October 18th Sierra Chapter Dinner Meeting Promo

Please join us for our October meeting as Randy Fessler, Principal Engineer & Construction Branch Manager for the California Department of Water Resources (DWR), will speak to us about recent projects in the Levee Repair Program Headquarters (LRPH). In this role, he oversees over 100 professional and consultant staff delivering all engineering and construction management services related to Levee construction, repair and maintenance projects throughout the state. Much of the work has been getting the levees up to 200 year flood protection standards. Randy’s group also oversees environmental projects that provide or improve fish passage, increase natural flood plains to minimize river rise and manage seasonal river flows to support threatened fish habitat.

 

By Lincoln Leaman, Secretary/Treasurer

Welcome New Members!

The Sierra Chapter is proud to announce the Board of Directors approved 
and welcomed the following new firms in the past year:
Firm Month/Yr. Joined Member Type City
TRC 03/2023 Engineering Roseville
Ultieg 06/2023 Engineering Rancho Cordova
IronOrbit 08/2023 Affiliate Anaheim Hills
Aerial Zeus 08/2023 Affiliate Sacramento
Jackson & Sands Engineering, Inc. 09/2023 Engineering Grass Valley

    

New Member Intro: Jackson & Sands Engineering, Inc.

The Sierra Chapter is thrilled to announce our new member, Jackson & Sands Engineering, Inc. Jackson and Sands has completed ADU designs for many Northern California cities and counties and they have also been heavily involved with the rebuilding efforts in Paradise by providing custom and master home plans to those affected by the Camp Fire. With offices in Chico and Grass Valley, CA, Jackson & Sands offers structural, civil, and construction services for residential, commercial, and public clients.

 

By Donald Blackburn, Vice President

ACEC Scholarship Winners Attending the next Sierra Chapter Dinner Meeting!

Every year, the ACEC California Scholarship Foundation seeks the best and brightest engineering and land surveying students in California and awards scholarships to them. Over the years, ACEC California has awarded over $700,000 in cash grants to hundreds of outstanding students. ACEC California announced the recipients of the 2023-2024 Scholarship Foundation awards earlier this year and fourteen students received scholarship funds – seven graduate students and seven undergraduate students. In all, the Scholarship Foundation awarded a total of $65,000 in scholarship funds. Even better news is two of this year’s winners are from the Sierra Chapter!  Israel Rivera of UC Davis and Jasmine Randhawa of UOP.

Israel and Jasmine will be joining us on October 18th to share their stories and receive an official  ACEC Scholarship certificate. Please come and help us celebrate these two outstanding engineering students at the next Sierra chapter Dinner Meeting.

 

 

By Marco Palilla, Director

September 20, 2023 Meeting Recap

The September ACEC monthly meeting featured guest speaker Matt Click, Executive Director of the Placer County Transportation Planning Agency (PCTPA). Click began his presentation by welcoming all consultants in attendance and reinforcing that his door is always open to support them in any way.

Click provided an overview of PCTPA’s role as the regional transportation agency for Placer County. PCTPA helps local jurisdictions obtain funding to plan, design and deliver important transportation projects. Every 4-5 years, PCTPA updates the county’s 25-year transportation plan called the Placer Transportation Plan to reflect current needs and priorities. Click noted they work closely with SACOG at the regional level.

Some major projects PCTPA is involved with include ongoing improvements along Interstate 80 through Placer County. Click noted work is currently underway and making progress to alleviate traffic congestion in the area. While expanding roadway infrastructure is not always popular, Click emphasized its importance given Placer County’s low levels of mass transit use presently. PCTPA is working to improve micro transit options like GoPlacer, an app-based ridesharing program serving South Placer communities. A new express bus route is also slated to launch in South Placer this coming spring. Additionally, PCTPA helps fund the Students Ride Free program across Placer County.

Click highlighted a new grant PCTPA recently received to update the county’s Active Transportation Plan focused on improving bike and pedestrian infrastructure. As the largest county in California currently without a self-help transportation funding measure, Click said PCTPA’s goal is to educate voters on the benefits of a dedicated local funding stream. Click directed attendees to the website KeepPlacerMoving.com for more information.

In the concluding slides, Click shared PCTPA’s top priority projects listed on their website including the Highway 65 Widening project and Interstate 80/Highway 65 Interchange Improvements. His presentation provided engineers in attendance with a helpful recap of PCTPA’s role and the transportation initiatives and improvements underway across Placer County. The September ACEC monthly meeting featured guest speaker Matt Click, Executive Director of the Placer County Transportation Planning Agency (PCTPA). Click began his presentation by welcoming all consultants in attendance and reinforcing that his door is always open to support them in any way.

By Rami Gharaibeh, Director