygone Forbes Field.

Designed by HOK Sport, the Kansas City–based ‘leading stadium designer in the U.S.,’ the facility sports archways, steel truss work, and light standards that evoke nostalgia for a simpler time. Anything but simple, though, PNC Park was the first two-deck ballpark built in the U.S. since Milwaukee County Stadium opened in 1953.

While inspired by the past, its amenities are distinctively modern, including a 24 by 42 foot Sony JumboTron, accompanied by the first-ever LED video boards in an outdoor Major League Baseball stadium and out-of-

town scoreboard with details of every game being played around the league. It all adds up to giving Pittsburgh fans a lot to cheer about.

PNC PARKPENNSYLVANIA

Fore!

During the Wednesday night golf league, you’ll occasionally hear duffers talking trash to one another. But that’s nothing compared to the literal trash housed on this site for more than 40 years.

You see, from 1941 to 1981, the location at 17th and Harper Drive in Erie was an unpermitted landfill. Used for industrial and municipal waste, the EPA forced a shutdown in 1981. Cleanup started in 1983. and construction of a cap, golf course, wetlands and a flood retention basin began in the spring of 2000.

Today’s Millcreek Golf and Learning Center is a sparkling example of reclaimed land. The nine-hold, par 36 course was designed by Ferdinand Garbin and opened in 2002. With manicured fairways and greens, the center now boasts leagues, lessons, pro shop and even a snack bar.

Yes, Millcreek has come a long way from its trashy youth. Thanks to smart engineering—it was a winner of the American Council of Engineering Companies of Pennsylvania (ACEC/PA) 2003 Diamond Award for Engineering Excellence —it’s now a fabulous place to slice a few.

MILLCREEK GOLF AND LEARNING CENTER

PENNSYLVANIA

Testing the limits of testing

For such a remote location in such a hostile environment, Amchitka Island has seen a lot of action. Located in the Rat Islands group of the Aleutians, the tiny volcanic island is foggy, windswept, and often under siege by Bering Sea storms.

Amchitka first popped onto the international radar when the Japanese invaded the Aleutians at the outset of World War II. The U.S. military responded quickly, taking the island and establishing an air base. At its peak, the occupancy of Amchitka reached 15,000 troops. The Army abandoned the site in August 1950.

A decade later, the government was back. In the first of three underground nuclear tests, the 80 kiloton Long Shot was detonated

2,000 feet below the island’s surface. In 1969, the 1.2 megaton Milrow test took place. In the week following that test, a new organization was formed in Vancouver, the Don’t Make A Wave Committee, in part to challenge further testing at Amchitka. Legend has it that as he left

the meeting, one member bid the others “Peace.” Someone replied, “Make it a green peace.” But that’s a different story.

The final nuclear test was the massive 5 megaton Cannikin test—the largest in U.S. history—in 1971.

Things quieted down after that. In 2001, the Department of Energy returned to the island to assess environmental issues associated with the drilling of shafts for the atomic tests. Drilling mud pits, contaminated with diesel fuel, were stabilized with the addition of clean soil, a polyester membrane covering, more soil, and seed.

As part of their remediation project, the Department of Energy Office of Legacy Management will continue to monitor the site until 2025, after which the site is intended to become a restricted access wildlife preserve. Talk about green and peace.

AMCHITKA ISLANDMILITARY BASE

ALASKA

Jamaica great testing site

Back in 1959, the sunny island of Jamaica really started to rock. Sure, there was the birth of ska music, the precursor to reggae, inspired by the vibe of the Caribbean and blended with newfangled American rock and roll. But that was also the year Alcoa took root there with the formation of Alcoa Minerals of Jamaica, a wholly owned subsidiary. Shortly thereafter, they began mining bauxite for export, with the first shipment in 1963.

Alcoa saw growth in the mining industry and, after completing a refinery in 1972, began exporting alumina to smelters around the world. In 1988, the Government of Jamaica acquired a 50 percent share of the operations, and the company Jamalco was born. Today, Alcoa owns 55 percent and remains the managing partner.

Through the decades, Jamalco has weathered the storm of massive hurricanes and the volatility of the metals market. What’s more, the firm has developed a deep commitment to sustainability and projects to support their focus. We’re grateful that geotechnical

investigations have played a role in their endeavors. And welcome the opportunity to return on site anytime.

JAMALCO AREA 45JAMAICA

Contributing more than energy

As if 1,800 megawatts weren’t enough.

A recent economic study revealed that, in addition to providing nearly 25 percent of the electricity needed by 1.3 million customers throughout the Carolinas, the Brunswick Nuclear Power Plant has “significant positive impacts” on the economies of four surrounding counties.

At the time of the Economic Impact Study, it was determined that the Progress Energy power station supported a total of 2,030 jobs, accounting for $100.8 million in personal income in the region. The operation supported nearly $500 million in economic output

in its home Brunswick County. According to researcher Dr. Claude Farrell, “The Brunswick Nuclear Plant is the largest single stand-alone

contributor to the Brunswick County economy with respect to income, employment and taxes.”

The study was conducted by Drs. Farrell and William Hall Jr. of the University of North Carolina Wilmington.

The Brunswick Nuclear Plant’s two boiling water reactors are located on 1,200 acres at the mouth of the Cape Fear River and is owned jointly by Progress Energy and the North Carolina Eastern Municipal Agency.

And all in all, they’ve generated a powerful success story.

BRUNSWICK NUCLEARPOWER PLANT

NORTH CAROLINA

Finding the energy to meet growing demand

The research triangle that surrounds the Raleigh-Durham area of North Carolina is a burgeoning center of technology innovation in the United States. So it is no surprise that it also includes the ninth fastest-growing county in the country. And with that growth comes demand for electricity.

One way to meet that demand is a combination of old school process and cutting-edge technology. Duke Energy’s Cliffside Steam Station Unit 5 pairs the tried-and-true coal-fired plant with a selective catalytic reduction device capable of reducing nitrogen oxide emissions by up to 80 percent.

Currently under development, Unit 6 is designed to have among the strictest, most effective emission controls available.

Once the new unit is on line, as early as 2012, Duke expects to retire the older units (1 through 4). That exchange will result in generation of more

then double the electricity with lower emissions. Duke has further committed to even further reductions in older coal-fired generation, aimed at making Unit 6 carbon neutral by 2018.

As a long-time member of Raleigh’s geotechnical testing community, we’re honored to be part of innovative thinking.

DUKE ENERGY CLIFFSIDECOAL-FIRED POWER STATION

NORTH CAROLINA

The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind

High atop a mountain in Pennsylvania, the land once stood barren, marred by strip mining, and is now gaining new life. As a wind farm.

One of the cleanest, most environmentally friendly energy sources available, wind energy is the fastest-growing source of energy in the world because of its non-polluting and abundant nature. Oh, and it’s free.

Located near a municipal utility, the Cambria County site generates 62.5 megawatts of electricity with its 25 Nordex N90 turbines.

Did you know that about 6 percent of the total land area of the lower 48 states enjoys wind conditions suitable

for major wind development? In fact, the electric power that could be produced by that 6 percent of land could produce 150

percent of our country’s current energy consumption.

It’s pretty amazing to consider that the site that once supplied coal to power our nation is now providing wind to do the very same thing.

EVERPOWERHIGHLAND WIND

PENNSYLVANIA

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