Winning projects entered into the annual ACEC-VT Engineering Excellence Awards competition were announced at the Engineers Week Banquet at the Double Tree in South Burlington on February 26. DuBois & King was recognized for the Rutland Southern Vermont Regional Airport Runway Safety Area Improvement Project. Working with the Vermont Agency of Transportation (VTrans), D&K was brought into the project specifically to meet aggressive funding and construction deadlines for compliance with regulations for runway safety areas. D&K designed the safety improvements, secured federal, state, and local permitting, solicited contractor bids, and completed the FAA application for the $10M project within 8 months (6 months actual design).

The design incorporated a non-standard, first-in-Vermont technique to overcome site constraints in order to comply with FAA regulations. The safety area of Runway 01 was constrained by a steep embankment, Class III wetlands, and a town road, posing a design challenge to extending the length of the runway. Because of insufficient space for standard runway safety area improvements, the design included a 55-foot, two-tier retaining wall (designed by a subconsultant) to extend the runway enough to accept an Engineered Materials Arrestor System (EMAS), a bed of engineered, high-energy absorbing materials that will crush under the weight of aircraft, safely arresting overrunning planes. This first implementation of an EMAS in the state allowed a 40% reduction in the length of the RSA. D&K received a Merit Award for the project.

DuBois & King is the Lead Design Engineer for a $15.2M culvert replacement design-build project in Ryegate, VT. Deteriorated undersized culverts have contributed to flooding of US Route 5 and the backwater jeopardized the integrity of the roadway and rail embankments. The design-build team of DuBois & King and Engineers Construction (ECI) are working with the Vermont Agency of Transportation to construct two buried 32-ft-wide by 16-ft-high, cast-in-place, reinforced concrete arch culverts beneath the roadway and rail line. The new culverts are 144 ft and 128 ft in length, and will increase the hydraulic capacity by 25 times the existing capacity.

Excavations up to 70-feet deep have been completed and concrete is being poured. All of the footings have been completed and ECI is now forming and pouring the cast-in-place concrete arches. Concrete pours are expected to continue throughout the winter. The contractor is utilizing special cold-weather procedures, including heating and blanketing the fresh concrete to protect it from freezing as it cures.

DuBois & King’s Wil Horton took first place in the 2015 Vermont Giant Pumpkin Growers Weigh-off. Wil hauled his 1438-pound pumpkin from his patch in Springfield to Colchester, Vermont for the September 26th event. Wil’s green thumb also extends to field pumpkins and long gourds and took first place with his 101-pound field pumpkin and his 110” long gourd.

Wil also made it to events in Massachusetts and New Hampshire this year. Wil ranked 11th in the New England Pumpkin Growers Association event at the Topsfield Fair in Topsfield, Massachusetts, with his 1278-pound pumpkin. In late August, his 748-pound entry won second place at the Champlain Valley Fair in Essex Junction, Vermont. Wil’s 1278-pound pumpkin won second place at the Giant Pumpkin Weigh-off in Goffstown, New Hampshire. Wil donated the pumpkin to the Goffstown Mainstreet Program to be turned into a boat for the Pumpkin Regatta. The following link shows the proud grower with his first place pumpkin, field pumpkin and long gourd. Wil is an electrical engineer who works out of the firm’s Springfield office. Congratulations Wil!

http://vermontgiants.tripod.com/index.html