Category Archives: Transportation
Posted in Alternative Energy | Communities | Current Events | Economic Development | Leadership | Marcellus Shale | Natural Gas | Politics | Transportation by Marty Muggleton (VP Client Development & Marketing) on October 17, 2011
T. Boone Pickens during a roundtable discussion at Williamsport, PA’s Community Arts Center
I’ve met some notable folks. Former Presidents, pro ball players, cultural icons, radicals, and rich people to name a few categories. I found them to be similar to most of the successful folks I know well. Each of these folks admitted to a bit of extra luck in their life. They each could tell a version of “in the right spot at the right time” story.
There was a consistency to these people that I find interesting and admirable. In some form, each was a leader with a relentless commitment to a vision. The vision was built on a series of objectives and that is where most of the luck occurred. But none the less they agreed to take risk, not get scared, and not give up. That is what I admire.
I and about a thousand other people got a dose of leadership at the Community Arts Center on September 30th. Boone Pickens has his “plan”. But that night he spoke of his vision to make our country better, told us the objectives needed to make this change, and what role citizens play in this.
Citizens have to start thinking about energy. Get your family, friends, business, and vendors thinking about energy. How do you use it? Where does it come from? Who do you give your energy money to? How can you use less energy? If you don’t want to use less energy, what sources of energy will you embrace? Wind, solar, natural gas, coal, nuclear sources are the portfolio. What is your choice? Hard to choose if you don’t give it some thought.
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Posted in Communities | Current Events | Employees | Leadership | Stewardship | Transportation by Steve Muller (Manager of Client Development) on September 20, 2011
The Bloomsburg Fair in Columbia County was cancelled for the first time in 157 years due to flooding the fairgrounds recently received.
The rains from September 5th through the 8th, as the remnants of tropical storm Lee crossed the eastern seaboard, brought the fifth worst flood in Susquehanna Valley history. Destruction and loss of life followed in the wake of the flooding, as residents, businesses, and officials from PA and the federal government continue to assess the damage.
As of four days after the flood waters began receding, here is some of what happened:
4,500 homes, and counting, were damaged or destroyed. > Read the rest of this article
Posted in Bridge Design | Communities | Municipal Services | Project Management | Structural Engineering | Sustainable Design | Transportation by David J. Johnson, PE (Project Engineer, Structural-Bridge ) on September 6, 2011
On July 12, 2011, a historic truss was set in its new location at 4th Street over the Allegheny River in Coudersport. The truss had spent the past 127 years three blocks upstream at 7th Street, carrying traffic to the Borough’s northeast corner and recreation park facilities. The historic bridge will now continue its service life as a pedestrian bridge at its new location.
The 7th Street Bridge was built in 1883 by the King Bridge Company of Cleveland, OH. The bridge is unique because it is one of the first bridges to be built entirely of steel and to still be in service. The bridge was retrofitted in 1983 with the addition of the steel arches. The decision to replace the bridge was made by the borough because it was functionally obsolete. The bridge was a one lane bridge that lacked adequate vertical clearance, proper barriers, or a sidewalk to provide access for pedestrians using the park.
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Posted in Bridge Design | Communities | Education | Employees | Leadership | Municipal Services | Professional Development | Structural Engineering | Transportation by Quentin D. Rissler, PE (Structural-Bridge) on August 24, 2011
At least once a year, I participate in middle school career fairs to talk about being a bridge engineer. While I have many stories I find interesting and enjoy my career and the challenges of each day, I do not want to bore the students. So I developed a fairly simple exercise that I have been doing with each group of students.
I ask for 2 volunteers to help me design the best bridge for this location – which is just a box but could represent any of the thousands of bridges that need to be designed. See photo 1 for the working materials which includes various sizes of wood, a steel tube, a brick, and a cardboard tube.
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Posted in Alternative Energy | Communities | Current Events | Economic Development | Education | Natural Gas | Networking | Site Design & Land Development | Transportation by Brad Breneisen (Graphic Design) on August 17, 2011
Recently, I had the opportunity to join members of the CNG Focus Group for a Tour of CATA’s (Centre Area Transportation Authority) facility in State College. I was able to get quite a few nice photos from this event and thought I would use this blog post as an opportunity to share the experience.
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