Project Name: Cedar Creek Rehabilitation

Company Name: Stantec

Project Location: Kirkland, Washington United States

Project Information/Details: The City of Kirkland improved native fish habitat and reduced flooding risks along a fish-bearing stream by replacing an aging culvert that allows the creek to pass under one of the city’s busiest arterials. The new culvert on 100th Avenue Northeast and improvements to Cedar Creek were designed by Stantec—a global engineering, architecture, and consulting firm. The firm’s Bellevue office managed the project. “As a high priority with the City, this project removes the most significant fish barrier on Cedar Creek,” said Tim Nightengale, one of Stantec’s Bellevue-based project biologists. “The improvements open up significant habitat to migratory anadromous fish upstream of this location and will improve the overall health of Cedar Creek.” The project restored native fish access to more than a mile of upstream habitat by removing the 40-year-old barrier. The improvements rebuilt 1,200 feet of the severely degraded creek channel, recreating a sinuous alignment with 23 log structures, bank stabilizing plantings, and deep pools. A new side channel allows larger flows to spread across the adjacent wetland and minimize downstream flooding. The $2.5 million project replaced the original 36-inch concrete box culvert, which was structurally deficient and too small, with a culvert that is 14 feet wide, 10 feet tall and 120 feet long. To accomplish the work, crews bypassed the existing creek, excavated 100th Avenue Northeast down to the creek bed, and rebuilt the arterial to meet the needs for a future roadway widening project. “It’s exciting to see the restored Cedar Creek flowing through the new culvert,” said Jim McPherson, Stantec project manager, based in Bellevue. “The more natural channel will support the return of fish to this waterway. Improving and restoring aquatic habitat is a priority for both the community and the state.” Critical to the project’s success was its 23-day road closure. Stantec, Interwest Construction, and the City of Kirkland collaborated to limit traffic disruption. “Twenty-three days is a long time to shut down one of your city’s busiest arterials,” said Laura Drake, the City of Kirkland project engineer, who co-managed the project. “But tight coordination between Stantec, Interwest, and the City of Kirkland helped us keep the community informed of the closure and the need for it.” Stantec provided project management; civil design; biological design; structural design; and environmental permitting, mitigation, restoration design and construction inspection. Stantec’s Pacific Northwest design and environmental experts include more than 360 professionals. The firm has completed nearly 100 fish passage projects in the Pacific Northwest, including 14 that are injunction-compliant in Washington.

Project Name: Hidden Ridge Station at Carpenter Ranch

Company Name: Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART)

Project Location: Irving, Texas United States

Project Information/Details: On April 9, Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) celebrated the opening of the Hidden Ridge Station at Carpenter Ranch in Irving, the 65th station in the DART network. Developed in partnership with the City of Irving and Verizon Communications, the new station is located on the Orange Line between North Lake College and Irving Convention Center stations. Originally a part of the 3.9-mile Irving-2 opening of the Orange Line in December 2012, Hidden Ridge Station (formerly known as Carpenter Ranch Station) had been deferred in anticipation of Verizon Communications’ Hidden Ridge development, a planned 110-acre mixed-use project which will feature 1,200 apartments and residences; 80,000 square feet of restaurant and retail space; a hotel; and a two-acre green space with amenities. Constructed by Archer Western Construction with Jacobs serving as the design consultant, DART’s Hidden Ridge Station will offer amenities such as a 136-space parking lot; six bus bays for making connections and transfers; five kiss-and-ride spaces for a convenient drop-off and pickup, and of course a short trip to DFW Airport. As with all DART stations, including an Art and Design Program that reflects the community it serves is important in the creation of each DART station. Marty Ray, a ceramic artist and former Professor Emerita of Art at Dallas College-North Lake Campus, is responsible for the artwork at Hidden Ridge Station. Since the station is located on Carpenter Ranch, once the homestead of Las Colinas founder Ben Carpenter, the art plays off the land’s history. The installation also reflects the natural elements of the land, wildlife, and nearby creek. The DART Hidden Ridge Station will begin revenue service on Monday, April 12.

Project Name: Bedford North Lawrence High School Fields

Company Name: Woolpert

Project Location: Bedford, Indiana United States

Project Information/Details: It’s time to play ball! Bedford North Lawrence High School will hold a dedication ceremony for its new synthetic turf baseball field at 6 p.m. today, preceding the team’s home-opener against Whiteland Community High School. The school’s new synthetic turf softball field will be dedicated at 10 a.m. Saturday, before the Stars take on Silver Creek High School. The installation of the synthetic turf fields is part of a $2.3 million project that includes the Bedford North Lawrence football field, which will be renovated after the conclusion of the high school track season. Woolpert was contracted by North Lawrence Community Schools to provide civil engineering and design for the three high school athletic fields. The 43,000-square-foot softball field, both infield and outfield, was completely converted to synthetic turf. The baseball field had its roughly 31,000-square-foot infield resurfaced with synthetic turf, while natural turf and improved drainage was installed in the 82,000-square-foot outfield. Both fields also received new bullpens, outfield fencing and backstops. The backstops, manufactured by Sportsfield Specialties, are fully padded and include tension netting that allows for better visibility. Woolpert Team Leader Todd Ford said The Motz Group’s TriplePlay Synthetic Turf System installed at the fields includes high-performance turf fibers combined with a mixture of sand and rubber infill, specifically designed for frequent baseball and softball use. “Synthetic turf, especially in the infield, enables teams to get back out and play quickly after inclement weather, and the natural turf in the baseball outfield is supported by drainage designed to improve the field’s resilience to help prevent rainouts,” Ford said. “The bullpens, which are located outside the fields of play, also have synthetic turf that matches the game mounds.” Bedford North Lawrence Athletic Director and Baseball Coach Jeff Callahan said the school elected to convert the fields to synthetic turf to give the student-athletes and student body the opportunity to get the “amazing usage” from these fields that synthetic turf affords. “Take the football field, for example. I don’t like to call it just a football field, because it will host football, soccer, band, PE classes, youth sports, etc.,” Callahan said. “In the past, it’s been used less than 100 hours a year to minimize the impact on grass. But when it’s synthetic turf, it will be used more than 1,000 hours per year.” Callahan added that the baseball and softball teams already are seeing the benefit of this turf upgrade. “We’ve had 15 practice days this spring,” Callahan said. “If we still had our natural turf fields, we would have been able to be out there maybe two or three of those days. But we were out playing on these new fields 14 of the 15 days available. We’re looking forward to enjoying these fields for many years to come.” About Woolpert Woolpert is the premier architecture, engineering, geospatial (AEG) and strategic consulting firm, with a vision to become one of the best companies in the world. We innovate within and across markets to effectively serve public, private and government clients worldwide. Woolpert is an ENR Top 150 Global Design Firm, recently earned its fifth-straight Great Place to Work certification and actively nurtures a culture of growth, inclusion, diversity and respect. Founded in 1911 in Dayton, Ohio, Woolpert has been America’s fastest-growing AEG firm since 2015. The firm has over 1,100 employees and 42 offices in three countries. For more, visit woolpert.com