Municipal/General Civil

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Municipal Infrastructure
As municipal engineers, our firm’s involvement with local governments varies extensively, depending on the needs of each community. For many, we serve as the designated city or village engineers providing comprehensive engineering services, including attending public meetings and assisting planning commissions; for others, we act as consultants on an as-needed basis. To meet these needs, we have a staff of specialized municipal engineers who are supported by the expertise of a complete, full-service environmental and civil consulting engineering firm.
 

Key Benefits

• Efficient, cost-effective engineering staff results from a veteran staff, averaging more than 10 years of experience each.

• Help in financing project through ability to find grants and write successful applications.

• High level of customer satisfaction evidenced by our long-standing affiliations, many lasting several decades.

Galena Main Street
Galena, IL
 

There are two principle elements of a project where green/sustainable design can be applied: the site and/or the structure.  For the site, a common area for green/sustainable design is stormwater management.  Grey infrastructure is the traditional way of managing stormwater – convey, store, treat. Green/sustainable infrastructure serve to improve water quality and/or reduce stormwater flows.  With respect to stormwater, we have experience designing a number of green/sustainable elements, including:

        • retention/detention basins
      • bioretention basins

        • swales

        • porous pavement

        • cisterns

        • streambank and shoreline restoration

For the structure itself, we consider the applicability and availability of sustainable building materials as well as  sustainable design strategies such as “cool” daylighting, incorporation of recycled content materials, water conservation practices, heat island reduction, green roofs, rain gardens, photovoltaic power, and waste stream recycling.  We have extensive experience in adaptive reuse of buildings and industrial structures.

We are presently providing mechanical design on a LEEDTM Gold certified project and have several LEEDTM Accredited Professionals on staff to guide projects that plan to meet LEEDTM Rating System goals. 

We have implemented energy-efficient design by use of mechanical and electrical design programs.  We have the capability to utilize computer modeling for a wide variety of building and industrial applications.  Our building designs are prepared using a holistic approach known as Building Information Modeling (BIM), which improves coordination of building mechanical systems and the ability of designers to visualize the space.  The BIM process allows tracking of the sustainable construction practice, both during design and during construction administration. 

Our new addition to our Madison office is currently being designed to meet LEEDTM standards and incorporates some innovative features, such as a green roof (this project is described in more detail below).

In the planning process for the new addition we have worked with the City of Madison to develop a design that meets both the new urbanism goals for development of the neighborhood and sustainable design goals that are of interest to both parties. 

Our expansion required the acquisition of three adjacent houses, one of which was moved to another site and two of which were demolished after recyclable materials were harvested by Habitat for Humanity volunteers.  The building will incorporate numerous sustainable design features and will have green room components.  A large ‘Winter Garden’ atrium is being constructed as a primary gathering place for our staff and will have specialized solar control systems, such as solar control louvers, motorized solar screens, high performance glazing, and a hydronic in-floor heating system.  Lighting throughout will be set-up to adjust to available natural light to reduce electrical use and the office areas will maximize daylight penetration into the building interior through the use of large window units fitted with light shelves.

The principles of sustainability will be applied to all interior spaces using standards for green interior design.  All interior design elements are being reviewed for durability and sustainability.  Items such as recycled-content carpeting, low VOC paint systems, and locally available materials are being incorporated into the specification.  An extensive waste stream recycling program is being implemented during the construction process.  Interior spaces include locker rooms with showers to encourage staff members to utilize our nearby bike path system to come to work.

Sanitary Sewer/Pumping
We have a broad background in engineering services for wastewater conveyance systems and pumping stations. Our experience includes projects involving extension and/or reinforcement of existing collection systems, as well as complete planning, design, and construction supervision of new multimillion-dollar sewerage systems. In recent years, we have planned and designed in excess of 320 miles of sanitary sewer and pressure mains, ranging in size up to 180 inches in diameter. Prior to most of our more significant conveyance projects, we complete a comprehensive report or planning study to identify current and future conveyance facility needs.


On most projects, we are involved in assisting with financing, developing assessment methods, developing and meeting project timetables, and coordinating all aspects of public relations. We feel these aspects are just as critical to the success of a project as the technical engineering involved.

 

LAND and Site Development
Our firm has a Land Development Division devoted exclusively to providing services for development projects. Since 1968, we have provided a full-range of services specifically related to land development, zoning assistance, land use planning; landscape architecture; boundary survey, infrastructure design, and construction observation for both private- and public-sector clients. Other types of services include site design and facility development, business/industrial park development, and site and facility planning. We have a complete staff of engineers, landscape architects, surveyors, and technicians who specialize in site and land development services.

Gardens of Hartland
Lexington, KY

Surveying/Land Acquisition
We own state-of-the-art electronic surveying instruments and utilize computer-based coordinate geometry and surveying programs in the execution of our surveying work.

State-of-the-art equipment includes the new generation High Definition survey system Scan Station or 3-D Laser Scanner.  This equipment enables us to provide a level of accuracy, efficiency, crew safety, and available data not achievable with conventional equipment.  Using this equipment, we have the ability to acquire locations for nearly every piece of critical information by producing a virtual 3-D point cloud.  The point cloud imagining capability allows us to visually review the field-collected data sets for completeness as the survey progresses.  The end result is a cost-effective survey product that provides greater unobstructed detail in a shorter period of time, while keeping the surveyor out of harms way.

Pedestrian overpass illustrating 3-D Laser Scan image.

Our surveying experience includes boundary surveys, typically to ALTA/ACSM standards; topographic; photo control; hydrologic; instrumentation; construction stakeout; and route surveys. We have served on private, municipal, state, and federal projects, including open-end surveying services for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Nashville and Huntington Districts.

GIS
Geographic Information Systems and computerized mapping focuses on two broad arenas. The first arena manages facilities and records. It links databases such as tax records, water billing addresses, sewer locations, and other types of infrastructure records to a “map”. By joining the powers of a database with the visual comprehension offered by a map, enormous potential is unleashed for facilities management and presentation of information.  For example, sewer manholes needing repair can be queried, plotted, and used as a base for the current year’s maintenance program. Pavement conditions can be inventoried and evaluated, and a 10- to 15-year maintenance program developed. Landowners affected by a water main repair can be notified by mail prior to the repair. These are just a few examples of how GIS can help municipalities and organizations take information they already manage and put it to greater use.

The second arena of GIS and computerized mapping enables the analysis of data already collected.  Counties and municipalities across America have spent millions of dollars establishing GIS databases that can be tapped for study.  In fact, any digitally oriented information can be placed in a GIS environment for analysis.  Typical information often available from these GIS databases includes parcel maps, zoning maps, digital orthographic aerial photographs, facilities maps, topographic maps, and census data.  Information maintained by local governments can be used for studies, impact analysis, and long-range planning.  Examples include using an existing parcel map to determine impacts from a road project; using the existing land use map with the parcel map and soils map to determine runoff curves for a stormwater study; determining the shortest route to a city area by an emergency response team; and querying crash types for an accident analysis.  These are just some of the analyses that GIS can perform from information that is currently available.
 

Stormwater Management/Conveyance
We understand that comprehensive stormwater management involves analyzing, planning, designing, and implementing. This requires an understanding of the nature and effectiveness of the variety of methods to convey and treat stormwater. By virtue of our extensive engineering experience, we have developed a thorough understanding of the different types of conveyance and treatment elements that should be combined, depending on the need and characteristics of the area being served, to create an effective overall stormwater management system.

Seavey Drainage Ditch
Mundelein, IL

Financial Assistance
We are able to assist communities in the selection of financing methods. We are familiar with state and federal grant programs and often assist in applications for grants, developing reports, preliminary cost estimates, parallel cost estimates, feasibility studies, life-cycle cost analyses, and other planning aspects of grant procurement. We are also familiar with local funding methods, including TIF districts, and assist communities with various bonding and borrowing plans. We provide assistance in establishing special assessments, impact fees, and other local programs for raising revenues to provide project financing.


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