PROJECT OF THE YEAR NOMINEES

Ahtna Engineering Services Source and Incidental Contaminate CON/HTRW Remedial Action, Davis AFB Cantonment Area

Ahtna Engineering Services successfully completed a Containerized Hazardous, Toxic, or Radioactive Waste removal action (RmA) and limited site investigation at Davis Air Force Base Cantonment Area FUDS during the 2019 and 2020 field seasons. The project was located on the remote western side of Adak Island within the Alaska Maritime Wildlife Refuge, and access was limited to only helicopters and boats. Boat access was constrained to roughly 30 feet of usable beach influenced by strong winds and rip tides. On-site conditions were very poor, with no available roads and extremely soft soil that would not support wheeled vehicles of any type.

The RmA included the removal of two above ground storage tanks (AST); 8.18 tons of drums and drum carcasses; 4,054 tons of soil contaminated by petroleum, oil, and lubricant (POL); 445 gallons of POL-liquid contents from drums and ASTs; 0.55 tons of broken lead-acid battery debris and lead-shielded cable; 11.1 tons of lead-contaminated soil; 21.6 tons of cadmium contaminated soil; 0.26 tons of electronics debris; 525 linear feet of pipeline; and two generators from the site. Ahtna successfully completed the work through careful planning efforts, gaining access using landing craft and helicopters and the extensive use of tracked heavy equipment and crane mats to minimize ground impacts. Though the COVID-19 pandemic struck just prior to the 2020 field season, Ahtna completed the work and demobilized successfully using a rigorous safety, testing, and monitoring program; remote camp; and limited vessel uses.

Reid Middleton F-35A Beddown at Eielson Air Force Base RESPEC

Moose Creek Water Expansion Project

Reid Middleton provided structural engineering for the beddown of the new F-35A Lightning II aircraft at Eielson Air Force Base (AFB), near Fairbanks, creating a premier secure enclave and training range for the United States Air Force (USAF) with the highest concentration of combat-coded fifth-generation fighter aircraft in the United States. The 354th Fighter Wing operates and maintains these aircraft and is critical to the USAF Arctic Strategy of vigilance in the Arctic domain.

Reid Middleton was integral to six structures in the beddown operation: design of a sixteen-bay aircraft hangar/ weather shelter; renovation of the Weapons Load Training Building; renovation of a Logistics Support eight-bay hangar; and assembling Design-Build RFPs for a new sixteen-bay aircraft hangar/weather shelter, a new 8,000-square-foot Intelligence Office Building with high security requirements, and a new four-bay fuel truck shelter near the weather shelters.

During the design and planning process, Reid Middleton helped to identify that the specified “weather shelters” would not work in Alaska. For both F-35A hangars, the team was creative in meeting the weather shelter construction budget while providing the enclosure and conditioning needed in northern Alaska.

The 4.5-year timeline for design and construction of more than twenty new buildings, runways, and taxiways was aggressive and required creative contracting, inspired design, and cooperative construction. Reid Middleton strategically used materials, contractors, and suppliers to ensure that the created designs have the shortest timeline possible. The first aircraft were delivered to completed structures in April 2021, and the remaining fifty-two are joining them at Eielson AFB regularly. People in Moose Creek, southeast of North Pole, faced a crisis: groundwater contamination.

Poly-fluoroalkyl substances, used for firefighting at airfields, had leaked from neighboring Eielson Air Force Base. When the contamination to local groundwater was discovered in 2014, the US Air Force (USAF) stepped in. They wanted to immediately rectify the problem.

USAF began treating 200 water systems by giving users granulated activated carbon filters. However, maintaining that treatment became unsustainable. USAF looked for an alternative and chose to extend the water system from the City of North Pole (CNP).

USAF approached CNP, committing to pay all costs, which amounts to $37 million. CNP requested planning and construction move quickly. They trusted RESPEC, working as PDC Engineers, to do the job, contacting us in fall 2018.

RESPEC moved quickly to design the expansion. We estimated the water demands of Moose Creek, evaluated CNP’s water system capacity, and reviewed land status. Then we designed well upgrades, a water treatment plant and pumphouse, a steel storage tank, and 18 miles of transmission and distribution mains. Next, RESPEC developed materials specifications and acquired permits. To advance, we earned approval from eight government agencies.

RESPEC went from concept to submittal to permitting in fifteen months. It normally takes three years. We helped USAF and CNP conclude the project by inspecting construction.

By 2022, people in Moose Creek will have clean water, thanks to a herculean effort from all involved.