On March 9-11, 2016, Brenton L. Burney, PE attended the Texas Floodplain Management Association’s (TFMA) Spring Conference in Houston, Texas. TFMA is an organization of professionals involved in floodplain management, flood hazard mitigation, Nation Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), flood preparedness, potential flood awareness, flood early warning and disaster recover. The Spring Conference provided workshops, field trips, conference sessions, technical seminars for continued education credits/certification requirements, networking opportunities and social events. Mr. Burney is also a Certified Floodplain Manager (CFM). For more information regarding the Texas Floodplain Management Association, please visit http://www.tfma.org/.
Jake L. Blair, EIT was named Young Engineer of the Year for the Central Texas Region by the Texas Society of Professional Engineers (TSPE) at their annual banquet held on February 25, 2016 in Temple, Texas. Mr. Blair graduated from Texas A&M in 2012 with a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering.
Mr. Blair currently serves as Vice President for the TSPE Central Texas Chapter. He is an active member in both TSPE and the American Society of Civil Engineers and has held offices in both chapters for a number of years. Jake has planned and coordinated TSPE meetings and E-week Banquets and has assisted with MathCounts which is a problem solving based math competition through TSPE Central Texas used to promote and educate 6th through 8th grade students about the engineering profession.
As an EIT, Jake has worked on numerous water and wastewater utility projects throughout his three years at KPA. He is currently serving as project engineer on the Village of Salado Wastewater Improvements Project. His engineering experience includes design, preparation of construction plans and specifications, and construction administration for roadways, pedestrian facilities, drainage systems and analysis, transmission mains, pump stations, water storage tanks, water distribution and wastewater collection systems.
https://kpaengineers.com/wp-content/uploads/kpa-horizontal.svg00Sara Williamshttps://kpaengineers.com/wp-content/uploads/kpa-horizontal.svgSara Williams2016-03-02 14:09:512017-08-30 11:53:29Jake L. Blair, EIT Named “Young Engineer of the Year” at TSPE Central Texas Chapter Banquet
Thomas Valle, P.E. recently attended the 2016 American Water Works Association (AWWA)/American Membrane Technology Association (AMTA) Membrane Conference and Exposition in San Antonio, Texas. The conference brings together engineers, operators, manufacturers and manufacturer representatives who are active in water treatment and membrane treatment and has grown to over 1,100 attendees. The exhibition hall was packed with every major membrane manufacturer and other water treatment processes and ancillary equipment. The technical sessions covered:
Planning, management and regulations
Coastal and inland brackish water desalination and seawater desalination
Membrane filtration, nanofiltration and reverse osmosis
[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][fusion_text]On Thursday, January 7, 2016, KPA conducted a test driving event on the Bell County Exposition Center parking lot in Belton, Texas for a proposed modern roundabout to be constructed at the intersection of Sparta Road and Commerce Drive in northwest Central Belton near the retail/commercial complex adjacent to Belton High School and the Super Wal-Mart. A modern roundabout is a safer substitute for a traditional traffic signalized intersection. The traffic is routed around a circular “bubble” which allows traffic to keep moving constantly to continue in a through mode, right & left turn modes or a return to the original approach traveled way. This traffic handling method is 1 of 9 safe methods for handling intersection traffic recommended by the Federal Highway Administration estimated to reduce potential intersection fatalities by 90%, reduce traffic injuries by 76% and reduce vehicle crashes by 35%. Multiple potential vehicles were used to test drive the proposed facility such as school buses, emergency vehicles, petroleum carriers, cable dump trucks and mobile home transports. This event assisted KPA in evaluating the final geometric design for the project and also provided public “buy-in” for the first modern roundabout to be implemented by the City of Belton. City Council members and City Staff also experienced the test drive. Additional information about roundabouts can be found at www.fhwa.dot.gov/safety/intersectionsafety/innovativeintersections.
The video below demonstrates the test drive for the roundabout.
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On December 11, 2015, Brenton L. Burney received notice that he passed the Principles and Practice of Engineering Examination to practice Civil Engineering in the State of Texas from the Texas Board of Professional Engineers. Brenton received his Bachelors Degree in Engineering from Texas A&M University and has been with the firm for more than four years. His experience includes design, preparation of construction plans and specifications, and construction administration for roadways, pedestrian facilities, drainage systems and analysis, transmission mains, pump stations, water storage tanks, water distribution and wastewater collection systems. He has worked with many communities surrounding Central Texas while assisting the project engineers and managers within the firm. He is a licensed Certified Floodplain Manager and is also active in the American Society of Civil Engineers, Texas Society of Professional Engineers, National Society of Professional Engineers, and Texas Floodplain Management Association. Brenton offices in KPA’s Georgetown location.
https://kpaengineers.com/wp-content/uploads/kpa-horizontal.svg00Sara Williamshttps://kpaengineers.com/wp-content/uploads/kpa-horizontal.svgSara Williams2015-12-15 11:46:242017-08-30 11:53:30Congratulations to Brenton L. Burney, P.E.
KPA Engineering Technicians, Fabian T. Gomez and I. Sean Iliff attended a 5 day Autodesk University Conference (AU) held in Las Vegas, Nevada. This is an international conference with more than 650 classes for designers, engineers, and industry professionals. The general session keynote speakers were Lynn Allen Technical Evangelist, Autodesk, Carl Bass President and CEO, Autodesk, and CTO Jeff Kowalski, Autodesk. The keynote speakers encouraged innovation and designs that are more efficient and sustainable.
Fabian and Sean attended over 40 classes and discussion forums, ranging in topics from preliminary design using Infrastructure Design Suite (a modeling, design and exhibit program), using GIS data for AutoCAD, using scan data and GIS for storm, river and flood analysis, to complex assembly, corridors for formal design and the future of Autodesk design. They were also able to meet and network with other industry professionals from around the world, which will provide opportunities for future discussions on trends in design and sustainability.
https://kpaengineers.com/wp-content/uploads/kpa-horizontal.svg00Sara Williamshttps://kpaengineers.com/wp-content/uploads/kpa-horizontal.svgSara Williams2015-12-10 09:34:052017-08-30 11:53:30Fabian T. Gomez and I. Sean Iliff attend 2015 Autodesk University Conference
On September 21, 2015 the Cameron City Council selected KPA as their City Engineer. Under the arrangement, KPA will provide general consulting services which will include analyses of water and wastewater utilities, drainage issues, city ordinances, and preliminary investigations as issues arise within the operations of the City. KPA has been providing general engineering services to numerous communities/cities in Central Texas for more than 30 years. KPA does not contract directly with private developers which eliminates any possible conflicts of interest and provides City’s with transparent engineering representation.
https://kpaengineers.com/wp-content/uploads/kpa-horizontal.svg00Sara Williamshttps://kpaengineers.com/wp-content/uploads/kpa-horizontal.svgSara Williams2015-10-28 13:21:452015-10-28 13:25:07City of Cameron selects KPA as City Engineer
On October 8th the Roller Compacted Concrete (RCC) Paving was completed on the North Lucius McCelvey Extension Project. This project is located in Temple’s Industrial Rail Park which was also designed by KPA in 2006. In less than three days, over 12,000 square yards of RCC Paving was constructed. The section included twelve inches of select fill and eight inches of RCC Paving placed between concrete curb and gutter.
KPA recommended RCC Paving to the Temple Reinvestment Zone and the City Staff as a more long term cost effective solution for accommodating high truck loads with reduced maintenance costs for the roadway. The project bid an equivalent asphalt section against the RCC pavement section to analyze the costs. The final bid tabulation showed the RCC pavement section was less than 1% (~$15,000) higher on this $2.0 Million project. Reduction of future maintenance costs by utilizing the RCC Paving, will far outweigh the minor increase in initial construction cost.
The design did not include reinforcing or dowels as is typically done in standard concrete paving. The mix design specified an aggregate gradation very similar to Texas Department of Transportation Type B Hot Mix Asphalt Pavement. This allows the mix to be compacted with smooth drum rollers shortly after placement and creates an interlocking of aggregates to achieve the designed 4,000 psi concrete. The design also requires a zero slump concrete mix that is stiffer than typical zero slump conventional concrete which provides the required stability for the ten ton rollers to compact the concrete just minutes after placement. Although not specifically required under the construction phasing of this project, the designed RCC Paving section has the load carrying capacity to support occasional light vehicle traffic immediately following placement.
Another specification requirement designed into the project was the use of a pugmill concrete plant on site. A pugmill plant is a central plant with a twin shaft pugmill mixer, capable of continuous mixing. The design specification allowed the project to complete the paving in three days. Typically for RCC pavement projects, the plant should be located within thirty minutes delivery time to the site.
The attached construction pictures and videos demonstrate this state of the art paving process.
John A. Simcik, PE, CFM recently attended the 2015 Texas Civil Engineering Conference (CECON) held in San Marcos, Texas. In addition to representing the Central Texas Branch of ASCE as a Section Director at the Board of Direction Meetings, Mr. Simcik attended various breakout sessions, and panel discussion presentations throughout the 3-day conference held from September 30th through October 2nd. Keynote Speakers for the conference included the Honorable Senator Robert Nichols, PE, Texas Water Development Board Member Kathleen Jackson, and Deputy Director White House Council on Environmental Quality Executive Office of the President Samantha A. Medlock, JD, CFM. The presentations attended by Mr. Simcik included topics on water resources, impact of automated vehicles on our transportation infrastructure, green infrastructure, roller compacted concrete paving, and panel discussion on the use of drones.
On September 28-30, 2015, Michael Newman, P.E., CFM attended a two and one-half day course related to 2D HECRAS Computer modeling. The course was presented in Austin, Texas and attended by persons representing various governmental agencies and professional engineering consultants. HECRAS is a hydraulic model created by the United States Army Corps of Engineers Hydrologic Engineering Center (HEC) for River Analysis System (RAS). It is frequently used to study stream flows and develop flood plains. For many years HECRAS has been limited to studying water flows in a one dimension only, namely, static flow moving in one direction downstream and perpendicular to pre-defined cross sections. HECRAS 2D is the next generation of software provided by the USACOE that will model dynamic storm water flowing freely in two dimensions without predefined cross sections outside of channels. Two dimensional flow can occur in large areas where a well-defined channel may not completely confine flood waters. For more information, please visit http://www.hec/usace.army.mil/software/hec-ras/.
On March 9-11, 2016, Brenton L. Burney, PE attended the Texas Floodplain Management Association’s (TFMA) Spring Conference in Houston, Texas. TFMA is an organization of professionals involved in floodplain management, flood hazard mitigation, Nation Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), flood preparedness, potential flood awareness, flood early warning and disaster recover. The Spring Conference provided workshops, field trips, conference sessions, technical seminars for continued education credits/certification requirements, networking opportunities and social events. Mr. Burney is also a Certified Floodplain Manager (CFM). For more information regarding the Texas Floodplain Management Association, please visit http://www.tfma.org/.
Another specification requirement designed into the project was the use of a pugmill concrete plant on site. A pugmill plant is a central plant with a twin shaft pugmill mixer, capable of continuous mixing. The design specification allowed the project to complete the paving in three days. Typically for RCC pavement projects, the plant should be located within thirty minutes delivery time to the site.