Out of the Classroom and into the Workplace

Garver hosted two "externships" in January that invited college students to explore and experience Garver's Tulsa, Oklahoma workplace and observe day-to-day activities.

An externship is a shadowing experience designed to help students explore their chosen career fields in a real-time environment outside a classroom. Garver invited seniors with academic majors in civil, transportation, traffic, and bridge specialties to participate in the day-long program.

The externships offer students a glimpse into their professional possibilities after graduation. This real-work opportunity provides an engineering experience that both reinforces their education and invites them to take an inside view of Garver's professionals at work.

As part of the Garver Tulsa office externship, students:

• listened to a presentation about Garver
• toured the office and met with staff
• attended a team meeting and listened as projects were discussed
• shadowed an engineer who introduced them to ongoing design projects
• toured the Tulsa area and visited several Garver project sites (both under construction and completed) to see the transition between designs and construction

Helping Cities Find Their Voices

This past weekend, Garver served as the event partner for the second annual Oklahoma Congress of Mayors at the Oklahoma State Capitol in the House Chambers.

Mayors and vice mayors from across Oklahoma came together to discuss key issues and share ideas relevant to municipalities. Garver provided financial support for the event that offers city leaders a way to have their voices be heard on important municipal topics. Michael Graves, Garver's water group leader and treatment plant operations specialist, also serves on a water advisory committee to the Congress of Mayors. He has been called on to provide information on regulations, funding, and other water and wastewater issues.

The congress provides the mayors a time to debate and eventually present critical issues to the Oklahoma legislature on such topics as water resources and utility planning, transportation, public safety, economic development, municipal finance, and municipal operations.

Tank Raising in 16 Seconds

It took approximately two hours to lift a 500,000-gallon water tank up an 80-foot concrete column in Elgin, Oklahoma last week. Today you can watch it in 16 seconds.

Garver provided design and construction oversight to construct the city's water tower, and several project engineers were on hand to watch it go up. The 130,000-pound tank has a 58-foot diameter and a top height of 130 feet. Garver designed the concrete shaft with a welded steel tank to ensure stability and strength while being cost effective.

"The tank is specifically designed to withstand high winds common in southwest Oklahoma, as well as other climatic and geologic events," said Garver engineer Ian Toohey.

The composite elevated storage tank is part of a larger $1.7 million water system improvements project that includes rehabilitating water supply wells, constructing a transmission line into Elgin, and making several distribution system improvements.

Make sure to watch the video in full screen, and look closely at the top of the structure. Garver is well represented.

Construction Facts

• The tank is designed to resist a wind shear of greater than 100 mph.
• The structure is designed to handle more than 33 tons of snow accumulation.
• The tank and foundation are designed to withstand a 7.5 magnitude earthquake.

Garver's Emerging Leaders

Rusty Tate

Blake Roberson

Two Garver employees are participating in the Emerging Leaders program, sponsored by the American Council of Engineering Companies of Arkansas and the Arkansas Society of Professional Engineers.

Blake Roberson and Rusty Tate are attending sessions and classes to further develop their leadership and professional skills. Topics include conflict resolution, public speaking, and contracts and risk reduction.

“The Emerging Leaders program is improving my management and oversight skills," Roberson said. "A large part of a leader’s success is founded in team interaction and relationships. By improving my management skills, I can build stronger relationships with my team members and improve our ability to work together.”

This is the program's third year, and eight students are involved in the program.

"I've picked up skills that will serve me well in my professional career, such as the importance of understanding and managing different personalities and expectations - and how crucial that is to a successful team and project," Tate said.

Garver's Keith Tencleve graduated from the program in 2009-2010, and Todd Mueller participated in the 2010-2011 class.

New Professional Engineers

Five Garver employees passed their exams and received their professional engineering licenses.

Lance Klement, PE is an engineer in Garver's Water Group. Lance works in our Norman, Oklahoma office and has been with Garver for four years.

Matthew LeMay, PE is an electrical engineer in Garver's Aviation Group. Matthew works in our North Little Rock, Arkansas office and has been with Garver for four years.

Steve Rice, PE is an engineer in Garver's Water Group. Steve works in our Norman, Oklahoma office and has been with Garver for three years.

Dustin Tackett, PE is an engineer in Garver's Transportation Group. Dustin works in our North Little Rock, Arkansas office and has been with Garver for four years.

Fred Walker, PE is an engineer in Garver's Water Group. Fred works in our North Little Rock, Arkansas office and has been with Garver for three years.

The Year's Top Blog Posts

Garver shared a lot of great news this year. Below is a list of 2011's most viewed blog posts by month.

January: Garver Expands Texas Operations into Houston
February: Oklahoma River Race Course Lighting
March: The Southwest Region's First LED Runway Lights
April: Runway Improvements at Addison Airport
May: Hennelly Talks about Experience in Afghanistan
June: Tulsa Staff Grows 27%
July: Two Rivers Bridge Dedication
August: Mountain Biking 100 Miles Across the Sky
September: Sharing Traffic Knowledge
October: Recruiting the Best Talent
November: Exceeding Construction Safety Standards
December: Engineer Starts College Scholarship

An Advocate for Bike-Friendly Communities

The Little Rock Bicycle Friendly Community Committee has selected Garver Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Dan Williams to serve as a member.

The committee is working to make Little Rock, Arkansas a Bicycle-Friendly Community and achieve this designation through the League of American Bicyclists. Committee members interact with the city and community to make Little Rock safe for bicyclists, pedestrians, and motorists; to create a network of connected on-street facilities and bicycle-friendly trails to safely travel anywhere in Little Rock by bicycle; and to promote and encourage bicycling for recreation and transportation.

Dan is just one example of Garver’s commitment to bicycle advocacy, which is fueled by employee passions. Through leadership, athletic example, and engineering design, Garver is encouraging communities and individuals to stay fit and have fun on two wheels. Moreover, Garver’s “cyclelogical” attitude reflects the public’s growing trend to settle in communities with bicycle-friendly infrastructure.

Merry Christmas

See the world through children's eyes

Apt to dream and journey far

Soaring high beyond the skies

Free to race a shooting star

Christmas kindles hopes anew

Giving flight to passions great

Take a child's point of view

Go for launch! Your dreams await!

Coats at Christmas

Garver's Fayetteville office has organized a drive to collect winter coats for families in northwest Arkansas. The employees gathered more than 30 coats as well as gloves, hats, and scarves for the Peace at Home Family Shelter.

The winter clothes have been donated to the shelter's thrift store, which provides clothing, furniture, and household items free of charge to its families. The organization is committed to ending family violence in northwest Arkansas and provides a crisis hotline, safe emergency shelter, support groups, and assistance in finding employment and transitional housing.

IQ Volume 3 Issue 4

The newest issue of Garver's IQ will hit the streets soon.
This edition features:

Power to the People. Garver’s Energy Group is providing generation, transmission, and distribution services designed to client standards. Many clients have energy-related methods, processes, components, and training already in place. When they need to update and expand their aging systems, Garver develops designs that meet today’s standards while satisfying each client’s unique requirements.

Mission at Knox Hall. Knox Hall has served Fort Sill, Oklahoma for nearly 70 years. Now home to the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC), the two-story building hadn’t been remodeled since an addition in 1962. Garver provided services to redesign the second floor and helped the TRADOC continue its mission.

Abandoned Pipeline Saves City Millions. When the City of Okmulgee, Oklahoma needed an economical way to increase its raw water conveyance capacity, it turned to a low-impact, trenchless method that cost $2.1 million less than an estimated open-trench technique. The solution lay with a 90-year-old concrete pipe and a subsurface technology known as sliplining.

All About Perspective. Three projects at Nashville International Airport in Tennessee are changing the way pilots, air traffic control, and the aviation industry view the airfield. Garver’s recent projects improved landside and airside lines of sight, reconfigured how taxiways interact, and installed airside synthetic turf.

It's Cyclelogical. Garver’s commitment to bicycle advocacy is fueled by employee passions. Through athletic example and engineering design, Garver is encouraging communities and individuals to stay fit and have fun on two wheels. Moreover, Garver’s “cyclelogical” attitude reflects the public’s growing trend to settle in communities with bicycle-friendly infrastructure.

You can read our newsletter and past issues on the Garver Website.

Engineer Starts College Scholarship

Aviation engineer Adam White, EI has teamed with two friends to start a scholarship for engineering students at the University of Arkansas. The Honorarium for Dedicated Leadership and Outstanding Character Scholarship is a $1,500 scholarship awarded to junior and senior civil engineering students who demonstrate leadership skills in academic and extracurricular activities.

“We all had the financial capacity to start the scholarship," Adam told the University of Arkansas Alumni Association. "We didn’t want to wait... It is rewarding to give back to students. You get so much out of it, and it helps you grow as a professional just as much as they grow as students.”

Adam graduated from the university in 2008 with a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering. He worked with Garver as an intern while in school, and he has worked with Garver since he graduated.

Helping Students Prepare for a Drafting Career

Senior Technician Charlie Macom is helping students at the University of Arkansas Community College in Morrilton prepare to work in the drafting industry.

Charlie has nearly 25 years of experience in drafting and surveying, and he is part of an advisory committee that provides the university's drafting program with ways to improve its curriculum. Charlie represents the engineering field and joins professionals with backgrounds in machine and mechanical, architectural, interior design, and aircraft industries.

The drafting program introduces students to the drafting profession, principles, and  technology. Throughout the program, students learn and work with computer-aided drafting and 3-D modeling programs. Students gain experience in residential and structural drafting, machine drafting, and pre-engineering drafting by working on realistic projects. The drafting program curriculum includes design concepts and sustainability theories to gives students an edge in today's workplace.

Happy Thanksgiving

Exceeding Construction Safety Standards

Project representatives from Addison Airport, Garver, and EAS Contracting

A Garver reconstruction project at Addison Airport won the Federal Aviation Administration's Excellence in Construction Safety Award. The FAA presented the award at its Southwest Region Conference.

Addison Airport is one of the busiest single-runway general aviation airports in the United States. Garver's engineering services involved full-depth reconstruction and asphalt overlay on the 7,200-foot runway. The improvement project also graded runway safety areas to meet current standards, improved the airfield drainage system, installed runway guard lights at all 12 runway hold lines, installed new high-intensity runway lights, and replaced the MALSR approach lighting system.

The annual award honors one airport that exceeds FAA construction safety standards during a project. Because of the airport's high number of operations, Garver designed the $10.5 million project in multiple phases to keep the runway open and limit closures during construction. Construction activity increases the risk of vehicle/pedestrian deviations (V/PD). Even with complex construction phasing and aircraft operations for more than 600 based aircraft, the project had no V/PD incidents.

Garver Client Receives Treatment Plant Awards

The Oklahoma Water and Pollution Control Association has named the City of Norman's water and wastewater treatment facilities as "plants of the year." Garver has provided recent engineering services to improve the plants' capabilities and efficiency.

In the newspaper article Utilities Commended, published by The Norman Transcript, Utilities Director Ken Komiske said, “This award is given to only one large treatment plant — one water and one wastewater — for the whole state and is chosen by peer review, audit of operations and a site visit. We are very proud of the treatment plants and, more importantly, the operators that keep them running and producing great, quality water and effluent.”

Garver designed a new 13,000-foot-long, 48-inch raw water conveyance line from Lake Thunderbird to the Vernon Campbell Water Treatment Plant to meet increasing water demands. Specific design features included increasing water line capacity, keeping the existing 30-inch pipeline connected and operable, and providing inter-connective piping to facilitate pipeline redundancy.

At the wastewater treatment plant, Garver is providing existing system assessment, alternatives evaluation, and cost estimates to expand the plant to 17 million gallons per day and implement state-of-the-art technology. Garver also provided energy improvement designs that included blower upgrades, RAS/WAS pumping upgrades, and conversion from 4160v to 480v power.

The Oklahoma Water and Pollution Control Association is a non-profit operator association organized in 1926 and dedicated to advancing knowledge among water and wastewater system operators.

Sisemore Presents at ACPA Workshop

Aviation Project Leader Ryan Sisemore, PE  presented at this year's Airport Pavement Fall Workshop hosted by the American Concrete Pavement Association, Southeast Chapter.

Sisemore presented a 30-minute case study about Garver's recycled runway project at Nashville International Airport, which has received international attention. The presentation focused on how existing concrete pavements can be recycled into crushed base stone, what testing is required for compliance, how recycling can lead to project cost savings, and how sustainability goals were met during the Runway 2L/20R reconstruction at Nashville International.

Ryan Sisemore (left) at Nashville International during the concrete demolition phase.

This year's event set an attendance record with representatives from federal and state agencies, airports, engineering consulting firms, and construction companies. The workshop focused on ways to enhance education in designing, constructing, and maintaining airport pavements. The workshop allowed a free flow of ideas, questions, and real-world industry case studies.

Earning the Aviation Merit Badge

Perry Havenar (left) helps the Boy Scouts earn the Aviation Merit Badge.

Garver Senior Aviation Planner Perry Havenar is helping a Texas Boy Scouts of America Troop earn the Aviation Merit Badge. In early October, Havenar introduced Troop 1177 to the world of aviation and spent 1.5 hours talking with the Scouts about aviation history, aerodynamics, aircraft engines, and airport design.

Joe McAnally

Perry also joined with Joe McAnally,
Addison Airport operations manager and Eagle Scout, to give the Scouts a behind-the-scenes tour of the airfield on October 19. They visited the American Flyers maintenance hangar, Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting vehicle and fire station, and airport management offices. The Scouts received 2 hours of hands-on exposure to the aviation world and the many careers it offers.

Buddy Walk

Garver's Shannon Hanks and her family recently participated in a Buddy Walk hosted by the Down Syndrome Association of Tulsa, Oklahoma.

The Buddy Walk is an advocacy event in which people with Down syndrome invite "buddies" to walk with them. The Hanks family participated for the third consecutive year and were buddies for their son, Tyler.

The Buddy Walk promotes October as National Down Syndrome Awareness month and encourages greater acceptance and inclusion of people with Down syndrome. It is an inspirational and educational day that celebrates people with Down syndrome and their many abilities and accomplishments.

The walk has expanded from 17 walks nationwide in 1995 to more than 300 this year. In Tulsa, more than 5,000 people attended the ninth annual walk and event activities, which began in 2002 with 500 people.

Garver served as an event Gold Sponsor.

Pulling for Education Trap Shoot

Garver's Gary Bennett takes aim during the trap shoot competition.

Garver employees are continually finding ways to support and give back to their communities. At the end of September, and for the third consecutive year, a group of Garver employees competed in a competitive clay pigeon shooting contest to raise funds for a two-year, higher-education institution.

Garver organized two teams and participated with 60 shooters and 20 teams in the Fifth Annual Pulling for Education Trap Shoot in Columbus, Arkansas. Proceeds benefited the University of Arkansas Community College at Hope Foundation. Garver's team of Gary Bennett, Jim Ward, and John Ed Watkins won first place in the second flight. Glynn Fulmer, TJ Bruck, and Blake Martin also teamed together.

Left to Right: Gary Bennett, Representative David "Bubba" Powers, U.S. Congressman Mike Ross, John Ed Watkins, Jim Ward, and Chris Thomason, Chancellor of the UofA Community College at Hope

New ASCE Officers

Garver congratulates Nick Braddy, EI; Kyle Williams, EI; and Wayne Black, PE on their service as 2011-2012 branch officers for the American Society of Civil Engineers.

Nick is serving his second consecutive term as the Tulsa, Oklahoma Branch Secretary. Nick is an engineer in our Transportation Group and has worked with Garver for 2.5 years.

Kyle is serving as the Tulsa Branch Young Member Contact. Kyle is an engineer in our Transportation Group and joined Garver in May.

Wayne is serving as the Jackson, Mississippi Branch Vice President and recently completed a term as Treasurer. Wayne is an engineer in our Transportation Group and has worked with Garver for 5 years.

Inspiring a New Generation of Engineers

"Carmen Cobb is harvesting her cornfield. She planted 270 rows of corn, and there are 130 corncobs in each row. It will take Carmen 18 hours to harvest her corn. How many corncobs did Carmen Cobb collect every hour?"

Whew. Remember the days of fifth-grade word problems? At the time, they may not have seemed important, but they foster knowledge application and problem solving skills - which just so happen to be essential in construction services.

Jim Heard, a Garver senior construction observer, recently visited several fifth-grade classes in Jay, Oklahoma. During his interaction with 100 students, Jim demonstrated why math and science are important on the job site. Jim's visit was a hit, and the teacher sent Garver the following thank you note:

"The students really enjoyed getting to hear how the math and science they use in class can be applied to the real world! I've had parents tell me that since Mr. Heard's talk, their children have quizzed them on information about highways and bridges as they drive over them. What better way to get kids involved in learning!"

And don't think that you're off the hook. Put that calculator in a drawer and grab a trusty pencil. How many corncobs were collected every hour?

Recruiting the Best Talent

Tulsa transportation engineers Jenny Sallee and Michael Winterscheidt recently visited their alma mater to participate in the Oklahoma State University College of Engineering Architecture and Technology career fair. Many students stopped by the Garver booth, and we received resumes from students in various engineering fields, including civil, electrical, environmental, and construction management technology.

"Career fairs are always an exciting way to keep in touch with the young engineering community. They're the future of our industry," Sallee said.

Our Tulsa and Norman offices are a great place for young engineers to discover their niche in the industry and for experienced professionals to advance their careers. Our offices are growing and need quality engineers; the Tulsa Business Journal listed our Tulsa office as a Top Place to Work; and Garver's education reimbursement program helps engineers achieve higher education degrees. For more information on Garver job opportunities, visit our Website.

Sharing Traffic Knowledge

Garver traffic engineering employees (left to right): Mike Spayd, Claire McKinney, Annette Porter, Traffic Leader Nicci Tiner, and Nathan Becknell.

Approximately 15 years ago, Garver added traffic engineering to our expertise. What started as one person dedicated to traffic studies and design has developed into a team of professionals with a passion to improve our transportation systems' safety, quality, and driving experience. The Garver Traffic Team provides traffic engineering services such as traffic studies, signal design, intersection design, pedestrian facilities, permanent signing, ITS, and maintenance of traffic. By having a team focused on traffic aspects, we can provide a high-degree of technical competence and develop solutions to complicated projects.

Several members of Garver's Traffic Team recently attended the Missouri Valley Institute of Transportation Engineers (MOVITE) annual fall meeting in Little Rock, Arkansas to share and receive industry knowledge. The three-day technical conference included presentations on pedestrian accommodations, roundabouts, highway safety, and accessible pedestrian signals.

In addition to hosting a vendor booth and assisting with registration, four Garver employees contributed to the presentations. Garver Traffic Team Leader Nicci Tiner, PE, PTOE; 2011 Arkansas MOVITE Director Nathan Becknell, PE; and Project Engineer Claire McKinney, EI served as session moderators. Becknell also led a session on traffic knowledge, and Bridge Design Manager John Ruddell, PE, SE discussed the new Two Rivers Bridge that Garver designed.

Encouraging the Big Dam Bridge 100 Cyclists

This past weekend, cyclists in the Big Dam Bridge 100 Tour rested outside Garver's corporate office in North Little Rock, Arkansas to catch their breath and refuel with sandwiches and drinks. Garver also set up a couple speakers that amplified inspirational music to encourage the cyclists on their way.

Approximately 2,300 cyclists registered for the sixth annual event, which is the largest bicycle tour in Arkansas. A group of Garver employees biked in the event, and several tackled the 100-mile course.

Garver employees and their families cheered and clapped for the bikers as they went by. Cyclists chose routes 16, 30, 50, 68, and 100 miles long. After the event, the employees donated the remaining food to the Arkansas Rice Depot.

Thanks to Mike Massey for contributing these photos.

Kentucky's First All-LED Airfield

Russellville-Logan County Airport is the first all-LED airfield
in Kentucky.

Garver recently provided design and construction administration to improve the airport's lighting system, which was dated. The parallel taxiway didn't have edge lights or signage, the medium intensity runway lighting system was old, and the approach lights were not functioning correctly. The airport now features LED runway edge lights, LED taxiway signs, LED runway end identifier lights, and retro-reflectors for the parallel taxiway.

Converting the airside lights to LED technology will provide the airport with decreased operational costs, increase lighting system reliability, and improve airfield visibility for pilots.

Garver also worked to give the airport a new rotating beacon and beacon tower, standalone vault building, and equipment. Together, the enhancements work to improve safe airfield operations, especially during low-visibility conditions.

Over the past decade, Garver has provided electrical services on numerous projects that led the way in new airfield LED technology.

2002 - North Little Rock Municipal Airport: First LED taxiway edge lights in Arkansas

2008 - Arkadelphia Municipal Airport: One of the first LED REILs in Arkansas

2009 - Ada Municipal Airport: First LED airfield signs in Oklahoma

2009 - Little Rock National Airport: First LED runway guard lights in Arkansas

2011 - Hollis Municipal Airport: First LED MIRLs in Oklahoma 

2011 - Paris Municipal Airport: First LED MIRLs in Arkansas

2011 - Russellville-Logan County Airport: First all-LED airfield in Kentucky

Magazine Includes Garver Project in High-Profile List

CE News, a monthly publication by ZweigWhite, has listed a Garver project as one of 29 significant road, highway, and bridge projects in progress. Ranked by estimated cost, the I-269 Loop Highway near Memphis, Tennessee is valued at $670 million. The project is a new four-lane controlled-access interstate, and Garver's portion involves an eastern section. A total of four consultants are working on the corridor.

Garver is providing engineering services for multiple phases, including surveys and roadway and bridge design. First phase services involved right-of-way plans for the project, which includes 6.3 miles of interstate highway. Garver's section involves one interchange, several grade separation structures, and a 4,000-linear-foot bridge over the Coldwater River. We are currently working on final construction plans.

The article, Transportation Projects Roadmap, lists 58 notable infrastructure projects in road-highway-bridge, rail-transit, port-waterway, and airport. This the second annual CE News transportation projects roadmap.

Balancing Work, Life, and Volunteering

Garver transportation engineers Nathan and Natalie Becknell understand what it means to give back and are making it a priority to mentor young engineers.

The University of Arkansas's newest edition of The Volunteer View features the alumni Becknells. The publication highlights ways Nathan and Natalie are balancing their work at Garver with life responsibilities and volunteer opportunities.

"As alumni, we learned quickly that you don't have to endow a scholarship to make a difference," Natalie told The Volunteer View. "We make it a priority each year to give back, and we do what we can."

The Becknells contribute money to engineering scholarships, serve as student advisers, and regularly visit the university to offer students advice and encouragement.

"We give reassurance," Nathan said. "The students who are doing the best academically often doubt themselves the most. We give advice that will help them with current classes and projects and also prepare them for the real world."

The Becknells' real world activities also include taking part in the Illinois River Watershed Project by planting trees and cleaning streams, participating in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, and staying active in the University of Arkansas's concrete canoe contest.

Airplane Cuts Ribbon to Re-open Runway

At most ribbon-cutting ceremonies, the tool of choice is a pair of scissors. At Addison Airport in Texas, the instrument is an airplane flying 15 feet above the runway.

Addison Airport recently re-opened its 7,200-foot-long runway. To celebrate, acrobatic pilot Jan Collmer flew his plane down the runway and used a wing to cut the ceremonial ribbon, which was stretched high above the pavement. Trailing a cloud of white smoke, Collmer dipped a wing as he flew by the ribbon, successfully cutting the material in two. Town of Addison Mayor Pro Tempore Blake Clemens accompanied Collmer in the plane.

Addison Airport posted a ribbon-cutting video. (If you have trouble viewing it, right click on the video and turn HD off).

Addison Airport is one of the busiest general aviation airports in Texas and the United States. Garver's engineering services on the $10.5 million project involved full-depth runway reconstruction, high-intensity runway lights, runway guard lights, hold position signs, a medium-intensity approach lighting system with runway alignment indicator lights, and an airfield lighting control and monitoring system. Improvements were also made to the runway safety area and airfield drainage. To put this project into perspective, it involved:

1,263 truckloads of asphalt. If you lined up the dump trucks bumper to bumper, the traffic jam would stretch longer than 7 miles.

157,700 square feet of runway and taxiway paint. If you painted a 4-inch-wide line, it would stretch 181 miles.

38.5 acres of seeding and 38,900 square yards of sodding. This is enough to cover 35 NFL football fields.

National Recognition in Engineering Inc.

 As 23,000 readers pick up the newest edition of Engineering Inc., they'll see Garver featured in the glossy pages and read about our $128 million "Building Big" project.

The American Council of Engineering Companies publication dedicated a portion of its September/October issue to complex mega projects and their designing firms, which includes our multimodal bridge across the Arkansas River in Tulsa to replace the deteriorated westbound I-244 bridge.

The article, Tulsa Goes Multi-Modal, highlights Bridge Team Leader Jason Langhammer, PE and Garver's services as lead design consultant. The new westbound I-244 multimodal bridge will carry highway traffic on the upper level and high-speed rail, light rail transit, and pedestrian/bicycle traffic on the lower level. The westbound bridge is currently under construction, and the eastbound bridge, which will carry only highway traffic, is in final design.

The project involves 2.5 miles of combined highway, rail, and pedestrian bridges, 1 mile of multi-lane interstate highway, and a pedestrian trail system extension. To meet the provisions within the federal TIGER grant (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery), Garver completed design within an accelerated, nine-month schedule.

According to the publication, Engineering Inc. is sent to engineering firms across the United States, every member of Capitol Hill, numerous federal agencies, and state departments of transportation.

Big Dam Bridge 100 and Jersey

Registration is open for Arkansas' largest cycling tour, the sixth annual Big Dam Bridge 100, which starts in Little Rock, Arkansas and ends in North Little Rock on September 24. A change in the 100-mile course includes a new route over the Garver-designed Two Rivers Bridge.

Garver is again providing a rest stop at our corporate office, cheering on a group of company riders, and designing the official event jersey. Here's a peek at this year's design with the slogan, "It's just the Big Dam Bridge. Get over it."

The event jersey can be ordered on the Big Dam Bridge 100 website when you register for the ride. And if you participate in the tour, keep an eye out for bicyclists wearing our past designs:

2009

2010

In the next few years, bicyclists will benefit from several Garver-designed improvements made to the central Arkansas bicycle trail system. Construction crews are beginning work to add a west leg to the Little Rock side of the Big Dam Bridge, which will allow bicyclists to connect with the Two Rivers Bridge without attempting a tight 180-degree turn. In addition, design on the pedestrian bridge at Shilcutt Bayou is nearly complete. The new replacement bridge will provide a safer and smoother ride than the existing alignment, and it will offer cyclists a route that is not limited by the existing timber structure.