Friday, September 25, 2009

Bringing Engineering to Life

NY Student Day at the Willis Avenue Bridge Reconstruction Project Site

CI held its second Student Days in New York City September 25, 2009 on the construction job site of the Willis Avenue Bridge reconstruction project in the Bronx.  At $612 Million, it’s the most expensive bridge construction project in NY DOT history.  More than 75 students from 12 universities in New York, Philadelphia, Illinois and Texas participated in the event. The program consisted of a tour of the Willis Avenue Bridge project, along with speakers from the major organizations involved in the project offering students a glimpse of the real world of civil engineering and the many professional opportunities open to them following graduation.

The day began with an overview of the Willis Avenue Project presented by Ryan Sauer and Travis Mohr of Kiewit who hosted the day’s event.  The discussion provided the students with a detailed technical and photographic look at the actual placement of some of the foundations for the bridge and supporting structures from earlier work through the current phase which they also saw in action on the tour.  Means and methods of foundation installation were described and students were walked through some of the high level and early decision making processes that identified project critical paths and streamlined construction to ensure safety, maximize cost savings, and increase constructability of the new bridge mere feet away from the existing structure.  Sauer and Mohr explained other construction-related concerns such as City dictated limitations on traffic stoppages, placement of materials and structures in synch with tidal patterns, the importance of the lay-down area and prefabrication facility in an urban construction setting, and the intricacies of synchronizing planning, purchasing, and staffing to meet the critical timelines of each stage of the project.

 Later, a project stake-holder panel presented their respective roles and responsibilities on the project to provide students with a first-hand look at an entire project life-cycle of a major construction project from conceptual phase, to detailed design, to construction.  Panel speakers who made presentations and then spread out to the student groups in the room to pose challenges and answer student questions, included Craig Ruyle, P.E. from NY State DOT, Raymond Mankbadi, P.E. from Hardesty & Hanover, Alan Marchan, P.E. from STV Incorporated, and Ed O’Donnell and Kevin Robinson from Weeks Marine.

The speakers presented in the order in which they became involved with the project.  Beginning with Craig Ruyle of the New York State Department of Transportation and current President of the ASCE New York Metropolitan Section, he provided insight on how a project is conceived from a public owner’s perspective. Students got to hear, learn and ask questions regarding the often complicated and nebulous process of approving and funding a major public capital project like the Willis Avenue Bridge Reconstruction Project. Students became engaged and asked questions regarding decisions on whether toll booths will be used, private-public-partnerships, and revenue generation. It was clear during this session that the nation’s infrastructure is aging and there just isn’t enough funding to keep up with it. Craig went on to describe the process of hiring a design engineer once the project had been approved and funded, which led nicely to the next session.

Raymond Mankbadi of Hardesty and Hanover, the engineer of record for the project, spoke on the foundation design. The presentation reinforced basic civil engineering principles that the students were learning or had already taken in classes. He explained that unlike many projects, the Willis Avenue Bridge was unique in that there were multiple foundation systems – drilled shafts, bored in piles, h piles and spread footings. He also went on to describe the unique geotechnical features of the project site and how it, as well as the bridge structure itself, impacted the type of foundation used.

Having heard from the owner and constructor, a discussion with Alan Marchan of STV on the transition of engineering to construction followed. The discussion really touched on how to get the detailed design to work. Alan explained that STV was asked to represent the NY State DOT on a portion of the off ramps from the bridge that flow into the Major Deegan Expressway because they have been working on this and other NY City thruway projects and have unique knowledge of the existing geotechnical and construction data and the current state of the roadways.  Alan also explained the role of the owner’s representative to conduct site inspections and act as the owner’s “eyes” to ensure that the project is being constructed as planned and designed.  It is the responsibility of firms such as STV to ensure the owner’s wishes are being carried out.

Finally, Ed O’Donnell and Kevin Robinson represented Weeks Marine on the construction of the pier boxes. They provided an overview of the marine work involved in the project. In addition, they also touched on the various types of work that Weeks is involved with in other parts of the country and Canada.  They explained the distinct advantages they have in their work due to the fact that they own some of the largest cranes in the world in their job fleet positioning them as the best contractor for large heavy civil projects such as the Willis Avenue Bridge project.

CI Student Days – Unique Learning and Networking Experiences

 

During CI Student Days, students actually have the opportunity to see a facility being put in place, after seeing and learning about the project, and hearing from project stakeholders about their roles and the way those roles tie together to achieve the final product.

CI also recognizes that networking is essential to new engineers not only for career development, but personal growth as well. When students graduate and land their first job, whether it is as a field engineer, designer, etc. they are going to quickly find that knowing statics, mechanics of materials, steel design, and water resources is but a fraction of what is needed to be a good engineer. That is why CI invests in programs like those in San Francisco, New York and Houston, that are designed to help prepare students to be better engineers, because a project is not just a structural analysis of a rigid frame, it is understanding why you are putting the structure there in the first place, who the structure is being put there for, how it is going to be maintained, and what impact does it have on society.

Through generous corporate sponsorship, we are able to offer these distinctive regional real-world learning experiences at minimal or even no cost to students.  Foreseeing the phenomenon of our aging industry leadership and the potential gap in knowledge as our new generation builds it leadership skills in today’s technological environment; CI is striving to bring the best of the best of each generation together to facilitate a smooth transfer of knowledge and transition in leadership.

We’d like to invite Students, Corporate Sponsors, Project Stakeholders to learn about past events or to become involved in a future CI Student Day by visiting our website at www.constructioninst.org.