Rocky Mountain APWA Honors Flood Control Project |
The Cheyenne Dry Creek Flood Control project won the 2009 Public Works Project of the Year award, announced in 2010 by the Rocky Mountain chapter of the American Public Works Association. The City of Cheyenne retained Ayres Associates to design the largest flood mitigation project in the City’s history. The project was in reaction to the historic flash flood in 1985 that devastated the City and killed 11 residents.
The improvements involved diverting flood discharges out of Dry Creek and into a nearby reservoir and then routing flows downstream through a series of detention ponds before being discharged back into Dry Creek. The project removed 148 properties from the Federal Emergency Management Agency-regulated floodplain. During the project 520,000 cubic yards of dirt was moved, which is the equivalent of 481,371 midsize cars.
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Senior Engineer Joins Corps of Engineers’ Flood Damage Panel |
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Paul Clopper, a senior water resources engineer in the Fort Collins office, recently participated in an expert panel meeting for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Institute for Water Resources in Washington, D.C. The expert panel is assisting the Corps in determining how best to estimate costs associated with flood damage to roadway infrastructure and to incorporate this into the flood risk management planning processes.
Specifically, this research is oriented toward developing standard models and methods that can be used by Corps planners to incorporate roadway damage assessments in floodplain management projects. Mr. Clopper was asked to participate in the study because of his extensive background on the damage overtopping flow causes to embankments.
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Firm Starts Highway Research Project |
Ayres Associates has continued its string of successes in competing for research projects sponsored by the Transportation Research Board of the National Academies of Science through its National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP). Ayres Associates was recently awarded the NCHRP 24-34 project, aimed at developing a risk-based approach for bridge scour prediction. This is the eighth project Ayres Associates has been selected for by this client in the past 16 years.
The project could significantly change the way bridges are evaluated for scour in the United States. The project will consider reliability and uncertainty in bridge hydraulics and scour calculations and develop probabilistic procedures for scour analyses consistent with the current bridge design approaches used by structural and geotechnical engineers. The scheduled completion date is October 2012.
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Pulse Takes Reins as President |
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Thomas Pulse, PE, has been named president of Ayres Associates, replacing Patrick Quinn, PE, who announced his retirement from the architecture and engineering firm effective at the end of 2010. Mr. Pulse's appointment as president became effective May 10. Mr. Quinn, who had been company president since 2000, will continue as chairman of the board of directors until December 31.
"Tom will do a great job as president," Mr. Quinn said. "He has shown commitment to Ayres Associates, the profession, and the community that goes well beyond what is normally expected. Over his career he has taken on many challenges and has approached and handled each with great success."
Mr. Pulse, a registered professional engineer in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Illinois, graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1984 with a degree in civil and environmental engineering. He joined Ayres Associates in 1993 as part of the Engineering Services group in the Eau Claire office. His area of expertise is municipal engineering, specifically wastewater collection system design.
Mr. Pulse was promoted to Municipal Services group manager in 1999 and to Engineering Services vice president in 2001. He was selected as an executive vice president in January 2008.
Mr. Pulse has been active in personal and professional development throughout his career. He participated in the Eau Claire Chamber of Commerce Leadership Eau Claire program and chaired the Chamber's Public Affairs Committee for three years until joining the board of directors in 2007. He also serves on the Friends of Sacred Heart Hospital board of directors, which oversees the major charitable giving program for the hospital. Mr. Pulse has been active at the state level for the American Council of Engineering Companies, the business voice of the engineering industry. He joined the ACEC board of directors in 2004, has served as secretary/treasurer, and will begin a one-year term as state ACEC president in July.
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Senior Transportation/Flood Control Engineer in Phoenix |
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Dennis Richards, PE, has joined Ayres Associates as a senior project manager, bringing nearly 40 years of experience in planning, analysis, design, and construction of transportation and flood control projects. Mr. Richards is based in our Phoenix area office and works with clients throughout the country.
Mr. Richards has served as project principal and/or project manager for numerous projects involving hydrologic, hydraulic, and sediment transport analyses; floodplain delineation; bridge scour; stream stability; levee and/or bank protection design; and grade-control structure design. He has conducted investigations to evaluate channel stability and impacts to structures due to in-stream sand and gravel mining. Mr. Richards has significant experience in evaluating environmental constraints, impacts, and mitigation measures for transportation and flood control projects.
“With Dennis’ experience and understanding of the Phoenix metropolitan area, we should be able to significantly expand our water resource discipline in that marketplace,” said James Schall, PhD, PE, vice president of Ayres Associates’ water resources group in the western United States. |
Public Clients Rank Ayres Associates High in Poll |
Ayres Associates ranked 38th in the nation among road and highway design firms and 37th in the nation among bridge design firms in Roads & Bridges magazine’s annual Go-To List for Design Firms.
Roads & Bridges sent its 2009 voting ballots to more than 10,000 government officials and asked them which design firm they preferred to work with. Unlike other rankings, the Go-To List reflects project owner preference, not gross earnings. |
Projects Win ACEC Colorado Honors |
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Ayres Associates has received 2009 Engineering Excellence merit awards from the American Council of Engineering Companies of Colorado for its
I-35W Bridge Hydraulic Analysis project in Minneapolis and its Coyote Gulch Stream Restoration project in Lakewood, Colorado.
For the I-35W project our engineers conducted hydraulic and scour analyses for the design-build team of Figg Bridge Engineers-Flat Iron Manson. The Mississippi River analyses were conducted in an extremely short time frame of about two weeks and under intense public scrutiny. For the Coyote Gulch project our staff developed an innovative technique to control erosion and improve water quality at Coyote Gulch and improve the quality of water entering a nearby lake using specially designed drop structures throughout the realigned channel.
ACEC’s awards program celebrates engineering achievements that demonstrate ingenuity and achieve significant technical, economic, or social advancements. |
Professionals Recognized for Outreach |
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The Phoenix Branch Younger Member Forum was selected as a recipient of the 2009 American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Public Service Award. Ted Smithwick, EIT, a transportation engineering staff member in Ayres Associates’ Phoenix office, is vice president of the ASCE forum.
The forum was recognized for its professional and technical presentations; tours; monthly school outreach; and community service through the Ronald McDonald House, Project Cure, Mathcounts, Canstruction, and Future City. |
Work Begins on Major River Project |
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Ayres Associates has been selected for a project with the Platte River Recovery Program in Nebraska, primarily involving collection of channel geomorphology and vegetation data. Work will extend through the next three years and possibly many additional years. |
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