Joint Calmentor North Region and ACEC-CA Sierra Chapter, Event Recap

Kevin ThompsonAt the ACEC/Calmentor Joint Meeting, Kevin Thompson, Director of Engineering for the California High Speed Rail Authority, provided an excellent overview of the high-speed rail. Kevin’s presentation included updates on the project progress and some of the significant engineering challenges facing the project.

The High-Speed Rail project will be the first of its kind in the United States and is intended to connect all California population centers. With California currently ranked as the “7th largest” economy in the world, this will be one of the largest transportation projects undertaken by the State in decades. Work on Construction Package 1 — Madera to Fresno — has been well under way, and site preparation for Construction Package 2-3 (two former projects combined into one DB project) extends approximately 60 miles south of Fresno. The third design-build project, which was recently awarded, continues south for another 22 miles and ends just north of Bakersfield.

Since California’s population is expected to grow to 50 million by the year 2050, high speed rail will help reduce traffic congestion, improve air quality, and lessen the load on our major airports. The San Francisco to Central Valley segment will include four multi-modal transportation hubs including Transbay, Millbrae, San Jose and Gilroy Stations. San Jose to Fresno is expected to be a 60-minute ride and San Francisco to Los Angeles a 2-hour 40-minute ride.

The engineering challenges for high speed rail include crossing many faults of varying seismic activity and predicting their impact on at-grade, viaduct, and tunnel structures. Highly variable geologic and groundwater conditions are just a few of the other challenges to be addressed by the engineering teams.

The Authority has embraced a 30 percent goal for small business participation, which includes 10 percent for disadvantaged business enterprises and 3 percent for disabled veteran business enterprises. The Authority has also just released the 2016 Business Plan, which provides an updated schedule and projected cost for delivering the nation’s first high speed rail system. The Business Plan can easily be accessed on the Authority’s website http://hsr.ca.gov/

Mr. Thompson is a graduate of Arizona State University and holds a Civil Engineering license in California. He served as the State Bridge Engineer at Caltrans from Feb 2005 through July 2010, worked as a small business owner until Oct 2012, and then worked for URS as Bridge Practice Director prior to joining the Authority in May 2015. He lives with his wife Barbara, and daughter Mary Bren in the Sierra Nevada Foothills. Kevin’s hobbies include hiking, motorcycle riding, and vintage car collection and restoration. His family lineage includes Ben Thompson, gunfighter in the old west.

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Author: Editorial Team