Leo Rebele, REA
Thomas B. Trask, P.E.
A project manager and hydrogeologist in Gannett Fleming’s Site Remediation Practice, 
Timothy Glessner, P.E.
Thomas Hawk, P.E.
Anastasia Harrison, AIA, LEED® AP
Click on the image above to view the
photo
More coverage:
Gannett Fleming professionals are forging ahead with an aggressive national and international agenda encompassing multi-million dollar infrastructure improvements. Water supply security, innovation, and time-saving technologies are featured throughout this spring edition.
News
Engineering A More Secure Afghanistan
As a subconsultant to Environmental Chemical Corporation International (ECCI), Gannett Fleming is designing major infrastructure improvements to the Afghanistan National Logistics Compound near Kabul, Afghanistan. This fast-track, design-build assignment includes more than 22 buildings with an estimated construction cost of $40 million.
Gannett Fleming will provide design services for the compound’s security, training, fueling, medical, and infrastructure facilities including water supply and wastewater treatment. Design includes entry control checkpoints, dormitories, a fitness center, a fire station, and administrative offices. This effort is one of several U.S. Army Corps of Engineers task orders delivered by Gannett Fleming under a continuing services agreement (CSA) with ECCI.
“…project collaboration will enable Afghani citizens to make positive strides toward better securing their country.” International Development Director, Sheldon Kauffman [bio], is spearheading Gannett Fleming international initiatives. Kauffman stated, “Afghanistan construction presents a variety of unique challenges ranging from inadequate existing infrastructure to tie into to extremely limited resources available within the country. This is all being done in remote locations under fast track construction further complicating the effort. In the end, however, the ECCI/Gannett Fleming project collaboration will enable Afghani citizens to make positive strides toward better securing their country.”
Excellence in Renewable Energy
Exelon’s Education Center is powered by 100 percent renewable energy.Exelon Corporation’s 3,950-square-foot Renewable Energy Education Center received an Honor Award in the Energy category of the American Council of Engineering Companies of Pennsylvania (ACEC/PA) 2010 Diamond Awards for Engineering Excellence competition. The Center is located inside the 110,000-square-foot Fairless Hills Generating Station in Fairless Hills, Pa.
The center features a hands-on exhibition area to educate children on renewable energy, conservation, and sustainable practices. Videos and interactive displays teach lessons about solar, wind, landfill gas, and hydro-electric power, as well as energy and resource conservation and recycling.
As prime consultant, Gannett Fleming completed the center under an aggressive five-month design-build schedule. Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) Silver Certified, this facility features numerous energy-saving strategies and eco-friendly design solutions.
Gannett Fleming also provided Exelon with enhancements to Maryland’s Conowingo Fishing Wharf. [news]
First-Of-Its-Kind Ohio Solution:
Protecting The Meander Reservoir
The award-winning I-80 Widening Project at the Meander Reservoir in Austintown, Ohio, protects the drinking water supply for more than 220,000 people through an innovative spill containment system. A first-of-its-kind for the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT), the Gannett Fleming-designed system prevents hazardous material seepage from I-80 into the 2,010-acre reservoir.
This project won an Outstanding Achievement Award in the Transportation category in the American Council of Engineering Companies of Ohio (ACEC/Ohio) 2010 Engineering Excellence Awards competition.Gannett Fleming provided overall project design for 4.5 miles of I-80 widening, replacement of twin 2,500-foot bridges, spill containment, emergency access, and a new 12.5-acre wetland that was used to mitigate environmental impacts caused by the project. This area will serve as a pooled mitigation site for future ODOT assignments. The project’s spill containment design resulted in a model solution to watershed protection problems faced by transportation officials around the world.
North Carolina’s High-Speed Rail Application:
An Atlantic Coast Corridor Precursor
North Carolina was awarded $545 million from national high-speed rail (HSR) funding in January. The Environmental Planning and Management Practice in Gannett Fleming’s Environmental Resources Division along with the firm’s Charlotte, N.C., office developed several HSR applications on behalf of the state. North Carolina is planning and implementing an HSR route from Charlotte through Raleigh to Richmond, Va., and onto Washington, D.C.
Numerous states have identified North Carolina’s HSR process as a model application.The overall North Carolina HSR plan includes grade crossing eliminations, adding tracks and sidings and purchasing more than 160 miles of inactive, Class 1 rail right-of-way from a rail-based transportation corporation. By using some existing state-owned rail lines it will also be possible to reduce operation and maintenance costs.
Gannett Fleming planners, led by HSR Director and Senior Consultant Richard Peltz, were focused on improving and extending the nation’s only existing HSR service, the Northeast Corridor. Peltz stated, “North Carolina’s HSR program is the precursor to a true Atlantic Coast corridor, which will connect Maine to Miami, and to the Gulf Coast and beyond.”
Regs/Programs
High-Speed Rail Spurs Economic Growth
North Carolina HSR corridor grants are just one portion of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act’s $8 billion HSR national investment. The two states which received the largest disbursement of national HSR funds are California ($2.3 billion) and Florida ($1.25 billion). Federal legislation would add billions more for HSR development through 2015. This initiative targets corridors of 100 to 600 miles.
National HSR corridors are planned to generate jobs and reduce highway congestion, carbon emissions, and foreign oil dependency. An HSR environmental guidance manual is also available through the Federal Railroad Administration.
Rapidly Approaching Drinking Water Compliance
Water utilities throughout Pennsylvania are required to make changes by May to comply with recent revisions to the state’s safe drinking water regulations. These Chapter 109 updates include the Public Notification (PN) Rule regarding adverse health effects of short-term (“Tier 1”) exposure to drinking water violations, or other scenarios requiring rapid (24-hour) public alert.
The award-winning Rapid Response System is enabling Pennsylvania water systems which serve nearly 1.6 million accounts to comply with Chapter 109 changes.Water system PN examples include chemical overfeeds, loss of positive pressure in any portion of a distribution system, or lengthy power outages. Related rule revisions mandate improved operations, maintenance, and emergency planning.
As explained by GeoDecisions Project Manager, Jonathan Greiner, during the Pennsylvania Municipal Authorities Association Conference (PMAA) Conference last year [September 2009 edition], water systems can also use Rapid Response to inform customers of "less critical" events.
Papers/Presentations
Regulatory Assistance for Water Authorities
Jonathan Greiner, has another article published in PMAA’s The Authority magazine titled, “Pennsylvania DEP Regulation For Water Authorities Is Coming…Are You Ready?”. Appearing in the February/March edition, the piece examines how the Rapid Response System benefits Pennsylvania water utilities gearing up for PN Rule compliance.
“…most utilities will need to consider an automated system that provides efficient, effective, and high-speed notification capabilities.”
Greiner discusses new Rapid Response System functionality including a web-mapping interface. This feature provides spatial selection tools to generate customer call lists through using internet mapping. Additional system attributes are illustrated on www.publicnotify.com.
Water Main Innovation
An environmentally friendly water main restoration project was featured in a winter edition of “PA Environment Digest.” The article describes an innovative Gannett Fleming solution to an exposed 36-inch water transmission main owned and operated by the water and wastewater utility, AQUA Pennsylvania. The main became exposed due to surface erosion where it crossed a drainage channel known as “Thropp’s Creek,” within Pennsylvania’s Valley Forge National Historical Park (VFNHP).
Rock and bioengineering retained natural characteristics with minimal environmental impact.Gannett Fleming’s project team was tasked to restore cover over the pipe, rehabilitate the required length of existing stream bed, prevent future erosion, and protect VFNHP integrity. The team evaluated and designed several alternatives while working closely with VFNHP staff. The selected design included constructing a series of drop pools with specifically-arranged quarry rock extending downstream of the pipeline.
The National Park Service commended the “cooperation and professional excellence” of the Aqua Pennsylvania and Gannett Fleming project partnership.In addition to design and construction oversight, Gannett Fleming secured the appropriate environmental permits and required National Environmental Policy Act clearances. Project team members included Tom Kiely, P.E., project manager; Mark Rosencranz, design engineer; Joel Smith, technical advisor; and Kristin Civitella, environmental scientist. Civitella was also cited in the “PA Environment Digest” article.