GBA heads to MWEA/AWWA Joint Conference

Leaders from GBA’s Water Environment Group will be at the Missouri Water Environmental and the Missouri Section of the American Water Works Association joint annual conference. This must-attend event for wastewater and water systems professionals runs from March 30 to April 2 at Tan-Tar-A.

GBA’s booth is No. 60 and will be open throughout the conference.

 
For more conference details and presentation schedule, please click here.

Tawn Nugent Recognized as ‘Engineer of the Year’ during Engineers Week Luncheon

Engineers Week (EWeek) was started by the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE) in 1951 to promote a diverse and well-educated engineering workforce through understanding and interest in engineering careers. During the annual EWeek luncheon, the Eastern Chapter of the Kansas Society of Professional Engineers (KSPE) recognizes one individual for their contributions to the profession.

GBA is honored, for the second year in a row, to have an employee recognized by KSPE as Engineer of the Year. Tawn Nugent, P.E., was awarded the 2014 Kansas Society of Professional Engineers (KSPE) Eastern Chapter ‘Engineer of the Year’ during the annual Engineers Week Luncheon on February 21. The award recognizes her service to the organization and the profession.  As the winner of the Eastern Chapter award, Tawn is nominated for the KSPE Engineer of the Year State award which will be announced in June at the annual KSPE conference.

An active member of KSPE, Nugent currently serves as the Engineering Preparation committee chair.  Her involvement in KSPE focuses on recruitment and outreach of future engineers.

Nugent, who joined GBA in 2000, is an Associate with the Highways and Streets Group where she provides project management and design for highway, interchange and roadway projects for state and local agencies. 

Congratulations, Tawn!

GBA wins ACEC Missouri Engineering Excellence Honor Award for Church Street in Downtown Wentzville, Missouri

GBA was awarded an American Council of Engineering Companies of Missouri (ACEC MO) Engineering Excellence Honor Award for the Church Street Reconstruction project. An awards banquet was held Saturday Feb. 8 where Dan Shane accepted the award on behalf of GBA.

With deteriorating pavement, increased traffic volumes and a lack of pedestrian facilities, the reconstructed Church Street is now safely serving the public while complementing and enhancing this vibrant and changing area.

As part of a downtown revitalization study, the City of Wentzville chose Church Street as the first roadway infrastructure project programmed to implement recommendations from the study to a new planning district known as Village Center.  With the area located near I-70, it’s an important connection between Pearce Street and the interstate. In order to preserve the historic character of downtown while encouraging growth and development, aesthetics were an significant factor to City Officials and local business owners.

Wentzville selected GBA to provide professional engineering services for design of the reconstruction and enhancements including field and land survey, design of roadways, retaining walls, storm sewers, water line, street lighting, pavement marking, permanent signing and construction sequencing. GBA also provided landscape and streetscape architectural design services. Utility coordination and public involvement were important aspects of the project as well.

Communication presented one of the greatest challenges for the project with the multiple stakeholders that included City Officials, Public Works and Planning staff, the Downtown Village Center Enhancement Organization, business owners, utilities companies, and other consultants. Since enhancements to the area were a goal, public involvement was crucial. The Downtown Business Association was actively involved throughout all phases of the project.  Rose Lambi, Downtown Business Association President said, “The enhancement of Wentzville Village Center has been the focus of The Downtown Business Association as well as many other organizations in the community.  With the energy of many, we were able to enhance the Church Street project with a welcoming monument with personalized bricks from businesses, organizations and individuals.  This monument is visible when entering the Village Center at Church Street.”

The organization coordinated a “personalized brick” campaign as a fundraiser, and the bricks were incorporated into an entry monument structure designed by GBA which served as a brand for the “Village Center” district. A primary objective of the project was to

revitalize downtown Wentzville and make people want to visit. Church Street helped make that vision a reality with pedestrian friendly aspects such as sidewalks, multi-purpose trails, bike racks, park benches, decorative street lighting and landscaping. The project will be used as a template for future infrastructure projects associated with the Village Center.

The Church Street reconstruction and enhancements project exemplifies a solution for the upgrades to the transportation infrastructure, as well as provides a unique place which can be enjoyed by the residents, business owners and patrons throughout downtown Wentzville.

Ampio Pharmaceuticals Holds Groundbreaking Ceremony for Colorado Manufacturing Facility

Ampio Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a Denver-based biopharmaceutical company, recently broke ground on its new location in Englewood, Colo. On January 10, the company held a ceremony to announce the start of construction on its new facility, which will become the manufacturing site for their leading drug candidate.

GBA was honored to be selected by Ampio to design and construct a clean room,

laboratories, a warehouse and offices within the new facility. GBA’s Life Sciences team will also serve as the project and construction managers on the project.

The facility is expected to be up and running this summer, and will add approximately 40 new jobs to the Denver Metro area over the next two years. Once completed, the site will have an annual production capacity of approximately ten million doses of Ampion, an anti-inflammatory drug that treats patients with severe knee pain due to osteoarthritis. In addition to Ampion, Ampio also produces medications for kidney, eye and metabolic diseases, among others.

Winter Survival

With winter in full swing and the return of the polar arctic blast, now is a good time to review a few winter survival tips. Here are a few things you should keep in your car:

• A fully-charged cell phone and adapter
• Flashlight and extra batteries
• Battery jumper cables
• Snack food and water
• Blanket or sleeping bag and extra socks, shoes, hats and gloves    
• Shovel
• Road salt, sand or cat litter to use under your tires to gain traction

Hopefully, you will move through the winter with ease and peace of mind by following a few smart tips and always keeping your car gas tank at least half full. For more ways to get through winter, please check out: http://stayalertkc.com/kansas-winter-survival/

GBA Needs You

As GBA welcomes in the New Year, we are excited about the new projects we’ll be working on in 2014. With the projects comes a need for more staff. As students begin the final semester at school or look for summer internships, we encourage you to look for us at the upcoming career fairs and visit our website for available positions. We look forward to the meeting you and hope you’ll become a part of the GBA family.

Please look for us at one of the upcoming career fairs at the following universities:

February 11, 2014

University of Missouri - Columbia, MO
Kansas State University - Manhattan, KS
Iowa State University - Ames, IA

February 13, 2014

University of Nebraska, Lincoln - Lincoln, NE
University of Kansas - Lawrence, KS

February 18, 2014

Missouri University of Science and Technology - Rolla, MO

February 19, 2014

University of Missouri Kansas City - Kansas City, MO

College students are not the only staff we are looking for, so please visit our careers page to see all of our available opportunities.

Protecting Concrete from Deicing Chemicals

Last month we discussed the detrimental effects deicing chemicals can have on concrete. This month, we will discuss ways to protect concrete from these harmful effects

 

Air Entrainment, Air Entrainment, Air Entrainment

Incorporating the proper amount of entrained air into concrete is very effective in mitigating the harmful effects of moisture freezing in concrete. Air entrainment is the intentional incorporation of numerous tiny air voids in the concrete paste. These tiny air voids provide areas for the freezing and migrating moisture to enter before they produce expansive pressure on the concrete. Air entrainment is even more critical to freezing concrete when deicing chemicals are applied.

 

Low Permeability

Concrete that is less permeable is less likely to become saturated, is more resistant to sulfate and other chemical attack, and is more resistant to chloride-ion penetration. Permeability can be lowered by using a low water-cement ratio (preferably below 0.45) and an adequate moist-curing period (preferably 7 days).

 

Adequate Drying after Curing

After concrete is properly moist-cured, it should air dry for at least 30 days before it is exposed to freezing or deicing chemicals. At the end of the moist-curing process, the

concrete is still saturated. This moisture can still freeze and expand, deteriorating the concrete. This is why adequate drying is the most overlooked detail in protecting concrete from deicing chemicals.

The drying rate of concrete cured with a membrane-forming compound is much slower than the drying rate of concrete without a membrane-forming compound. When concrete is scheduled for placement in the fall, especially late fall, consider whether postponing the placement until spring is an option. If postponement is not an option, which is often the case, using a moist-cure method instead of a membrane cure will give the concrete a better chance of drying before being exposed to freezing and deicing chemicals.

Durable Aggregates

Aggregates that perform well under freeze/thaw cycles should be used. Low porosity, absorption and permeability are aggregate qualities that help prevent harmful effects from the freeze/thaw cycle. Durable aggregates can also help mitigate alkali-silica reaction (ASR) between cement and aggregate. ASR causes excessive expansion that deteriorates concrete.

Protect Reinforcing Steel

The chloride-ions in most deicing chemicals will aggressively corrode reinforcing steel. Because rust expands to four times its original volume, the protection of reinforcing steel from deicing chemicals is critical. This can be done in the following ways:

• The use of low permeability concrete will slow the rate of penetration of chloride-ions thru the concrete, thereby buying time before the steel starts to corrode. In addition to the suggestions above, silica-fume and latex can be added to concrete to make it less permeable.
• Epoxy-coat the reinforcing steel. The epoxy coating acts as a barrier between the reinforcing steel and the chloride-ions in the concrete.
• Increase the thickness of concrete cover over the reinforcing steel. This forces the chloride-ions to travel further thru the concrete to reach the reinforcing steel.
• Overlays. The concrete surface can be overlaid with a waterproof material to keep chlorides from penetrating the concrete and reaching the reinforcing steel. Overlays should be evaluated for water tightness, durability (especially when exposed to snow removal equipment) and longevity (especially UV rays).
• Provide cathodic protection. The first method of providing cathotic protection is with an impressed current cathodic system. This system induces a small electrical current into the reinforcing steel in the opposite direction of the electrical current found in reinforcing steel during the corrosion process. Cathodic protection is the only system that can actually reverse the corrosion process and stop corrosion. However, it is expensive and difficult to install and maintain.
  The second form of cathodic protection is through the use of sacrificial galvanic anodes. After the galvanic anodes are connected to the reinforcing steel, they will sacrifice themselves and greatly reduce the rate of corrosion in the reinforcing steel.  However, once the sacrificial anode is totally sacrificed, the corrosion of the reinforcing steel will once again accelerate.

When we are forced to use deicing chemicals for public safety, we are also forced to find ways to minimize the costly deterioration that deicing chemicals can cause. Hopefully, some of these suggestions will help you provide concrete with a lower overall life-cycle cost.