By Juan Lopez 0 Comments

Newburgh Enlarged Central School District

The City of Newburgh School District is an expanded district that encompasses two adjacent towns. As a result of the aged facility inventory and magnet school educational approach, the consolidation of some schools and the expansion of others to accommodate the student population have required significant infrastructure upgrades. Tectonic provided a variety of services for improvements at 10 different schools in the City of Newburgh, Newburgh, and Town of New Windsor.

Services performed in connection with two separate bond referenda included: value engineering, boundary/topographic surveys, geotechnical/pavement investigations, site plans for SED approval (involving idrainage, grading, roadways, circulation, safety, parking lots, sidewalks, retaining walls, potable water, irrigation, and sanitary sewer), athletic facilities (two NFHS polyurethane-bound rubber running tracks, softball, multi-purpose fields, tennis courts), and SPDES stormwater compliance.

At three schools, the condition/safety of the roadways and parking lots was dramatically improved through the reconfiguration and reconstruction of discrete bus loading areas, separated parent drop-off locations, and new access roadways.

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Central Park Police Precinct Soil Investigation

Remediation of an existing landmark police precinct building in Central Park. Three leaking underground storage tanks (USTs) were located on the property, adjacent to the existing building, which resulted in petroleum contamination of soils under and adjacent to the building.

A remedial investigation was performed in the building footprint to delineate petroleum impacted soils using shallow test pits, organic vapor screening and soil/groundwater sampling  accordance with NYSDEC DER-10.  A remedial investigation report was prepared including sampling methodology, test pit logs, data analysis, conclusions and remedial alternatives.  An indoor air assessment was conducted with an underslab vapor collection system and SVE remediation system designed and installed.

Tectonic worked with NYCDDC to get NYSDEC approval during these conditions discovered during construction to avoid project delays, remove several feet of petroleum-impacted soils, and address potential vapor intrusion to impacts future occupants.

The project received the following awards: 2013 ACEC Gold Award; 2012 Lucy Moses Award for outstanding preservation efforts; and 2010 ACEC Platinum Award to Tectonic for innovative design of a below grade SVE remedial system minimizing visual effect.

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Black Oak Wind Farm

Black Oak Wind Farm, LLC, plans to construct seven 2.3 megawatt wind turbines built by General Electric, in total producing 16.1 megawatts, on approximately 1,000 acres of land. All electricity produced on the farm, which is enough to power about 5,000 local households, have been purchased by Cornell.

Tectonic provided geotechnical and environmental support services for the project consisting of the seven wind turbines and associated collector systems, a collection station, a substation and access roads. The investigation identified the engineering properties of the site soils and bedrock necessary for the design of the turbine foundations, electrical grounding and buried electrical transmission lines. These services included the preparation of the geotechnical components of the geology, soils and topography section and the groundwater components of the water resources section of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS).

Test borings, Multi-Analysis of Surface Wave (MASW) testing, thermal resistivity testing, electrical resistivity surveys and laboratory soil testing were completed and a report with recommendations for the design and construction of the turbine and substation foundations was prepared.

Tectonic also performed a Phase 1 Environmental Site Assessment (ESA) for each of the seven wind turbine parcels spread geographically over the site and also conducted limited Phase II soil sampling to expedite screening for past agricultural practices to advance the project development schedule.

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Multi-Disciplinary Services

Tectonic has a long standing relationship with Central Hudson having performed multi-disciplined services throughout the region over the last 16 years. As part of their Transmission and Substation electrical systems upgrades and improvements, Tectonic has provided the following services:

  • Third party field inspection services, for performance of gas & electric utility facility installation throughout the lower Hudson Valley region for contractors.
  • Civil and structural engineering services for the design of caisson foundations to support transmission lines and utility poles at the Catskill Substation.
  • Subsurface investigation and geotechnical evaluation for the proposed upgrades to the Central Hudson Gas & Electric (CHG&E), 11-mile, 69 kV SB transmission line located between Kingston and Saugerties, Ulster County, New York, and the 12-mile, 69 kV H transmission line located in Catskill, Greene County, New York.
  • Structural engineering services for the design of caisson foundations to support 2 transmission towers on the NW transmission line.
  • Geotechnical investigation and prepared a report describing findings and recommendations for the construction of two (2) steel transmission poles to replace existing wood pole structures on the WM line in Walden, NY.
  • Structural analysis and field investigation of an existing elevated concrete slab and the brick bearing walls supporting the slab within a historic power station building at the Montgomery Street Substation.
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Port Jervis Substation Design

Under several contracts with Orange & Rockland Utilities, Inc., Tectonic performed design services for the replacement of a transmission/distribution substation spread across two sites. As part of the Substation replacement, Tectonic performed engineering services for pedestrian improvements, earthwork analyses, pavement replacement, and maintenance and protection of traffic (MPT) planning. Additionally, Tectonic provided coordination of drainage and retaining walls, site planning oversight, cost estimating, and engineering support.

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Term Agreements

Tectonic has been working with Con Ed through various Term Agreements over the last 15 years. As part of their Transmission and Substation electrical systems upgrades and improvements, Tectonic has provided the following services:

  • Structural engineering services for more than sixty (60) of Con Edison’s transmission towers.
  • Geotechnical and Environmental engineering. Geotechnical and environmental services including: performance of subsurface investigations, laboratory testing, geotechnical and environmental analyses, report preparation and geotechnical instrumentation and monitoring services.
  • Controlled inspection and materials testing services for soils, concrete, masonry, asphalt, and structural steel materials, preparation of inspection reports and performance of on-site investigations.
  • Land and property surveys, title searches, ROW and easement surveys, topographic surveys, hydrographic surveys, including soundings, construction and quantity surveys, transmission surveys including subsurface or overhead electric, gas and steam lines, and route feasibility surveys and studies.
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Verizon Wireless Dallas/Fort Worth Master Switching Center Design

The 31,400+/- square foot Dallas Forth Worth Switching Data Facility was designed to permit maximizing the site for future expansion options. Tectonic performed the building design for this new Two-Switch Facility in the North-East Texas Market. Services provided include:

  • Programmatic Facility Design
  • Civil/Site Design
  • Architectural/Life Safety Design
  • Structural Design
  • Code/Network Compliance Review
  • Geotechnical Design
  • Survey
  • Zoning Approvals
  • MEP
  • Fire Suppression/Alarm
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DASNY Construction Monitoring Projects

Under multiple term agreements held since 1996 with the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York, Tectonic has provided, and is currently providing geotechnical design and construction phase monitoring services for various state and private facilities throughout New York State. The construction phase monitoring services include performance on preconstruction condition surveys, vibration monitoring, noise monitoring, deformation monitoring, and crack monitoring.

On-going and/or completed monitoring projects to date include:

  • Lehman College Science Center
  • CUNY York College
  • Baruch College
  • Bronx Community College
  • CUNY ASRC Utility Tunnel
  • SUNY Albany Liberty Terrace
  • South Beach Psychiatric Center
  • SUNY New Paltz Dormitories
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USDA Animal Import Center Facility

Tectonic provided multi-discipline services as a subconsultant to government contractor, Clark Nexsen, for the preliminary design, support and oversight of the design-build construction on the New York Animal Import Center (NYAIC) at Stewart International Airport. This 10,000 square foot, LEED-Silver Administration building is one of 2 air/ocean-borne animal import centers on the eastern seaboard that is operated by the U.S. Department of Agricultural Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services (USDA-APHIS). The NYAIC was created as part of a multi-phased modernization plan to inspect and quarantine animals before their ultimate release and transfer to their final destination within the U.S.

Tectonic provided the following services:

  • Preliminary design: surveying, geotechnical subsurface investigations, National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) screening, New York State Historic Preservation Office (NYSHPO) consultation, and code review.
  • Preparation of NEPA and New York State Environmental Quality Review (SEQR) documentation addressing potential environmental impacts, and coordination of the process and determination with the USDA’s environmental liaison.
  • Development of a Program of Requirements (POR) and preliminary site plan to address the functional and operational compliance with USDA design standards, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) tenant construction requirements, airport individual State Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (SPDES) Permit limitations, and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) circulars/regulations.
  • Utilization of sand filters, pre-manufactured pretreatment units, and green technologies (stormwater planters and vegetate swales)

The information obtained from the pre-design phase and preliminary site and stormwater designs will be utilized by a design-build team in the final design and construction of the project.

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FEMA – Funded Culvert Replacements

Tectonic worked closely with the Town of Warwick to provide multi-discipline engineering services on various culverts and Town roadways that were destroyed after Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee in August/September 2011. The Federal Emergency Agency (FEMA) declared the region eligible for disaster relief funding and the project was performed under an expedited emergency repair framework. Tectonic coordinated with municipal staff to assess the town-wide damage inflicted by the storms and estimate damages. Ten locations were determined to be “large” FEMA projects and required engineering and permitting to facilitate replacement.

Tectonic performed multiple engineering services at six of the ten locations:

  • Cascade Road (arch culvert to permit fish passage on a regulated watercourse)
  • Black Rock Road (arch culvert to permit fish passage on a regulated watercourse)
  • Bowen Road (arch culvert to permit fish passage on a regulated watercourse
  • Distillery Road (box culvert)
  • Jessup Road (arch culvert to permit significant flow passage)
  • Ketchum Road (box culvert)

Tectonic’s services included:

  • Topographic surveys
  • Geotechnical subsurface investigations for culvert and wingwall foundations
  • Hydraulic modeling (Federal Highway Administration HY-8 Culvert Hydraulic Analysis Program) of the proposed improvements to size the culverts
  • Design and permitting plans generation
  • Permitting of the site (New York State Office of Parks and Historic Preservation, US Army Corps of Engineers emergency general permitting, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation emergency Protection of Waters, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)
  • Construction documents
  • Public bid and construction support