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Treadwell & Rollo is providing geotechnical and environmental engineering services for the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Authority (SFMTA) Central Subway Project along with lead engineer and construction management firm, Parsons Brinckerhoff

Drilling at Nob Hill for Central Subway Project.

Drilling at Nob Hill for Central Subway Project.

We have begun the supplemental geotechnical and hydrogeologic investigations for the project’s final design/pre-construction phase by drilling a rock core boring on Nob Hill to assess the rock quality present in the tunnel alignment. Information from this boring will be used to assist in design of the Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) cutterheads. The boring has to be drilled at an angle to avoid intercepting the Stockton Tunnel, which overlies the proposed tunnel alignment.  

Supplemental investigations will also include borings and in situ and laboratory testing at each of the three proposed passenger station locations (Moscone, Union Square/Market Street, and Chinatown) and at several locations along the tunnel alignment, where new structural elements, including the TBM launchbox and several planned sumps, will be constructed.   

Central Subway Alignment Map.

Central Subway Alignment Map.

For geotechnical engineering services, Senior Engineer Cary Ronan, PE, GE, is the Project Manager and Principal Engineer Ramin Golesorkhi, PhD, PE, GE, is the Principal-in-Charge. Hydrogeologic modeling of groundwater flow around critical elements will be led by Principal Geologist Dorinda Shipman, PG, CHG, and Senior Project Scientist Michael Chendorain, REA. 

The Central Subway Project is Phase 2 of the 1.7 mile Third Street Light Rail Project that will link Little Hollywood and Visitación Valley with South of Market, Moscone Center, Union Square and Chinatown.  Benefits to the community will include improved regional connections to BART, Caltrain, and MUNI as well as reduced air and noise pollution and surface congestion. Service is expected to begin in 2018.

Rendering of the New Transbay Terminal.

View of Proposed New Transbay Transit Center (Courtesy of TJPA)

In 2007, Treadwell & Rollo was selected by Transbay Joint Powers Authority (TJPA) to conduct As-Needed Environmental Consulting Services for the construction of the new Transbay Transit Center in downtown San Francisco.  The Center will serve 10 Bay Area transportation systems: AC Transit, BART, Caltrain, Golden Gate Transit, Greyhound, Muni, SamTrans, WestCAT Lynx, Amtrak and the future High Speed Rail from San Francisco to Los Angeles/Anaheim. 

Prior to building the new Transbay Transit Center, a new temporary terminal facility was built at Block 3739 (Site).  The Site is approximately 275 feet by 550 feet in plan dimension and is bound by Main Street to the northeast, Howard Street to the northwest, Beale Street to the southwest, and Folsom Street to the southeast. 

Peter J. Cusack, REA, is the Project Manager, and Dorinda C. Shipman, PG, CHG, is the Principal leading our environmental services on these projects.  As part of our contract with TJPA, we performed a Phase I Environmental Site Assessment; Phase II Environmental Site Characterization, Site Mitigation Plan (SMP) and oversight during the construction activities.  Based on the analytical results from the site characterization work, some of the fill material contained elevated total and soluble lead levels at concentrations exceeding Federal and State of California hazardous waste criteria. 

Temporary Terminal (Courtesy TJPA)

Temporary Terminal (Courtesy TJPA)

We also performed a Limited Environmental Site Characterization and prepared a SMP and assisted with specifications for the demolishing of the current Transbay Terminal building and the construction of the Transbay Transit Center.  The new Transbay Transit Center development will centralize the regional transportation network, and consist of below grade levels for the trains, above grade levels for buses and a park on the roof. 

The property is bayward of the original historic San Francisco shoreline and subject to the requirements of the City’s Article 22A (Maher) Ordinance.  Article 22A states that construction projects which are bayward of the historic 1852 high tide line and disturb more than 50 cubic yards of soil, require assessing the site history and subsurface soil quality.

Treadwell & Rollo was pleased to attend the 2010 San Francisco Business Times Book of Lists Party, honoring top Bay Area business leaders who were featured in this year’s edition of the publication. Treadwell & Rollo was ranked as the 11th largest environmental firm and the 24th largest engineering firm and in the San Francisco Bay Area. This is the 10th consecutive year that Treadwell & Rollo has received recognition in the San Francisco Business Times Book of Lists.

On behalf of Treadwell & Rollo, Jeffrey Ludlow, PG, Principal Geologist, and Julie Frankel, Marketing Director, attended this year’s Book of Lists party at the Four Seasons Hotel, Veranda Ballroom. Nearly 1,000 top Bay Area business executives and non-profit organizations were in attendance. Among them were representatives from Chevron, AT&T, Mechanics Bank, Golden Gate University, Howard S. Wright Construction, Turner Construction, Studios Architecture, and Hood & Strong LLP.

Mary Huss, Publisher of the San Francisco Business Times, addressed business owners, managers, and executives during the reception to celebrate the achievements of Bay Area businesses despite the current economic climate.  The reception brought together an array of business development opportunities in a variety of industries.

To read more on the 2010 Book of Lists, please visit the Press and Awards section of our website.

Image displays a typical micropile installation

Treadwell & Rollo is currently performing Quality Control services while observing micropile installation and testing for the BART Earthquake Safety Program, North Oakland Aerial Structures.

Micropiles are being installed to resist uplift loads due to seismic forces created during an earthquake. A typical micropile consists of 10-inch diameter, drilled, grout-filled shafts with steel bars embedded in the grout. The micropiles develop their uplift resistance from friction between the perimeter of the shaft and the surrounding soil.

Geo Grout, Inc. is scheduled to install a total of 757 micropiles around multiple railway overpass foundation elements for the BART North Oakland Aerial Structures. The North Oakland portion of aerial structures being seismically upgraded runs between the east and westbound lanes of the Highway 980/24 corridor between 29th Street, close to downtown, to Patton Street, located in the Rockridge area.

Map of North Oakland Aerial BART Structures that are part of this project

Our team includes Project Manager Antonio Mencarini, EIT, Senior Staff Technician Ron Reindl, Project Engineer Lisa Splitter, PE, and Staff Engineers Kristen Lease, EIT, LEED AP, and Rachael Severn, EIT. As part of our assignment we are observing and documenting all micropile drilling and installation procedures and are in daily communication with the BART project team.

The BART Seismic Retrofit Project is scheduled for completion in late 2010 and is expected to cost approximately $33.5 Million.

From Left: Philip Tringale and Julie Frankel pictured at the SMPS SFBAC January Program. Photo by Vanessa Pelletier.

From Left: Philip Tringale and Julie Frankel pictured at the SMPS SFBAC 2010 January Program. Photo by Vanessa Pelletier.

Treadwell & Rollo is pleased to be a 2010 Bay Platinum Sponsor of the Society for Marketing Professional Services, San Francisco Bay Area Chapter (SMPS SFBAC). As a corporate sponsor at the premier level, we will be participating in several educational programs and networking meetings this year including the following upcoming events:

- SMPS SFBAC Program on Social Media Marketing, Part II, in San Francisco on February 18

- SMPS Pacific Regional Conference, “The Wave,” in Sacramento from March 25-26

Most recently, Philip Tringale, Treadwell & Rollo’s CEO and President, and Julie Frankel, Marketing Director, as well as Vanessa Pelletier, Marketing Consultant, attended the January Program, the “McGraw Hill Annual Construction Outlook.” Additionally, Julie is an active member on the Registration Committee, and Vanessa regularly volunteers her time as the photographer for the Communications Committee.

We look forward to increasing our firm’s involvement with the SMPS SFBAC in the coming year to continue building relationships with the many esteemed professionals in the architecture/engineering/construction field who are members of this group. We hope to see you at one of the upcoming meetings.

To find out more about the SMPS SFBAC organization, please visit their website.

Vegetable oil injection using direct-push technology

Vegetable oil injection using direct-push technology

Treadwell and Rollo’s environmental engineering group provides our clients with expertise in vegetable oil-based bioremediation of chlorinated solvent-impacted groundwater sites. When compared to more traditional cleanup methods, such as excavation, groundwater extraction, and air sparging, vegetable oil-based bioremediation frequently offers a lower cost, less intrusive, and lower carbon footprint alternative for effective groundwater contamination cleanup.

For example, we installed an expanded pilot test vegetable oil remediation system on behalf of a high-tech manufacturing client in Santa Clara, California. A non-emulsified soybean oil was injected across a 450-foot section of a chlorinated solvent plume, forming a remediation “biobarrier.” The use of vegetable oil remediation was estimated to save the client approximately $200,000 compared to other remedial alternatives. The vegetable oil remediation required an initial week of field injection, but does not require the routine operation and maintenance associated with other technologies. Groundwater monitoring to date indicate that PCE, TCE, and cis-1,2-DCE concentrations have decreased by up to 80 to 90 percent as a result of the vegetable oil remediation, and the site is being evaluated for expanded use of vegetable oil remediation.

Treadwell and Rollo’s vegetable oil remediation project has been featured in multiple conference presentations by Senior Project Engineer Chris Glenn, PE, LEED GA. Please click here to see more on these presentations.

Battelle LogoTreadwell & Rollo, Inc. is pleased once again to participate in Battelle’s International Conference on Remediation of Chlorinated and Recalcitrant Compounds this May in Monterey, California. 

Recognized as an industry leader, this Battelle Conference focuses on theoretical and practical application of emerging remedial technologies. Attendees include over 1,750 scientists, engineers, regulators, and other environmental professionals representing engineering firms, universities, and government agencies from around the world. 

Jeffrey Ludlow, PG, Principal

Jeffrey Ludlow, PG, Principal Geologist

For the fourth consecutive conference, Treadwell & Rollo staff members are taking an active role in chairing technical sessions, and presenting platform papers and poster sessions on a variety of remedial and mitigative technologies, as described below. 

- Jeffrey F. Ludlow, PG, Principal Geologist, will co-chair the Platform Session titled: Vapor Intrusion Mitigation. 

- Dr. Sigrida Reinis, PhD, PE, Senior Associate Engineer, will present a platform paper titled: Comparison of Estimated Versus Actual Vapor Intrusion Management System Performance. 

- David G. Dixon, PG, Senior Associate Geologist, will present a platform paper titled: In-Situ Chemical Oxidation and Enhanced Anaerobic Biodegradation of a PCE Plume. 

- Matthew B. Hall, PE, Senior Project Engineer, will present two poster sessions titled: Performance Data from an Existing Building (“Retro-fit”) Vapor Intrusion Mitigation System and Accelerated Site Characterization and Large-Scale Groundwater and Soil Vapor Remediation. 

- Michael Chendorain, REA I, Senior Project Scientist, will present a poster session titled: Vapor Intrusion Management System Monitoring Techniques for a Multi-building Brownfields Project. 

For more information on this conference, please follow this link or contact Jeffrey Ludlow at Treadwell & Rollo.

Installing Geotextile fabric over injection pipe and drain rock

Installing Geotextile fabric over injection pipe and drain rock

When a global technology company asked us to complete a soil remediation project in less than four weeks—inside a building being renovated for office space, beginning work three days before Christmas Eve, and with a firm completion date of January 2—we knew it would be difficult, but not impossible. 

Environmental Services Manager Phil Smith,  RG, CPGS, REA II, Senior Scientist and Project Manager Josh Graber, REA I, and Senior Staff Geologist Louis Arighi, PG, pulled the program together in less than three weeks, including verifying the extent of contamination and contracting Pacific States Environmental Services to perform the excavation and backfill. 

Excavating around structural footings, area partially backfilled with controlled density fill

Excavating around structural footings, area partially backfilled with controlled density fill

An excavation approximately 70-feet-long by 30-feet-wide and 11-feet-deep was saw cut and dug out, and the VOC-impacted soil was removed in sections. Soil vapor extraction and monitoring wells were abandoned as they were encountered, and two foundation footings were carefully excavated around. Contaminated primarily with high concentrations of chlorobenzenes, all soil, which was characterized in situ, was removed as Class II waste.

A horizontal well system was installed prior to backfilling to provide for future groundwater treatment, if necessary. The pipe was covered with drain rock and geotextile, followed by approximately four feet of controlled density fill and six feet of compacted soil.  Geotechnical Engineer Don Oman, performed oversight and compaction testing.

This project is an excellent example of what can be accomplished with a knowledgeable and motivated client, a highly experienced technical and contractor team able to rapidly adjust to changing field conditions, and by starting work at 3 a.m.!

Patrick Hubbard, PG, CEG

Patrick Hubbard, PG, CEG

On a number of Northern California projects, Treadwell & Rollo has been evaluating the impacts of chlorinated solvents on drinking water supplies. 

Patrick Hubbard, PG, CEG, Principal Geologist, and Michael Chendorain, REA, Senior Project Scientist, have been working with water suppliers, responsible parties, and municipalities to detect, evaluate, and mitigate the impacts. We have been using a range of tools to meet multiple objectives to minimize the costs and maximize the benefits.  

The first step has been to develop project strategies to understand the technical issues, develop a cooperative plan among the parties, and examine a range of potential strategic solutions.  We then compile a conceptual site model that may include property use, the location of subsurface utility lines, and groundwater flow and pumping.  

Because the cases typically involve drinking water supply wells, the range of tools to develop solutions includes sophisticated down-hole logging of flow rates and solvent concentrations, borehole geophysics, aquifer testing of the water supply wells, and groundwater flow and transport modeling.  The results provide multiple lines of evidence to determine the most cost-effective remedial technologies. 

Mike Chendorain

Michael Chendorain, REA

For one project, we presented our work at a California Central Valley Groundwater Modeling Workshop at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory July 10 – 11, 2008.  The results incorporated a city-wide approach to address four groundwater plumes with an integrated remediation system in Lodi, California.  The remediation activities were scoped to reduce adverse pumping interference effects between the plumes and to minimize the amount of groundwater extracted.

Ramin Golesorkhi, PhD, PE, GE
Ramin Golesorkhi, PhD, PE, GE

November 2009 was a busy lecture month for Ramin Golesorkhi, PhD, PE, GE, Principal Geotechnical Engineer and manager of the earthquake engineering services group at Treadwell & Rollo. Ramin presented three invited lectures, the first presented at the COSMOS Annual Meeting and Technical Session.

The session’s general theme was the “Practical Application of the New ASCE 7-10 Required Procedures for Determining Site-Specific Ground Motions.” Ramin presented a case study on the development of ground motions for a major hospital project in San Francisco incorporating the use of the Next Generation Attenuation (NGA) relationships and development of site-specific time histories for use in the seismic design of the hospital. While these new provisions are not yet part of the current 2007 California Building Code (CBC), the California Office of Health Planning and Development (OSHPD) has adopted them for use in seismic design.

Later in November , Ramin presented lectures at Brigham Young University (BYU) and the University of Utah (UoU) as part of the Freidman Family Visiting Professional program of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI).

NGA relationships were developed during a five-year applied research program led by the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center (PEER) and are the most up-to-date approach in empirical prediction of site-specific ground motions. Ramin’s lecture at BYU focused on the development of ground motions using NGA, focusing on comparative studies on the differences in the ground motion prediction using NGA and the previously developed relationships circa 1997.

Ramin’s lecture at UoU was presented to a joint session of the local chapter of ASCE and the university. This lecture also examined in depth the effects of using NGA and the requirements of ASCE 7-10. A similar lecture was presented as part of the continuing education of the Structural Engineers Association of Northern California (SEAONC) in May of 2009.

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