A Pile of News - December 2020

A briefing on news and information from the pile driving contractors, associated manufacturers, construction suppliers and affiliated engineers who comprise the PDCA.
By Matt Bisbee, PDCA
From the Association & Chapters
The PDCA 2020 Annual Conference Webinar Series concludes tomorrow. Registration is FREE to PDCA members; non-members can attend for $50 (ask about applying registration to PDCA membership). The program is delivered on Zoom and includes PDH credit. Register below, times are Eastern. PDCA 2020 Virtual Committee Day is coming up on Dec. 10 from 12 to 4:30 PM EST. Eight PDCA standing committees will meet consecutively via the Zoom platform. Members plan to attend your meeting(s). Those potentially interested in PDCA committee involvement, please join us! Register here.

Dr. Frank Rausche
, innovator and developer of the wave equation analysis, has been named the 2021 presenter for The E.A.L. Smith Award Lecture, a component of each International Foundations Conference & Equipment Expo (IFCEE) and is given to an individual who has impacted the driven pile industry.

 
PDCA of South Carolina: Cadet Emma Larsen wins the 2020 "Mac" Nigels Scholarship. Coverage and more photos of November's quarterly dinner meeting.
Junttan USA Inc. you are this month's winner! Send an email to
marian@piledrivers.org before the end of December to claim your prize!
News from PDCA Companies
Acquisitions & expansions:
Morris Shea Bridge Company of Irondale, AL introduces Shea Bros. Mexico.

Nucor breaks ground on new mill in Kentucky; Gov. Andy Beshear and U.S. Rep. Brett Guthrie attend.

Braun Intertec acquires fellow Minnesota firm Anderson Kelsey Group to expand permitting practice.

Sunbelt Rentals and Walmart partner to launch a pilot program in the Tampa and Charlotte markets where Sunbelt equipment is available in some Walmart stores.

TRC Companies acquires 1Source Safety and Health of Exton, PA.

Governmental relations:
Katie Zadrosny, P.E. of American Engineering Testing will chair forthcoming preparation of the highly anticipated ASCE State Report Card for Minnesota.

Where are the infrastructure projects? See this projection of 2021 Issues before state legislatures.

Recognitions:
American Pile and Foundation named ENR Top 25 Specialty Contractor in New York, New Jersey.

Atlas Foundation Company wins the Safety Award, credits safety/OQ director Xaviar Escobedo.

Clark Construction is named Firm of the Year and Business of the Year.

Foundation Constructors Inc. of Oakley, CA demonstrates ingenuity; check out this custom barge ramp their welder created and this concrete delivery system for jobs on the water.

Kiewit-built Pennsylvania power plant earns ENR Best Energy/Industrial project in Mid-Atlantic.

Massman Construction earns ENR Awards of Merit for Safety and Best Small Project Midwest, for repair work on the Grand River Bridge near Kansas City.
 
Sealevel Construction awarded for Citgo's Clifton Ridge Terminal project near Lake Charles, LA.

Holes Inc. of Houston earns Craft Training Champion designation for dedication to excellence.

Mueser Rutledge Consulting Engineers (MRCE) awarded in New York for Hudson River Park Bulkhead Restoration, Foundations for Columbia University's Manhattanville Campus.
 
Shannon & Wilson, Inc. named Employer of the Year by WTS Puget Sound.
 
Projects:
Boh Bros. Construction is selected for a reconstruction project in New Orleans; a company spokesman (in a Boh Bros. face mask) and Mayor LaToya Cantrell are pictured giving a news conference.

C.A. Murren & Sons is selected for the Savannah Convention Center makeover; the project will involve installation of sanitary sewer on pile supports for the Atlanta-based contractor.

Cecil D. Gassiott, LLC in Alexandria, LA installs 36-foot concrete piles for the Amite River Bridge replacement south of Baton Rouge.

Clark Construction celebrated project completion and a November grand opening for the National Museum of the United States Army.

Corman Kokosing offers a multimedia trilogy of Virginia bridge replacements; see dramatic pile driving photos at the Mattaponi Bridge near Bowling Green, a time-lapse video of Waterloo Bridge progress and close-ups of Phase II at Richmond's Airport Drive project.

H.B. Fleming, Inc. continues work on the Maine DOT Brandy Brook box culvert installation.

Legacy Contracting, Inc. of Stayton, OR is removing and replacing 31 piles, among other services for the local Port of Brookings Harbor improvement project funded through the legislature.

Pacific Pile and Marine of Seattle is between construction phases in building Alaska's new Petroleum and Cement Terminal. Work breaks during now-completed Phase 1 included whale watching.

Sealevel Construction installed a water control structure for the Bayou Lafourche Fresh Water District in Assumption Parish, LA; see the crews working at warp speed in this time-lapse video.

APE equipment spotted driving sheets in St. Louis at historic Merchants Bridge.

Consolidated Pipe & Supply provided product for the future Mazda/Toyota manufacturing facility in Huntsville, AL, a $2.3 billion project bringing 4,000+ jobs to the region.

GeoQuip, Inc. provided a hammer and crane for a $112 million, federally funded project to mitigate flooding as part of the Ohio Creek Watershed Project in Norfolk, VA.

JD Fields steel tonnage reaches jobsites across America; in the east, sheets are dual-purposed for a Bronx, NY affordable housing project and out west they constitute an underground garage in Seattle.

L.B. Foster is named supplier for infrastructure products in a new Dallas mass transit line; while it won't be available to IFCEE attendees in March, it is scheduled to complete in 2022. 

American Engineering Testing (AET) facilitates your Southbound 35 desires; crews are finishing the I35W Minnesota River Bridge project which included dynamic pile testing.

D.W. Kozera, Inc. performs dynamic pile testing at Philadelphia's New Falls Road Bridge.

Soil Consultants, Inc. has completed inspection and testing services for the new Charleston Tech Center.

Giving back:
Boh Bros. supports TD! Research through sponsorship of New Orleans One Walk.

GeoStructures, Inc. was among businesses in Northern Virginia supporting local charities through the Rotary Club's golf outing; also partners with Ampersand Pantry Project for a Winter Coat Drive.

GROUP Deep Foundations' parent company sent a team and a platinum sponsorship for the annual Shell Norco United Way Golf Tournament benefitting local charitable organizations.

Koppers Inc. provides staff a new resource to address pandemic-borne challenges that working parents face; it offers a series of engagement opportunities with medical and education professionals.

Company Wrench in Ohio recognizes the veterans on staff, treats them to a Veterans Day lunch.

Deep South Construction of Belle Chasse, LA delivered an appreciation lunch to Plaquemines Parish President Kirk Lepine and others in the local government including sheriff's deputies, fire and EMS.

EMC Engineering Services, Inc. staff danced in the street in a show of support for the local business community in Central Georgia, after joining the Thomaston-Upson Chamber of Commerce.

MRCE is among donors to the AEC scholarship fund presented to students by the Society of American Military Engineers NYC Post; other PDCA members on the list: Dewberry, Kiewit.

S&ME staff in Charlotte volunteered on an Adopt-A-Stream program; they removed 40+ tires, among other garbage from a small Carolina creek.

Terracon awards $5,000 grant to Cal-Poly University to promote women in engineering.

UES supports Osceola County, FL schools through participation in Kids Golf Classic.
Look Who Made the News!
Engineering Management Institute Podcast features a discussion with John Grillo, P.E., project executive with Keller, who shares experience and advice in ground improvement techniques.

The Preconstruction Podcast speaks with Colleen Martindale, civil estimating director at McCarthy, about jobsite tech, team building and women in construction.

Canadian Dirt airs a segment about a habitat restoration in Vancouver by Pacific Pile & Marine.

NJ.com covered the Raritan Bay Bridge replacement groundbreaking as George Harms Construction Co. prepares for the job. Gov. Phil Murphy said the final product will alleviate commuters' "headaches."

KTVB-7 of Boise reports on the completion of Hubble Hero House, built with donated materials and labor from local companies. The local subsidiary of Utah-based Sunroc provided the concrete.

CNBC "Closing Bell" hosts Nucor CEO Leon Topalian who discusses steel's future under a new Presidential Administration.

Rochester Women Magazine features Julie Herrera-Lemler of Braun Intertec Corp. 

St. Louis Post-Dispatch covered the 2020 transition that Missouri-based Trinity Products made from sole proprietorship to employee ownership; former owner Robert Griggs quoted.

Triangle Business Journal names S&ME among largest, private entities in Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill.

"What's Crackin?" Alaska's Earthquake e-News features Thomas Keatts, P.E. of Shannon & Wilson.
People on the Move
The monthly round-up:
  • Josh Posey assumes the role of area manager, South Carolina at GeoStructures, Inc.; Perren Palpant is the new project manager in the firm's Purcellville, VA offices.
  • Rowena Amelung at McCarthy promoted to director of business development Central Region, Matt McMullan to VP operations and Aaron Reddy to project director both Southern Region.
  • Brandon Mullens joins DarkHorse Industries as an operator, marketing assistant in Houston.
  • Garrett Hogencamp joins operations at HPSI, a division of GeoQuip, based in Kansas City.
  • Tom Biggs elevates to president of tubular products at JD Fields & Company, Inc. in Houston; Ty Samples is selected as the new general manager of tubular sales.
  • Ryan Benson, P.E. joins Braun Intertec in Hibbing, MN.
  • John Starke, P.E. is the new senior geotech at the St. Paul, MN offices of AET, Inc.
  • David Vovak, P.E. joins ECS Limited as VP/office manager in Cleveland.
  • John Kuka to lead business development at Chicago office of Engineered Rigging.
  • Jon Rodriguez brings 30+ years of financial management experience to become CFO at GeoEngineers, Inc. in Washington.
  • Uyen "Wynn" Le, Michael Ulmgren, Cameron Klatt are the newest faces at PND Engineers.
  • Clark Construction VP Mick Mizell retires after 50 years and numerous high-profile renovation projects in the Mid-Atlantic region. Congratulations and best wishes!

Recognitions:  
In sympathy: We regret to inform you of the passing of the following PDCA members. Each will be remembered in an upcoming PileDriver magazine.

Erich Pitz, president of McMullen & Pitz in Manitowoc, WI since 1997, passed-away in October.

Tom Willey, general manager of Shoreline Steel in Massachusetts, passed-away in November.

Elmer Richards, former senior partner at MRCE, has passed at age 90.
PDCA's Wide World of Sports
Balfour Betty US is selected to build a new Basketball Performance Center at Jacksonville University.  The Florida school was a March Madness Cinderella Story 50 years ago when it was runner up to UCLA in the NCAA Tournament.

The Dodgers downed the Rays and claimed the 2020 World Series Title. If you tuned in to the Fall Classic in Dallas, you saw great images of the new Globe Life Field Keller contributed to the build.

Were crews visited by the spirits of late greats Frank Robinson and Johnny Unitas? The superstars once dazzled crowds at Baltimore's Memorial StadiumD.W. Kozera performed a geotechnical investigation on the site where the storied structure once stood, soon to be home to a medical facility.

Fresh out of college, he traded his Auburn University football helmet for a construction hard-hat. Years later, he found himself back at Jordan-Hare Stadium lighting up the scoreboard, without moving a football. In 2015, alum and Morris-Shea Bridge Company, Inc. VP Richard Shea donated installation services for a new scoreboard to the university.

Two-time Super Bowl champ Charlie Batch, a retired Steelers QB, participated in a November meeting of the Koppers Inc. Inclusion & Diversity Committee.
 
While the scope of his past work is unclear, we share documentation that Andy Walters, P.E. of American Engineering Testing "managed projects" at The Frozen Tundra, a.k.a. Lambeau Field.
 
In November's A Pile of News, we credited members who were involved in the new Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, home of NFL's Raiders. Add Atlas Tube to the list of suppliers on this project.

Quotable: Caldwell Marine president Roly Acosta (former Princeton football player) shares an inspirational quote; click here for the heartbreaking backstory: "Sometimes we choose our challenges, and at other times our challenges choose us." Travis Roy, 1975-2020.
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Posted in A Pile of News PDCA Monthly e-newsletter.

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