Monday, November 28, 2011

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.

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Happy Thanksgiving

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

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.

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

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.


Thursday, November 3, 2011

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.

AddThis

 
Subscribe to our blog Follow us on Facebook Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on LinkedIn