C+S November 2022 Vol. 8 Issue 11

planned Bus Rapid Transit system would equitably realize benefits across all the city’s populations. The study identified land use policies and zoning tools to maintain and incentivize affordable housing and promote job creation along bus routes. We can reduce the engineer shortage if we unlock the talents of a more diverse US workforce and engage creative young engineers on infra- structure projects that improve mobility for all, solve societal problems and contribute to a more sustainable, decarbonized world. If we attract more talented engineers to our industry and retain them, we will ensure the $1.2 trillion of funding that our government has provided will result in an infrastructure that benefits all Americans.

Kosciuszko Bridge, New York City

potential of start-ups, at WSP we emphasize that if you want to par - ticipate in solving major societal problems like climate change, water insecurity or equity in transportation, there is nothing more impactful than a civil engineering career. Think about this: WSP helped design a vegetative sound wall barrier to support the protection of residents and park visitors from nearby air pollution at the 10-lane freeway-adjacent Ramona Gardens Housing Development in Los Angeles, historically one of the most polluted communities in California. For the City of Raleigh, North Carolina, WSP led a study to ensure that Raleigh’s

LEWIS P. CORNELL, PE, is president and CEO of WSP USA and responsible for operations in the United States, overseeing a workforce of more than 15,500 employees and over $2 billion USD in annual revenue. WSP is active on hundreds of projects across transportation and infrastructure, buildings, energy, water and environment end markets. He has nearly 30 years of extensive and progressive design and management experience in the engineering, environmental, architectural and construction industry. He has been successful in running operations, setting strategy and significantly growing profits for large U.S. engineering businesses. Reach him at lou.cornell@wsp.com.

In 1964, the Hickman Road Bridge was constructed to improve the connection of the City of Waterford to the southern part of Stanislaus County, in California, and maintain a major regional north-south road- way in the central part of the county. The bridge is located just south of the City of Waterford and crosses the nearly 150-mile-long Tuolumne River. The existing structure was approximately 58 years old and con - sisted of a seven-span concrete box girder with concrete abutment and pier walls supported on pile caps founded on driven piles. When a structural and seismic evaluation was conducted on the existing bridge, it was found to be scour critical and seismically deficient. Over the bridge’s almost six decades of service, the pile caps at the piers located adjacent to the main river channel had become undermined during high Replacing the Hickman Road Bridge Improving a scour-critical and seismically deficient bridge and housing local wildlife By Mike Pugh, PE

flow events, which led to its status of being scour critical. Because the Tuolumne River channel was continuing to degrade the structure, there was no practical solution to repairing the scour damage at the pile caps. Coupled with the fact that the bridge did not meet existing seismic design criteria, it was now eligible for replacement under the California Department of Transportation’s (Caltrans) Highway Bridge Program (HBP). California Department of Transportation — Highway Bridge Program While many states have their own HBPs, the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) HBP was created to “replace or rehabilitate public highway bridges over waterways, other topographical barriers, other highways, or railroads when the State and the Federal Highway Administration determine that a bridge is significantly important and qualifies under the HBP program Guidelines.” The HBP allows for certain project elements to be reimbursable, including “replacement, rehabilitation, painting, scour countermeasure, and preventative main- tenance activities.” With funding on the table and a bridge in need of replacing, the design, environmental clearance, and construction of a replacement bridge was authorized.

35

November 2022 csengineermag.com

Made with FlippingBook Annual report