In our last article we briefly considered the differences between the traditional method of heavy construction, in which a project is built using stakes set based on final hard copy construction plans, and a more modern project, in which digital design files play at least some role in the construction process. In this article we will introduce the California Land Surveyors Association (CLSA) Central Valley Construction Committee. We’ll give some background on the committee, describe its goals, list its recently completed work, and talk about its current work-in-progress.

The CLSA Central Valley Chapter Construction Committee

The Central Valley Chapter of CLSA formed a Construction Committee in 2012. The committee was formed out of the interests and concerns chapter members had about the impact of automated machine control or machine guidance and digital design files on the construction project and the surveyor’s role on the construction project. The committee was formed with these initial goals:

1. Research current surveying and civil engineering practices related to the use of machine control and digital design Prepfiles during construction.
2. Prepare standard scope of professional service language related to machine control and digital design files for surveying services provided during BOTH design and construction of a project.
3. Prepare standard license agreements that can be used to release digital engineering or surveying files to third parties. The license agreements would address liability, warranty, error reporting, and the role of the design/surveying firm during construction.
4. Prepare standard construction specification language related to the use of machine control and digital design files during construction.
5. Discuss issues related to responsible charge and professional licensing as they relate to the use of machine control and digital design files during construction.
6. Prepare guidelines on the surveyor’s role during design and construction when machine control and digital design files will be used by the contractor.
7. Prepare standards for digital design file or topographic data deliverable to the contractor or the construction surveyor for use during construction.

Completed Work

In the Fall of 2013 the committee released a preliminary draft standard for the “level of control” provided by digital design files on a heavy construction project. The draft standards defined the concept “level of control” and described its three (3) primary elements. It then described 5 standard levels of control that could be referenced in a scope of professional services, standard contract/agreement, or other construction/design documents.

In the Winter of 2013 the committee also released a schematic for the preliminary design of a standard computer file system folder structure that could be used to transfer digital design files from the design team to the contractor or the construction surveyor.

Current Work

The committee is currently working on a sample digital design file deliverable for a simple road design project. The sample deliverable will be based on the preliminary standard computer file system folder structure released in the Winter of 2013. The sample deliverable will provide an example of the folder structure in use. It will also include CAD files and text files that demonstrate other parts of the standard for the digital design file deliverable being developed by the committee.
These other parts of the standard include:

• CAD Layer properties (name, color, line type).
• CAD Annotation guidelines.
• CAD Entity type guidelines.
• CAD file content and organization guidelines.
• Guidelines of the provision of point data, route profile data, and route alignment data in a text delimited format.
• Guidelines on the provision of survey control for use with automated machine guidance.

In our next article in this column we will describe the economic and business reasons behind the migration to machine control and the push for design teams to provide better and better digital design files to aid the construction process.

Tim Fleming, Past President, 1995—96

Our Third Annual Past President’s Dinner and Tim Fleming Memorial Scholarship Award was another awesome evening of history and celebration for the Sierra Chapter. On February 19th, almost a dozen past presidents were joined by an assortment of members and guests, including ACEC-California’s new Executive Director, Brad Diede.

Brad was our featured speaker and did an outstanding job of facilitating input from Sierra Chapter members on what is and isn’t working at ACEC-CA. Our input will be part of an association wide effort by Brad to gather ideas and suggestions on what to focus his energies on in the near future. Stay tuned for more feedback and information on this topic.

Brad Diede, ACEC-CA Executive Director

Also joining us this evening was the third winner of the annual Tim Fleming Memorial Scholarship, Mark Bretz. Mark is a sophomore civil engineering student at UC Davis focusing on transportation engineering. Mark was joined by his father, Neil, who is a 26 year veteran of Caltrans. Mark is originally from the Fresno area and was very excited to win this year’s scholarship. The scholarship was created in honor of Tim Fleming, who was a Past President of the Sierra Chapter, and a tremendous supporter of our industry.

Past President Marco Palilla awarding Mark Bretz his
$1,500 Tim Fleming Memorial Scholarship

Past Presidents joined us from all era’s including ACEC-CA, CELSOC and WAELS. In addition, everyone was very excited to see Sharon Hill, who was our chapter administrator for over 30 years. Debbie LoCicero took over that job a number of years ago and is carrying on the fine tradition started by Sharon. After dinner, we gathered for the distinguished “Past President’s Photo” posted below. Thanks again to all the Past Presidents, Sharon Hill, Brad Diede, and Mark Bretz for making this a very memorable evening.

Back Row: Steve Greenfield, Carlos España, Ed Henderson, Paul Enneking, Marco Palilla
Front Row: Eddie Kho, Terry Lowell, Ed Gillum, Orin Bennett, Chuck Cunningham, and Tom Blackburn

On February 4, 2014, the Sierra Chapter joined other ACEC chapters from around the state for the 2014 Legislative Visit Day. This is our annual opportunity to meet with our legislators and their staff to explain our views on various issues that impact our industry (i.e. infrastructure funding, contracting out, QBS, etc.). In my opinion, this is one of the most important activities for ACEC since it provides direct access to the people that have such impact on our businesses.

Unfortunately, most of the legislators were out of the Capitol on February 4th (something that was scheduled after our Leg Visit Day was set) so we met with their staff members instead. ACEC-CA Legislative Advocate Kelly Garman reminded us that these meetings are also valuable in that legislative staffs have significant influence and impact on what gets done at the State Capitol, and she should know. She served as Legislative Aide to Senator Bob Huff for many years before joining ACEC.

At lunch we honored Assembly Member Connie Conway from the 26th Assembly District (Visalia) as ACEC’s 2014 Legislator of the Year.

Sierra Chapter members who participated in Legislative Visit Day included: Eddie Kho, Steve Greenfield, Ted Hopkins, Kelly Birkes, Tom Blackburn, Harvey Oslick, Anthony Hernandez, Noelle Mattock and Marco Palilla. If you missed this years event, be sure to join us in 2015, you will get a first hand look at the political process that drives our society.

Our March speaker will be Pete Ghelfi, P.E., Director of Engineering for the Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency.  He will be providing an update on Sacramento area flood protection activities.

Pete Ghelfi has been the Director of Engineering for SAFCA since 2000. He has been involved in numerous flood control projects that have led to increased flood protection to the Sacramento area. The majority of Pete’s time is to represent SAFCA in SAFCA’s partnership with the Corps of Engineers, State Department of Water Resources/California Central Valley Flood Protection Board staff to implement over $2.5 billion in needed flood control improvements in the Sacramento area. Projects worked on include slurry wall construction along the Sacramento and American Rivers, various levee repair projects, underseepage remediation, erosion protection, improvements to Folsom Dam, levee certification efforts along the American River, Sacramento River and South Sacramento Streams, and the re-mapping of over 82,000 parcels out of the regulatory floodplain.