Month: April 2025

How pavement management is like owning and caring for a backyard deck

A Q&A with Bart Fischer, Senior Public Administrator and Mike Rief, Sr. Vice President of Construction Services.

With summer fast approaching it’s comforting to know that we’re free of icy road conditions for the next several months.  As I drove over a recent pothole and began noticing the sand and salt being swept off the roads in my community, I wanted to learn more about pavement management and its impact on city budgets and plans. I sat down with Mike Rief, WSB’s Sr. Vice President of Construction Services to better understand the importance of pavement management in our communities.

BF: Why is pavement management so important for communities?

MR: It all comes down to planning and budgeting. The predictability that a pavement management plan brings a community is the biggest benefit. If a pavement management plan exists, minor improvements and maintenance can potentially double the lifespan of a roadway.  Without any maintenance or improvements, a typical road will last about 20 years. Instead, with a pavement management plan, a community could extend that lifespan to about 40 years, maximizing their investment.

BF: That’s interesting. What exactly does a pavement management plan entail?

MR: I’ve found that comparing pavement to caring for a backyard deck has a lot of impact. We start by building a deck – similar to how we start building a road.  We form the foundation, wood for the deck and pavement for the road.

BF: We love our outdoor spaces in Minnesota! This is a great comparison. So, there is a preventative maintenance component after the foundation is formed?

MR: Exactly. Once the foundation is formed, we perform preventative maintenance.  In the case of a deck, we stain and seal it. For pavement, we seal the pavement cracks and perform surface treatments.

BF: What happens if a board rots out? How would you compare that in the pavement scenario?

MR: I like to call this the preservation stage of the pavement management plan. The best comparison to replacing a rotting board would be performing a mill and overlay on the road. A mill and overlay is a type of street maintenance that requires the removal of the top 2” of a street and the addition of a new layer of bituminous pavement in it’s place.

BF: When does it make sense to do a full road reconstruction?

MR: Yes, the reconstruction phase of the process is inevitable, but can be extended through preventative maintenance and preservation. Eventually, we’ve repaired the deck so many times and it makes sense to stop investing more dollars into it.  At some point, reconstruction is necessary, but through pavement management, it’s decades out and has been budgeted for.

BF: It really makes a lot of sense when you explain it in that way. Any other benefits of pavement management?

MR: I mentioned it above, but predictability is invaluable. There are huge capital investment benefits to implementing a pavement management plan.  It helps with budgeting, planning for development and growth and also can increase property values. I recommend any community, regardless of size, consider pavement management in the future.

Partnering with the city of Hugo to create a sustainable water reuse strategy

By Mark Erichson, Pete Willenbring, Kendra Fallon and Ray Theiler, WSB

About 10 years ago, the City of Hugo was looking for feasible options to reduce the amount of potable water used to irrigate green spaces within the city. At that time, approximately one-half of the water the city pumped from its municipal wells was used for irrigation. The city was also facing the need to add wells, water towers, and treatment to provide enough capacity for this use. Studies indicated the cost for these facilities was going to increase water bills significantly, and the MDNR was reluctant to grant additional groundwater appropriation permits in the area.       

To address this issue, the city and WSB staff developed a list of potential options, and the city commissioned WSB to focus on completing  a series of studies to determine if it would be technically, financially, and politically feasible to collect, store, and re-use stormwater runoff instead of city well water for this purpose. Furthermore, the study was focused on potentially utilizing existing stormwater retention and treatment ponds that are currently in-place throughout the city for this purpose. As part of these studies, initial evaluations focused on the ability to implement this type of program for the city’s largest irrigation users. These evaluations found that providing stormwater for re-use to these users was indeed feasible, and furthermore, when properly set-up, residents were enthusiastic supporters of the practice and program. Following these initial successes, our team began to coordinate with city staff and local partners to fund, design, and construct other reuse systems. 

Reducing, reusing, and replenishing water resources is now a city prioritized conservation practice. All new development projects are required to collect and treat stormwater, and install stormwater reuse systems for irrigation when feasible and practical. This reuse also significantly reduces the volume of stormwater and the pollutant load that is discharged downstream of the sites, further benefiting downstream natural resources such as wetlands, lakes, and rivers. 

We continue to offer guidance about sites that may be a good fit for reuse systems. When these are identified, we work with city staff and the local watershed district to identify and secure grant funding for new projects and encourage developers to implement water conservation practices such as stormwater reuse. Several private developments have been able to take advantage of this partnership, including the Oneka Ridge Golf Course and the Water’s Edge Homeowners Association, a 1,000 unit housing development.  Grants have funded between 25 and 85 percent of reuse projects. Where projects utilize water reuse which exceeds what is required for stormwater management, volume reduction credits are banked. These credits are tracked by the City and can be purchased by developers for future projects where site constraints make onsite stormwater treatment difficult. 

Shifting the public perception of water reuse is important to a project’s success. We partnered with city officials to facilitate neighborhood meetings to educate residents on water reuse and its benefits. Public living in proximity to these reuse projects will benefit greatly by improved water quality in adjacent downstream water bodies, while also reducing reliance on our stressed groundwater resources.

Stormwater reuse offers a number of financial and environmental benefits to the city of Hugo and its residents. By identifying and utilizing alternate water resources to reduce potable water demands, the city is able to reduce the stress placed on its water system, possibly postponing or eliminating the need for additional water infrastructure improvements such as wells, towers and size of trunk watermain facilities.

As groundwater demands increase, Hugo and WSB will continue to work together to change local water use practices and attitudes towards water reuse and water conservation. 

Please contact us to learn more about how to incorporate more water reuse strategies in your community.

Starting a sustainable cycle

A virtual webinar on launching sustainable initiatives.

Organizations of all types and sizes are taking a more proactive stance on sustainability issues to meet evolving customer needs and making sustainably minded changes that can increase their revenue, reduce costs and build new markets and service. But for many one question complicates their efforts; how to get started?

In partnership with Finance & Commerce, WSB recently hosted a virtual webinar that provided examples of sustainable processes and how they came to be.

Panelists included:

• Bryan Baer, City Administrator, City of Hugo, MN
• Steve Compton, CFO and EVP at Sevana Bioenergy
• Bruce Loney, Board Manager, Prior Lake-Spring Lake Watershed District
• Moderated by: Amy Fredregill, Director of Sustainability, WSB

During the webinar, our panelists led us through their proactive approaches to sustainability initiatives including:

• How the city of Hugo is using less water and reducing costs despite its growing population
• How a dairy farm is increasing their revenue by making and selling biogas
• How mitigating invasive carp is leading to improved water quality in a Watershed District

Watch the webinar

Download the presentation

For more information on sustainability, contact Amy Fredregill.

WSB places #58 on Zweig’s Hot Firm List

WSB was recently named a 2021 Hot Firm by the Zweig Group for the eighth consecutive year. The list honors the fastest growing firms in the AEC industry in the U.S. and Canada.  Firms are ranked based on three-year growth in revenue, by both percentage and dollar growth.  WSB ranks #58 on this year’s list, climbing 14 spots from 2020.

The Zweig Group is the leading research, publishing, and advisory services resource for firms in the AEC industry.  The Zweig Group’s awards programs recognize and celebrate top AEC industry firms in several categories.  Winners will be recognized at the 2021 Elevate AEC Conference in November.

View the complete list of Hot Firm Winners.

COVID-19 Testing & Vaccination Assistance

By Andi Moffatt, Vice President of Environmental Services, WSB

As the COVID-19 pandemic began to spread through the country, WSB was called on by the Minnesota State Emergency Operations Center (SEOC) to assist in COVID-19 testing logistics. As project managers in the AEC industry, our team is used to working under pressure – and this task was no exception. We welcomed the chance to assist the state in testing Minnesotans and to do our part in preventing the spread of COVID-19.

A LARGE EFFORT THAT SPANNED ACROSS THE STATE.

The size and scale of this project was enormous. Representatives from the state, cities, counties, local public health organizations and staff at the vaccination and testing venues came together as a coalition to get this project off the ground and operational. To support these efforts, several WSB team members from across the company stepped in to assist on the emergency contract to set-up and manage the logistics of the state’s no barrier COVID-19 testing sites. We provided project management, IT, site mapping and drone photography, visual documentation and information gathering, and general logistics on behalf of the state.

GETTING MINNESOTANS VACCINATED.

As vaccines became available throughout the state, the SEOC asked WSB to manage the logistics associated with COVID-19 vaccine sites. We continue to work behind the scenes to help Minnesotans get vaccinated.

TACKLING CHALLENGES HEAD ON.

This project has been rewarding for many of us at WSB. It reinforces our commitment to supporting our communities and the challenges they face, no matter what they may be. Internally, we’ve also reminded ourselves that nothing is too big for us to tackle together and that we will work across departments, teams and offices to deliver for our clients.

“We are honored to have been able to play a role in such a dedicated, committed and passionate network across the state,” said Andi Moffatt, vice president of environmental services. “Public health is a priority, and we will continue to work with the state and our local communities to help deliver this critical support.”

United States Postal Remediation Efforts

In the wake of the civil unrest following the death of George Floyd, the United States Postal Service (USPS) experienced significant damage to two post offices in south Minneapolis.

WSB’s Environmental Remediation and Structures team assisted USPS with their emergency response and environmental and structural needs. Our team worked to identify and analyze any potentially harmful materials that may have been released into the environment that could pose an immediate risk to emergency responders, the public or postal workers.

Riots and protests in the area brought many U.S. Marshalls, Secret Service agents and FBI investigators to the scene. Determining the structural and environmental safety of the buildings was paramount to USPS’s emergency response. The structures were deemed a total loss and the team identified many hazardous materials caused by the fire and destruction of the buildings. USPS is currently in the process of rebuilding one of their facilities and performing environmental clean-up at both sites. Our team will continue to partner with USPS on several other environmental clean-up projects throughout the Midwest.

WSB to deliver first set of paperless design plans to the Minnesota Department of Transportation

The multi-dimensional designs are for the Highway 169 Redefine – Elk River project

Engineering and consulting firm WSB announced today that they will deliver the first set of fully digital paperless design plans to the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT).  The paperless plans will be delivered later this summer for the Highway 169 Redefine – Elk River project.

“The 3D Design Model has allowed us to see the design in a whole new light. We are able see design changes on the fly that provides MnDOT with greater flexibility in the decision-making process,” said MnDOT’s Darren Nelson, Highway 169 Redefine – Elk River project manager.

Historically, the Architecture Engineering Construction (AEC) industry has been paper-heavy with many DOTs across the nation still requiring traditional plans. The transition to paperless is impacting the entire AEC industry, including DOTs, general contractors and civil engineers.

For the project, WSB advanced the methods and procedures used to implement a Building Information Modeling (BIM) design approach. The approach will result in improved project cost, better risk management and improved quality. The BIM model is built from available data and is highly accurate. The model creates a seamless workflow from design through construction and will import information to the field digitally resulting in efficiencies and better communication.  Once construction is complete, the project is left with an as-built, accurate model that can be used for asset management in the future.

“As engineers, we are motivated by the opportunities to design infrastructure projects that support our communities and this project is no exception,” said Jon Chiglo, WSB’s chief operating officer. “It’s very rewarding to partner with MnDOT to shape the way our entire industry will deliver projects. Based on the benefits, digital delivery is the future and it’s exciting that WSB is leading these efforts.”

To date, the combination of the 3D BIM Model, 4D Model and 5D Cost Structure within a digital design environment has led to many cost savings and benefits even before construction has begun. The true, virtual representation of what will be built has allowed stakeholders to easily review the project impacts.

MnDOT received special funding to convert Highway 169 from the Mississippi River to 197^th Ave. to a freeway system through Elk River. The project will convert four at-grade intersections into interchanges and will modify the access of the Highway 169 and Highway 10 interchange. WSB is responsible for delivering the final design.

WSB named one of the Top 175 Workplaces in Minnesota by the Star Tribune

WSB is honored to be named one of the Top 175 Workplaces in Minnesota by the Star Tribune – ranking #28 on the top Midsize Employers list.  For eight years, we have received this prestigious honor, recognizing the most progressive companies in Minnesota based on employee opinions measuring engagement, organizational health and satisfaction.

We are extremely grateful to our WSB team who inspire each other to discover thoughtful and creative solutions for our clients.  Together, we look beyond the needs of today to the opportunities of tomorrow. From the beginning, we’ve been firm believers that culture drives results and we’re proud of our staff who continue to help us forge ahead. We want to take a moment to publicly thank our staff for strengthening our culture.

As we look to the future, we remain committed to creating an environment where our staff feel valued, have fulfilling work and feel like they belong.

Newsletter | Special Edition: Celebrating 25 Years

Bret Weiss, WSB president & CEO, 2020 recipient of ACEC MN’s President’s Award

Weiss’ involvement in ACEC MN extends beyond their annual membership program. His extensive background in engineering and leadership in the Minnesota business community has created many opportunities for a strong partnership to be forged. Weiss is committed to the advancement of infrastructure to support our communities and it’s through a commitment to strong partnerships and collaboration that this work is possible. 

The President’s Award recognizes an individual annually who has made a significant contribution to ACEC MN’s organization.