Modern Military Facilities: Leaner and Greener

Here's a project that has some of our team members feeling excited, like kids playing toy soldiers.

OHM is the Designer of Record, helping the US Army Corp of Engineers revamp part of its “old Kentucky home” at Ft. Campbell, in the southwestern part of the state.

Comprised of six new buildings and two additions to existing buildings, the project –51,000sf - was launched with the requirement to earn the Silver Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Certification. (The LEED Green Building Rating System™ is the nationally-accepted benchmark for the design, construction, and operation of high-performance green buildings.) Instead of LEED Silver though, Ft. Campbell's new buildings are getting a "free upgrade" to qualify for LEED Gold status. All that without an increase in scope, schedule or cost!

These projects are being built using the delivery method called Design-Build, in which one source has sole accountability for architecture, engineering and construction. Design-Build projects differ from traditional design-bid-build projects in that they allow for the overlapping of design and construction. That means construction can begin after only a portion of the final detailed design has been completed, reducing costs and schedule. Minnesota’s Department of Transportation used Design-Build to replace the collapsed 1-35W bridge in Minneapolis, opening the new bridge in record time.

Walkability: Key to Sustainable Suburbs

When it comes to advancing communities, walkability is a hot, hot topic right now. The Infrastructurist, a blog focused on America's infrastructure, recently featured a post that caused big electronic buzz, How Cul-de-Sacs are Killing Your Community. The post highlights a research study performed at the University of British Columbia of the effects of cul-de-sacs in neighborhoods in King County, Washington. The study found that neighborhoods with cul-de-sacs, rather than interconnected streets, promote more automobile use.

The Infrastructurist post [May 7] reports that the UBC research and others show that the higher a neighborhood's walkability, the greater the walking and biking. More walking and biking results in less air pollution, less fuel use and thinner residents.

The Michigan Municipal League's magazine, The Review just published an issue focused on walkable communities. In it, Dan Burden of www.walkablecommunties.org share his 12 Characteristics of a Walkable Community.

1. Intact Downtowns
2. Residential Densities, Mixed-Income, Mixed Use
3. Public Space
4. Universal Design
5. Key Streets are Speed Controlled
6. Well-Linked Streets and Trails
7. Properly Scaled Design
8. City/Village is Designed for People
9. Community is Thinking Small
10. There are Many People Walking
11. The Community and Neighborhoods Have a Vision
12. Decision Makers are Forward Thinking

Besides being focused on "place making" as an essential part of advancing communities, we're working with one of our long-time client communities to create a more walkable village. In future posts, I'll share some of the steps the village is taking to increase pedestrian access, safety and a ssense of "place."

The Nicest Park and Ride in North America? Thanks ARRA!

The City of Ann Arbor boasts a vibrant downtown. A vibrant and populous downtown. According to Nancy Shore, of Ann Arbor's getDowntown Program, almost 50% of Ann Arbor employees who work downtown do not live in Ann Arbor.

That means that cities like Ann Arbor need ways to get those workers downtown. Like many urban areas, parking is notoriously scarce in downtown Ann Arbor. To encourage more commuters to leave their vehicles outside the city limits, the Ann Arbor Transit Authority (AATA)just built and opened its fifth commuter park-and-ride lot at US-23and Plymouth Road. The lot was developed in coorporation with the city of Ann Arbor, the Michigan Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration.

There are a few unusual aspects to this park-and-ride lot:

AATA (with the help of a totally awesome AEP firm dedicated to advancing communities) procured a Maintenance Agreement with the MDOT to build a "green" parking lot.

Just how do you make a parking lot, the symbol of denatured development, "green"?Here are a few ideas:

Pre-treat stormwater runoff through infiltration trenches to collect sediment prior to being released in the pre-treatment basin and ultimately a storm water detention facility.

Construct bio-swales to treat and infiltrate stormwater before it flows to ditches.

Evaluate innovative technologies for best management practices (BMPs) such as rain gardens, bio-swales, bio-retention systems, and porous pavement sections and compare with more traditional BMPs such as storm sewers and detention basins.

Create non-motorized pathways.

Use Light Emitting Diodes (LED) in all the site light fixtures to save on energy costs.

Design receptacles for electric vehicle parking for pay metering service in the future.

Michigan’s 2010 gubernatorial candidate, former Gateway CEO and local Ann Arbor entrepreneur, Rick Snyder commented on WJR-760 Radio that this project is “the nicest park & ride in North America."

The American Recovery Reinvestment Act administered through the Federal Transit Agency funded about $1.5 million to construct the lot.

Reconstructing a Major Road & Bridge: Cooperation Creates APWA Project of the Year

In 2009 the American Society of Civil Engineers assessed the United State's infrastructure conditions and issued a report card. ASCE gave its bridges a "C" grade. Average. That's not bad.

But then there are the roads. The Report Card grade for US roads is a dismal "D-". With transportation funding so scarce, communities and agencies often battle each other for the few dollars available.

Except for the City of Auburn Hills, the Road Commission for Oakland County and the Michigan Department of Transportation. Leaders there knew that the key to getting a major road and bridge reconstructed was cooperation.

Still, it wasn't easy. First, take 1.5 miles of road, an old bridge over a major freeway, three government owners and their respective processes, and a project that had stalled in the early 1990s. Fast forward to 2007 and throw in high priority federal and state funding deadlines. The result from this hurry up and wait? The unlikely: a successful project in five months. Watch the slideshow to see how it's done.

Walton Boulevard Reconstruction, APWA Project of the Year

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