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Michigan
Civil Engineer sections.asce.org/michigan/ Winter 2009
Farm Lane project at MSU completed Michigan State University
(MSU) and the Michigan Depart-ment of Transportation (MDOT) held a ribbon cutting ceremony on October 16, 2009 to mark the grand reopening of Farm Lane.
Farm Lane is an important en-try point to the university that runs through the south end of MSU’s campus in East Lansing.
U.S. Senator Debbie Stabe-now, Michigan State University President Lou Anna K. Simon, and MDOT Director Kirk T. Steudle were among the dignitar-ies at the ceremony.
The project involved lowering Farm Lane under two existing rail-road crossings, the Canadian Na-tional (CN) line north of Service Road and the CSX line just north of the MSU commuter parking lot.
In addition, the roadway was widened from two lanes to five, along with the addition of new sidewalks and bike paths, new pump houses and detention ba-sins, extensive landscaping, and two new service drives con-structed just west of Farm Lane.
The project was designed to increase motorist and pedestrian safety and improve mobility through the corridor. MDOT and MSU brought to-gether Bergmann Associates, JJR, URS Corporation, Posen Construction and Soil and Materials Engineers, Inc. (SME) to tackle this challenging project.
Inside President’s Message 2 Member News 3 - 4 ASCE News 5-7
ASCE Michigan Section P: (517) 332-2066
215 N. Walnut St., P.O. Box 19189, Lansing, MI 48901-9189 F: (517) 332-4333
PHOTOS COURTESY OF MDOT
Above, an aerial view of the Farm Lane railroad crossing project completed and below, a look at the project before construction began.
Michigan Civil Engineer
ASCE MICHIGAN
SECTION CONTACTS
President’s Message Gerrad Godley, PE
First and foremost, I must say how excited I am and honored to serve you, the membership, as the 2009-2010 American Society of Civil Engi-neers Michigan Section President. When I look back at my involvement with ASCE in the early years at the Student Chapter level, I must say the real reason of my involvement then was primarily due to the Concrete Canoe and Steel Bridge teams. Then I realized how much more it meant to be involved with a professional society of civil engineers. That is when I became involved as a Student Chapter officer and have con-tinued to serve the society since. As you may know, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) was founded in 1852 and is America’s oldest national engi-neering society. The leadership that arose from this group helped form our country from what once used to be just a group of colonies into what today is known as one of the world leaders. We as civil engineers are naturally very aware of this state’s and country’s failing infrastructure. It seems to be all we hear about and here I am again reminding you of this. Although this message is very important, it is all for naught if nothing is done about it! We must break out of our “engineering” shells, be heard as stewards and leaders of our local, state and nation’s infrastructure, and pro-vide the solutions that only we as Civil Engineers can offer. I must say that many have heard and are aware of the problems we are facing today, but the new problem is that of the lack of action and leadership to move us forward. What does this mean to me, you may ask yourself? It means that we can no longer be the quiet engi-neers that we like to be, sitting in our offices and letting the respon-sible parties tell us that they do not have the budget to improve the failing infrastructure. What is going to happen when it does fail and then somehow, they will have to come up with the money in a short period of time because it will impair the health, safety and welfare of the public. What will they be saying to us, the Civil Engineer, when this situation occurs? Civil Engineers have helped build the world’s infrastructure. In doing so, they have shaped the history of the nations around the world. However, it was many years ago that this infrastructure was put to work! Now more than ever, we need the leaders within our ranks to step out once again to move our state and nation on the challenges that we are facing today. Please feel free to contact any of the Board members with your concerns, comments or questions. Thank you, Gerrad A. Godley, PE, M.ASCE
President Gerrad Godley, PE (517) 371-1200 [email protected] President-Elect Michael Thelen, PE (517) 887-9181 [email protected] Vice President Michael Guter, PE (616) 574-8500 [email protected] Secretary Daniel Lewis, PE (269) 372-1158 [email protected] Treasurer Ronald Goldie, PE (248) 539-2222 [email protected] Past President Thomas Maxwell, PE (248) 454-6349 [email protected] Ann Arbor Branch President Ronald V. Goldie, PE (248) 539-2222 Lansing/Jackson Branch President Therese Kline, PE (517) 241-0082 [email protected] Saginaw Valley Branch President Erich Smith, PE (989) 686-3100 Southeastern Branch President Jesse Van De Creek, PE (248) 338-9241 Southwestern Branch President Melinda L. Bacon, PE (269) 323-3555 Upper Peninsula Branch President William Griffin, PE (906) 482-4810 Western Michigan Branch President Scott Post, PE (616) 787-9296 Executive Director - Michigan Section Ronald Brenke, PE (517) 332-2066 National Officers ASCE President Blaine Leonard, PE, D.GE, F.ASCE Region 3 Director Eriks Ludins, PE, M.ASCE Michigan Section Governor Stephen Chizek, PE (248) 563-7500 [email protected] National Headquarters (800) 548-ASCE www.asce.org
2 WINTER 2009
ASCE, MSPE & ACEC have collaborated to produce a new joint magazine! The first issue of Michigan Engineering will be mailed in April 2010.
Michigan Civil Engineer
Stoops Named Outstanding Young Civil Engineer Jason Stoops, PE, a project manager in the geotech-
nical group at G2 Consulting Group in Troy, has been named Outstanding Young Civil Engineer of the Year by the ASCE Southeastern Michigan Branch.
Stoops earned a master’s degree in civil engineering and a bachelor’s degree in civil and environmental engi-neering from the University of Michigan. He also was recently appointed to the ASCE Geo-Institute Geo-Legislative Committee. SME Opens Indy Office
Soil and Materials Engineers, Inc. (SME) is further expanding its reach in the Midwest region with the open-ing of an office in Indianapolis.
The office is located at 3906 West 86th Street, Suite B, Indianapolis, IN 46268-1701; Phone: (317) 876-0200; Fax: (317) 876-0300.
SME’s Indianapolis office will be managed by Mi-chael Meddock, PE, Vice President. Mike has 21 years of experience including 16 with SME. Bedenis Joins FTC&H
Fishbeck, Thompson, Carr & Huber announced that Kay F. Bedenis, JD, PE has joined FTC&H’s Farmington Hills office. Ms. Bedenis is a senior environmental engi-neer, specializing in air quality management. She has more than 22 years of professional experience in air pollution control design, evaluation, permitting, compli-ance/enforcement, policy, and planning.
Bedenis holds a Juris Doctor degree specializing in
environmental law from the University of Detroit-Mercy School of Law. Kay is also a graduate of Michigan Tech-nological University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering.
She was recently named a Fellow by the Air and Waste Management Association (A&WMA). SME’s Jacobs is NAWIC Director
The National Association of Women in Construction (NAWIC) Lansing Chapter recently elected Megan S. Jacobs, EIT, Senior Engi-neer in the Lansing office of Soil and Materials Engineers, Inc. (SME), as a Director. SME Promotes Four
Soil and Materials Engineers, Inc. (SME) announced the promotion of four team members, including Matthew C. Desjardins, PE, to Project Engineer; Jayson W. Graves, EIT, SMSI, to Senior Engineer; Simon C. Murley, PE, to Project Engineer; and Paul J. Schmeisl, PE, to Project Engi-neer. C2AE Hires Godley
Gerrad A. Godley, PE, has joined the C2AE Trans-portation Team as a Project Manager. Gerrad special-izes in transportation design, including highway recon-struction, municipal roads, water, and sewer improve-ment projects, as well as bridge inspections.
Member News
C2AE has announced the estab-lishment of an an-nual scholarship fund to provide scholarships for students at Michi-gan Technological University (MTU). Richard (Rick) Beaupré, PE, earned multiple engineering de-grees from MTU,
including a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering, a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering, and a Master of Science in Civil Engi-neering.
Rick began his career at C2AE (then Capital Consultants, Inc.) in 1975. He was instrumental in ex-panding the firm into northern Lower
Michigan, opening the firm's Gay-lord office in 1991.
He was a former Principal, Board Member and Director of the firm, and retired from C2AE in 2003. Rick passed away on September 1 at the age of 62 at his home in Gaylord.
The Richard T. Beaupré Memo-rial Scholarship Fund is being ad-ministered by the Michigan Tech Fund (MTF), a non-profit corporation existing solely for the benefit of MTU and its students. The scholarship fund is meant to provide financial support for students already attend-ing or entering MTU, and will be given to a student who is a graduate of Gaylord High School or St. Mary Cathedral High School in Gaylord, Michigan; is pursuing a degree in engineering; is a sophomore, junior, or senior; and possesses a GPA of
at least 2.75. C2AE has committed to fund the
scholarship for the next four years, with possible extensions. However, individuals may also contribute to the scholarship fund.
If you wish to make a donation, you can do so by mailing a check to the address below or online via credit card on the MTU Web site at: https://www.banweb.mtu.edu/mtu/mtf/gift/give.xsql.
Michigan Tech Fund Beaupré Scholarship 1400 Townsend Drive Houghton, MI 49931
For questions regarding the
scholarship fund, please contact Janice Henkel, MTU Sponsorship Coordinator at (906) 487-3626.
C2AE Establishes Scholarship Fund in Memory of Beaupré
BEAUPRÉ
JACOBS
3 WINTER 2009
Michigan Civil Engineer
Member News continued
Clark Construction’s Blower CDP Certified Clark Construction’s Allen Blower received his Certi-
fied Development Design and Construction Professional (CDP) certification from the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC).
Blower joined Clark in 1998 as a Project Manager and in 2007 was named Director of Retail Operations. Blower received a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Michigan Technological University. U.S. Military Bestows ‘Above and Beyond’ Award
The Michigan Committee for the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR) recently presented Soil and Materials Engineers, Inc. (SME) with an “Above and Beyond Award.”
The award is given to employers that provide excep-tional support to its employees who serve in the U.S. military. The firm was nominated by Michael J. Neuman, PE, Senior Project Engineer at SME.
Mike returned home safely after serving 15 months in the police transition training program in Iraq. SDA and TEC Host Engineering and Science Fair
Volunteers from Spalding DeDecker Associates, Inc. (SDA) and Testing Engineers & Consultants, Inc. (TEC) worked together to host the 2nd Annual K-12 Engineer-ing and Surveying Fair at SDA’s Rochester Hills office.
The purpose of fair is to build awareness and to pro-mote the civil engineering and surveying fields. Interac-tive, hands-on activities included: a weights and meas-ures contest; electrical circuits; motion, momentum, and impulse; quick-fixes for traffic crashes; designing for “greener” stormwater; building tall; and others.
More than 90 people participated in the fair. Kids re-ceived stickers for participation at each station. Those who participated at all stations received a diploma. Companies Announce LEED Certified Members OHM announced that three staff members were
recently designated as Leadership in Energy and Envi-ronmental Design (LEED) Accredited Professionals by the U.S. Green Building Council. Tracie Williams, PE, is the General Manager of Hitch, a division of OHM. Taryn Juidici, PE, works on projects in OHM’s Livonia and Hitch offices. Juidici, a civil engineer, specializes in site design and traffic engineering Jane Abadir, PE, a Civil/Construction Engineer at
Detroit-based Somat Engineering, has achieved LEED accreditation from the USGBC. Abadir is a licensed Pro-fessional Engineer in the State of Michigan with six years of engineering experience. She has a Master of Science in Construction Material Engineering from the American University in Cairo, Egypt.
Midwestern Consulting staff engineer Scott G. Fisher, EIT, has become the most recent LEED Accred-ited Professional to join the firm’s Green Initiative. Fisher, graduated from Lawrence Technological Univer-sity in 2007 with a degree in civil engineering. C2AE announced that Eric Bratt, EIT; Jonathan
Libby, EIT; and Michael P. Spurbeck, PE, LEED Accred-ited status. Firms Congratulate Newly Licensed PEs BMJ Engineers & Surveyors is
proud to announce that Destain Gingell has passed the PE Examina-tion and has obtained his license as a Professional Engineer in Michigan. Destain, a 2004 graduate of Michigan State University, has been employed with BMJ since May 2004, performing services in the areas of municipal, site development and construction engi-neering. Prein&Newhof announces that
the State of Michigan has licensed Kevin Gritters as a Professional Engi-neer (PE). Gritters holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering from Calvin College.
He joined Prein&Newhof full-time in 2005, and is currently working from the firm’s Grand Rapids Office as a Project Engineer on water distribution and wastewater collection projects.
Kevin has also begun developing expertise in hydrologic and hydraulic modeling and engi-neering.
PHOTO COURTESY OF SME
The Michigan Business and Professional Association (MBPA) presented SME’s Human Resources team with the “Metropolitan Detroit’s 101 Best and Brightest Companies to Work For” Award. Left to right: Sherri Fountain, SPHR (SME), Jennifer Kluge (MBPA), and Elaine Nading, PHR (SME).
GRITTERS
GINGELL
WINTER 2009 4
ASCE Michigan Section Annual Conference a Success
Michigan Civil Engineer
The ASCE Michigan Section Annual Conference was held September 17 & 18, 2009, at the Radisson Hotel in downtown Lansing. The Lansing-Jackson Branch hosted the event which drew over 80 participants. On Thursday, attendees enjoyed the scholarship golf outing held at Hawk Hollow in Bath, which benefited both the local Matt Bugbee and ASCE scholarship funds. In the evening, registrants enjoyed hors d’oeuvres and humor back at the Radisson Hotel as two local comedians performed. MDOT Director and ASCE member, Kirk Steudle, kicked off Friday morning’s General Session and outlined the state’s struggles to properly fund Michigan’s transportation sys-tem. Concurrent educational breakout sessions followed which included such topics as Public-Private Partnerships and Michigan’s efforts to require Continuing Education hours for licensed Professional En-
gineers. After lunch, new officers were installed, including Gerrad Godley as President, Michael Thelen as President-Elect, and Michael Guter as Vice President. ASCE Na-tional President-elect Blaine Leonard attended the conference and delivered the keynote address, “The Future of Engineering: Civil Engineering in 2025”. The following individu-als were announced as Mackinac and Zuidema scholarship winners: Jill Sanderson, Alexander Sadovskiy and Renee Thomas. Next year’s conference will be hosted by the ACEC Western Branch. A special thanks goes
out to the attendees and exhibitors for making the conference a success.
The Michigan Board of Professional Engineers and the Michigan Department of Energy, Labor & Economic Growth (DELEG) are in the process of drafting administrative rules to define new Continu-ing Professional Competency (CPC) requirements for licensed Professional Engineers. George Karmo, Chair of the Professional Engineers Board, and Gloria Keene, Licensing Administrator for DELEG, presented information pertaining to new rules during the ASCE/M Annual Conference. The PE Board had not given final approval to the draft rules at their October 15, 2009 meeting, but are ex-pected to accept the draft at their next meeting in January 2010. The preliminary draft closely follows the Model Law and Rules established by the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES) for Continuing Professional Competency used by many other states. Anticipated implementation is set for December 2010. Current professional engineers will have an opportunity to provide feedback on the rules during the public comment period of the administrative process.
5 WINTER 2009
Rules being drafted for CPC requirements for PE’s
LEONARD
STEUDLE
PHOTO COURTESY OF TOM MAXWELL
From left to right: Accepting the Quality of Life Awards at the Annual Confer-ence are Rachel Phillips, MDOT Cass City TSC, Susan Breinegar, Village of Millington (Southern Links Trailway), Bob Worth, Millington Township (Southern Links Trailway), Doug Schultz, ROWE Professional Services Com-pany, and Gerrad Godley, ASCE President who is presenting the award.
Michigan Civil Engineer
The Southern Links Trailway, located in the Michigan Depart-ment of Transportation's (MDOT) Bay Region, won the 2009 Michi-gan American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Quality of Life Award.
The trail, a 10.2-mile non-motorized path and equestrian trailway, entwines along an aban-doned rail corridor, connecting the villages of Columbiaville, Ot-ter Lake and Millington.
MDOT's Cass City Transpor-tation Service Center (TSC) and Rowe Professional Services Company, in Flint, recently re-ceived the award at the Michigan ASCE annual conference in Lansing.
“Rowe prepared the plans and engineering specifications required to construct the trail, including accessibility features,” said Doug Wilson, MDOT Cass City TSC manager. “The trail would not have been possible without a Department of Natural
Resources grant, which was se-cured by area residents.”
The $2.3 million trailway is paved with asphalt to accommo-date hiking, biking and eques-trian use. The trailway also offers scenic views of open fields, wet-lands, wooded forests and farm lands.
Wooten Contracting, in Hem-lock, is the contractor for Phase I of the project, completed in 2008, which extends the path from Co-lumbiaville north to Otter Lake.
LJ Construction, Inc., in Clif-ford, is currently completing Phase II, which includes work to convert the former Penn Central Railroad into a non-motorized path, and extending a 5.4-mile section of the path from the vil-lage of Otter Lake north to the village of Millington.
“The trailway promotes eco-nomic growth in the region and provides area residents and visi-tors with improved recreational facilities,” Wilson said.
MDOT wins Quality of Life Award
from ASCE for Thumb Area trail Civil engineering seen as growth profession
From August 2009 Civil Engineering MSN has examined the Bureau of
Labor Statistics’ employment trends to ascertain which industries are showing job stability or the potential for growth despite the current economic climate.
MSN established that there are seven positions poised for job growth. Civil engineers for the federal govern-ment make a strong showing on the list and have an average annual salary of $62,804. Topping the list in terms of average earning potential are electrical engineers for the federal government, who earn an average of $76,264, fol-lowed by computer software engineers for the federal government, who earn an average $75,850, and managers for general merchandise stores, who earn an average $74,010.
The remainder of the list includes marriage and family therapists, who earn an average of $40,293; personal and home care aides, who earn an average of $22,163; and sales associ-ates for general merchandise stores, who earn an average of $21,923.
6 WINTER 2009
The ASCE National History and Heritage Committee voted to recommend the Mackinac Bridge as a National His-torical Civil Engineering Landmark. Thanks to the diligent work of the ASCE Michigan Section, along with Tess Alhorn, Associate Professor Civil and Environmental Engineering at Michigan Tech, the Mighty Mac’s nomination was submitted. Some of the criteria that needed to be met in order for the Bridge to be considered were: the project had to be at least 50 years old, possess unique features, and contribute to the development of the civil engineering profession and the nation (or large region thereof). The ASCE National Board of Directors will consider the designation at the April 2010 meeting. If the Bridge quali-fies, a dedication ceremony will be held in the summer of 2010.
Mackinac Bridge nominated for Historic Award
Caption: Left, The opening cere-mony of the Mackinac Bridge in 1957. Image courtesy of Michi-gan State Police Photo Lab. Right, the Mackinac Bridge 50 years later. Unknown location of image.
Michigan Civil Engineer
7 WINTER 2009
Educational organization provides free information to help owners plan safe, high quality, cost-effective public projects Ronald Brenke, PE, QBS Michigan Manager, announced that Michigan’s Qualifications-Based Se-lection (QBS) Coalition has been awarded a QBS Facilitator Grant. This year, Michigan was one of only three states to receive the grant which will provide education regarding the QBS process. As ASCE is a strong supporter of QBS, this grant was good news for everyone involved. Michigan’s QBS Coalition is a non-profit education organization dedicated to providing public agencies/entities with information on how to develop procurement policies and procedures for selecting design professionals, which leads to quality and cost effective projects. Five national groups have partnered together to provide funding and program support for states seeking to promote the use of QBS. They include the following: the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC), the American Institute of Architects (AIA), the American Public Works Association (APWA), the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), and the National Society of Professional En-gineers (NSPE). “Michigan was one of the first states to form a QBS organization and offer free assistance to own-ers, and we are pleased and thankful that we can continue to provide this valuable service,” Brenke said. “This grant will be extremely beneficial in developing new resources for use by owners who pro-cure design professional services.” For more information, please visit www.QBS-MI.org.
Michigan awarded National Grant for Qualifications-Based Selection Program
MI Infrastructure Report Card Update
Since the launch of the ASCE Infrastructure Report card in May 2009, there has been tremendous feedback. Three billboards were displayed throughout the summer on highly traveled routes including I-69 (Perry), I-96 (Fowlerville) and I-96 (Portland). ASCE has since partnered with the Michigan Labor-ers District Council to utilize a fourth billboard on I-69 near Shaftsburg Road owned by the Council. The billboard is double-sided and can be seen from both the eastbound and westbound lanes. The continuous efforts put forth by ASCE to promote the Report Card have been successful thus far. TV coverage extended from stations located in Grand Rapids to Kalamazoo to Detroit to Lansing. Other news coverage included the Chicago Tribune, Detroit Free Press, The Grand Rapids Press, and more. Ronald Brenke, PE, Executive Director of ASCE, has been busy promoting the Infrastructure Report Card with members of the legislature. Individual meetings have taken place with several dif-ferent legislators including Repre-sentative Richard Ball (R-Laingsburg), Representative Mary Valentine (D-Muskegon), and Representative David Agema (R-Grandville). ASCE also presented at the Michigan Aggregates Association conference at Boyne Mountain in September.
In an article published by the Chicago Tribune on May 13, 2009, Associated Press Writer Tim Martin provided important information regarding the overall deteriora-tion of Michigan’s infrastructure. It is frightening to know that by 2020 “more than 90 percent of Michigan’s dams will reach or exceed their design life.”
In a May 13, 2009 article written by Jeremy Gon-soir from The Holland Sentinel, he provided facts stating that “about 10,000 miles of primary roads went from “good” or “fair” to “poor” between 2004 to 2007. The state’s inadequate highway system costs motorist billions of dollars in wear and tear on their vehicles.”
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