In honor of National Public Lands Day, we’re revisiting an infrastructure project that helps people access one of the wildest rivers in the world.

DEERLODGE PARK, Co. — Tucked at the opposite end of Dinosaur National Monument’s famous Quarry
Exhibit Hall, a fossil museum that received , lies a lesser-known yet equally
breathtaking attraction.

The Deerlodge Park Campground offers seven first-come, first-serve campsites for travelers to pitch a
tent among the towering cottonwoods of Colorado — and look up at the stars in .
However, most people only come here to enter the Yampa River.

Known for thwarting proposed on its waters (except a few minor diversions),
the Yampa remains the least-regulated tributary in the Colorado River Basin.

But extended summers are shortening the floating season. And because the flow of the river depends on how fast snow melts, are causing the Yampa to flood more intensely, straining vital infrastructure.

Bringing Resources to the Wild

As flooding continues to in the national register, Federal Land Management
Agencies (FLMAs) must augment their staffs to handle a backlog of transportation projects.
Enter the Office of Federal Lands Highway (FLH).

Responsible for more than 30 percent of the nation’s land, including over 500,000 miles of roads, the
FLH serves to solve and manage challenges that are wide-ranging in environment, geography, and
complexity.

From building the Hoover Dam Bypass over the Colorado River Gorge to reconstructing Pennsylvania
Avenue in front of the White House, the FLH and partnered agencies pioneer some of the most unique
transportation projects in the country.

Prepare to Stop, Danger Ahead

The Deerlodge Park Campground periodically floods during Colorado’s spring snowmelt. After decades
of enduring, Deerlodge Road and its supporting infrastructure were
beginning to crumble.

The drainage system, which only received touch-ups since being installed in 1966, was failing under
heavier, unprecedented loads of water. Ten of the 93 culverts carrying runoff under the roadway had
severely eroded. Another two were past repair.

This contributed to subsurface instability that accelerated the pavement’s decline, especially in
designated parking areas.

Additionally, the that monument officials installed in 2003 was deteriorating, inching the Yampa
10 feet closer to the road every year, an environmental review found.

Dinosaur had an imminent riverbank failure on its hands — and 12.7 miles of roadway to mend.

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Mobilizing for Universal Access

In coordination with the National Park Service (NPS), the CFLHD proposed a $5.6-million restoration.
After receiving endorsement from the Department of Interior (DOI), the CFLHD deployed a taskforce to
the easternmost end of Dinosaur’s 211,000-acre expanse.

And in four months, a hybrid field crew:

• Installed exposed-rock riprap with a “launchable toe,” a stabilization measure that autocorrects
  through time, to armor the riverbank.
• Removed and resurfaced the existing 12.7 miles of pavement with a fresh layer of hot asphalt.
• Enhanced parking areas, including curb and gutter replacements, for better functionality.
• Applied cement treatment to pavement cavities to reinforce subgrade.
• Repaired, relocated, and added culverts to improve drainage flow.

From inception to completion, the project aligned with stringent quality standards and ecological
considerations, and Atlas Technical Consultants was hired as the Construction Management leader for
the project.. Along with delivering construction management and field inspection services, Atlas
provided a Technical Advisor (COTA), Construction Inspector (CI), and off-site project administrators to
ensure success.

Building the Foundation for Public Lands Work

Beyond serving a recreational purpose, Deerlodge Park Road enables biologists to care after critical
habitats. It allows park rangers to engage the next generation of conservationists through school
programs. And it grants private landowners total control of their properties.

If you’re interested in learning more about Atlas’ services and FLH project experience, contact the
Project Manager Patrick Young, P.E. or Lee Kunselman P.E., PMP.

The Association of Materials Protection and Performance (AMPP), a leading global corrosion and coatings community, recently assembled a group of experts to revamp the internationally recognized Basic Coating Inspector and Certified Coating Inspector requirements.

AMPP gathered nine forward-thinking professionals — with strong backgrounds in coating inspection, coating systems specification, and failure analysis — to design two new course curriculums and exam questions.

One of the invitees was Principal Engineer, Jay Dorst.

“We reviewed and developed the blueprint for the material that will be included in the certification exams for candidates wishing to obtain certification as coating inspectors,” Jay said.

But they first had to weigh what factors were more important than others. That is, what exactly are the differences between level-one basic and level-two certified?

“Our goal was to categorize and determine the areas of emphasis that a coating inspector, at various certification levels, should be able to answer. The scope of knowledge and the level of expertise of a Basic Coating Inspector and a Certified Coating Inspector was established during our workshop.”

It was a four-day affair, and Jay’s seat on the panel means Atlas currently represents 10% of the global experts who set the industry standard.

Well done, Jay.

The City of Los Angeles Bureau of Engineering’s $588 million Sixth Street Viaduct replacement project in Los Angeles will join the L.A. Arts District to Boyle Heights. The new bridge, to open later in 2022, replaces a 1932 structure that was retired due to seismic vulnerability and a rare chemical reaction in the cement supports. It is funded by the Federal Highway Transportation Administration and the California Dept. of Transportation, as well as city funds.

The new bridge, dubbed The Ribbon of Light, will include a 2,864‐ft‐long tied‐arch continuous concrete viaduct structure and a 193‐ft-long post‐tensioned, cast‐in‐place, reinforced concrete box girder structure at the west approach. Design was completed by HNTB and Los Angeles architect Michael Maltzan. Construction is led by contractors Skanska Stacy and Witbeck.

Atlas, through its acquired company Alta Vista Solutions, is providing quality management services, engineering assessment and evaluation for quality assurance and verification, materials engineering and investigations, structural steel inspection, testing and analysis, and source inspections.

“The project challenges have been significant,” says Bahjat Dagher, Project Manager with Atlas. Downtown traffic, dealing with Los Angeles River challenges, working over and under active rail lines operated by five agencies, and managing identified and unidentified utility conflicts top the list. Alta Vista Solutions, an Atlas company, has provided continuous support to the City of Los Angeles since 2017 dealing with typical and atypical construction, fabrication, and erection adversity. “We are grateful for the opportunity to provide our services that contribute to this first-class, high-quality structure that we can be proud of for generations to come” says Mr. Dagher.

“We have traveled to remote areas in California, as well as to states like Arizona, Utah, Ohio, Oregon, Missouri, and even Canada to perform source inspection and ensure the high standards of quality are met during fabrication. Our team of specialists help ensure that fabrication processes, welding, coating, material documentation, nondestructive testing and personnel certifications comply with contract requirements. Additionally, the team performs oversight assessment and verification of in-process quality control (QC) testing,” says Mr. Dagher. In addition, Atlas, through Alta Vista Solutions, provided batch plant inspections, field inspections and materials testing for the structural concrete which included the helical ramp and the ten pairs of unique arches. These remarkable features are what will make the Sixth Street Viaduct an iconic piece of the LA skyline.

Published by Engineering News-Record (ENR)
On July 18, 2022

Bridges are an essential part of our nation’s infrastructure. The safe passage of fellow citizens and the efficient delivery of goods and services depends on reliable bridges.�� As a trained engineer, my fascination with bridges began very early. I am also painfully aware of the important role bridges play in our daily lives and how much we take them for granted.

Here are some statistics* about US bridges that I found staggering:

• There are more than 617,000 bridges across the US
• 42% of all bridges are at least 50 years old, with the average age being 44 years
• 46,154 are in “poor” condition

Given these alarming facts, I often ask, are we paying enough attention to America’s bridges?

According to the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), 178 million daily trips are taken across bridges that are classified in “poor” condition. The cumulative result of this neglect is $125 billion of backlog in bridges requiring repair.

As the nation’s bridges continue to age, each of us is aware of the imminent need to build new and maintain existing bridges. New technologies, more modern materials, innovative evaluation techniques, and pioneering construction methods have provided advances in recent years to meet this challenge.

The new administration’s American Rescue Plan to rebuild our country’s infrastructure includes $631 billion that will fix the most economically significant large bridges in the country. This investment will also repair 10,000 smaller bridges, including those that provide critical connections to rural and tribal communities.

Atlas plays an important role in improving our nation’s bridges and infrastructure. In Georgia, Atlas is replacing a 66-year-old fracture critical steel truss bridge on the State Route 53 at Lake Lanier design build project. Our team developed an innovative design for the replacement bridge that saved $3 million dollars in construction cost. Additionally, we are inspecting and designing structural repairs on significant bridges such as the New York’s Verrazano-Narrows, California’s Golden Gate and the San Francisco-Oakland Bay bridges, helping to extend the lives of these iconic American structures.

Not only are we focused on building and repairing bridges, but Atlas is working to make them more “shovel worthy” – providing much-needed access and mobility for ambulances, fire trucks or school buses. We have teamed with partners to replace posted and deficient bridges across the country with the goal of ensuring safe passage and enabling the economy to thrive. In Texas, Atlas is working on the replacement of the US 181 Harbor Bridge in Corpus Christi. The new bridge will accommodate larger ships, be the longest cable-stay bridge in the U.S. and Canada, and the tallest structure in South Texas, when completed. Most recently, we developed plans to replace a bridge posted for weight limitations in Newton County, Georgia over the Yellow River with construction planned for September 2021.

Infrastructure Week is an ideal time to refocus our attention on America’s aging infrastructure and vigorously address this daunting challenge.

I, the Atlas team, our partners, and our entire industry believe NOW is the time to cross this bridge because we’ve come to it!

*ASCE Data

Author:

L. Joe Boyer |��CEO of Atlas Technical Consultants