Page 48 - Colorado Construction & Design

Reconstruction of E-470 - courtesy of Kumar & Associates, Inc.
Noll knows a little something about continuity; he has been involved in the planning, design, construction, and now reconstruction of E-470 since he started his career. The non-stop, cashless, all-electronic tollway forms a 47-mile semi-circular beltway around Denver’s eastern flank and has been a work-in-progress on Noll’s to-do list for 30 years.
“I was on the original phases of construction early in my career, some design segments in the middle, and now we’re working on widening a section from Quincy up to Smith Road with numerous bridges and miles
of embankments. Not a lot of engineers can say they worked on the same piece of infrastructure time and again over a 40-year career,” finishes Noll
Founded in 1993, Pinyon Environmental, Inc.
is a Colorado-grown, environmental services
Asked about key considerations in site development related to environmental compliance, Thomas returns to well-worn wisdom.
“Everyone in the industry should understand that getting an environmental engineer involved from the beginning of the project is the surest way to eliminate a whole host of potential obstacles; many of which can be both challenging and expensive later,” she shares.
Thomas points out that in downtown Denver, for instance, there are lots of areas where subsurface water can be an issue. Accounting for that in design is a lot easier than having to dewater an accidentally flooded job site.
Eliminating foreseeable and costly construction complications are the beneficial byproducts of better collaboration but some site solutions revolve around environmental obstacles of far greater concern.
Pinyon recently supported the design-build delivery of
$80 million of urban highway reconstruction where I-25 passes through Pueblo. Due to a local industrial history that included significant smelting operations, local soils are contaminated with lead and arsenic. Further, the reuse of similarly contaminated slag as fill material for ramps
and embankments in the 1950s when I-25 was built made it an extremely sensitive site for highway reconstruction. Taking on the role of Environmental Compliance Manager, Pinyon helped CDOT Region 2, Flatiron, HDR, and owner’s representative, Atkins, devise a strategy to protect workers, the public, and the environment that included sampling every five hundred cubic yards of soil to devise area-by- area remediation and reuse strategies.
“A lot of the material was found suitable for reuse onsite; in addition, we used clean, non-impacted
soils to cap the entire project area thus eliminating the exposure pathway,” says Thomas. “Teamwork
is the cornerstone of success in construction. Now, there is an area in downtown Pueblo that is better environmentally than when we got there. That’s good for everyone.”
I-25 - courtesy of Pinyon Environmental
firm consulting on a wide range
of engineering due diligence, remediation, regulatory compliance, industrial hygiene, and natural and biological resource issues. Principal, Karlene Thomas, PE, joined Pinyon in 1998 and today, leads the firm’s Quality Assurance / Quality Control program in pursuit of environmentally compliant
Karlene Thomas, PE
solutions to development challenges. Serving nearly the
full breadth of market sectors, Pinyon’s clients include commercial and industrial developers, federal, state, and local government, energy, as well as transportation, utilities, and mining interests across Colorado.
“Pinyon is focused on finding the best balance between business and the environment,”
says Thomas. “We help owners, designers, contractors, and reviewers dissect challenges and find solutions that protect environmental resources while respecting schedules and budgets.”
48 | Colorado Construction & Design
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