Articles

 Holland Engineering is in the process of completing several projects along 
 the beautiful, distinctive Lake Michigan Shoreline.  The West Michigan 
 Park Dry Fire Line System has been one of HEI’s more unique projects 
 and has now been placed into service after passing final testing and 
 certification.  The project was a partnership between the West Michigan 
 Park Association (WMPA) and Park Township whose purpose was to 
 improve the reliability and flow capacity of the water supply system during
 a  fire event within the Association’s area.  Since many of these historic
 cottages are located inside the dune area and are accessible only by foot,
 the standpipe system with its multiple pressurized connection points has
 the capability to significantly improve the local fire department’s response 
 time.  Holland Engineering was pleased to be part of a project that could potentially help preserve some of our Lake Michigan Shoreline history.

Holland Engineering is also in the process of completing a drain extension and dune face restoration project along Lakeshore Drive south of the City of the Village of Douglas.  The property owners in this area have been continually challenged with dune face erosion.  In addition to the erosion being unsightly, it has also displaced the vegetation on the dune face and deposited it, along with soil and rocks, onto the beach.  This displacement has created a safety hazard as it has undermined beach access walkways and stairs and threatened the roadway. 

Holland Engineering worked with the property owners and the Allegan County Road Commission to design and permit a system of cut-off drains to intercept the runoff that was causing the erosion.  These cut-off drains are an extension of an existing county drain system that was installed a few years ago after a major storm caused a portion of Lakeshore Drive to wash away near the project site.  Once the drainage issues are addressed, the face of the dune will be restored with native vegetation and natural soil erosion control measures to complete the restoration and stabilization of this very unique and beautiful shoreline area.

For more information on these projects, or on our civil infrastructure services, please contact Ryan Ysseldyke, P.E., Project Manager at 616.392.5938 or via email at rysseldyke@hollandengineering.com. 

Throughout 2011, Holland Engineering (HEI) has been providing ground disturbance scans to Enbridge at numerous locations throughout Michigan, Northern Indiana and Ohio. Initially, a majority of these services were provided for Line 6B, the same 30” crude oil pipeline in Marshall, MI which suffered an oil leak earlier this year. HEI was able to complete a list of over 300 digs by providing scanning, staking and surveying services. 

For those digs located on Line 6B at the clean-up site, the process involved assessing the area that was excavated and disturbed, staking the “scar” to show the contractor what needed to be cleaned, staking the access road into the site and locating and flagging the existing pipelines within the disturbed area. HEI also scanned the entire area that was staking for any additional underground utilities and located and flagged them.  Using GPS, our survey crews were able to survey the staked area and overlay the data into Google map for contractor use.   

In addition to the clean-up site, Holland Engineering also provided ground disturbance scans for new dig site locations. These included Lines 5 and 17 which ran through northern Michigan, southeastern Michigan and Toledo, Ohio. Enbridge supplied HEI with “dig sheets” for each location which allowed HEI to coordinate the location of the anomaly. Using GPS, HEI staked out the point over the pipeline to show the true location of the Girth Weld and was ultimately able to compile the data into a Google Map drawing. Although the overall process was very similar to the clean-up site, it did require more staking and probing.  Our survey crews performed these throughout a variety of different terrains including fields, wooded and residential areas and swamps.

For more information on HEI’s pipeline surveying services, please contact Eric Osterhaven, P.S., Survey Manager at 616.392.5938 or via email at eosterhaven@hollandengineering.com.

Holland Engineering, Inc. (HEI) provided engineering design services to Great Lakes Gas Transmission Company’s two separator addition projects.  A new 9 foot, 4 inch diameter vertical gas separator with by-pass piping will be installed in series with an existing gas separator at the Deward Meter Station located in Crawford County, Michigan.  In addition, a new 5 foot, 8 inch diameter horizontal gas filter separator will be installed at the Farwell Compressor Station located in Clare County, Michigan. 

The design entailed modifications to existing compressor station piping to accommodate the addition of the separators, as well as the design of the foundations for the two separators.   Holland Engineering’s design also included hookup of all the necessary instrumentation for the vessels and routing of piping for the separator dump lines.  Due to space limitations, an existing liquid storage tank at Farwell had to be relocated and a new foundation design incorporated at this site. 

All required instrumentation was wired and routed back to the existing RTU at the instrumentation/control buildings.   Since instrument air was not available at Deward, a new gas conditioner system was designed to provide instrument gas for the separator’s level controller and over pressure protection devices. 

Holland Engineering provided the bid and construction drawings and the contractor’s scope of work for both projects.  Construction began on October 13^th with Deward scheduled to be completed by the end of December 2011 and Farwell by the end of January 2012. HEI was pleased for the opportunity to be involved with both of these projects. 

For more information on these projects, or on HEI’s design experience, please contact Gary Smith, P.E. at 248.827.7322 or via email at gsmith@hollandengineering.com. 

Holland Engineering (HEI) employees came together again this year to support the Holland Junior Welfare League with their annual "Winter Wearables Drive."  The Holland Junior Welfare League is a non-profit agency that has been assisting children in the Holland/Zeeland, MI area since 1930.  The "Winter Wearables Drive" collects mittens, hats, socks, underwear, sweatpants and sweatshirts for area elementary schools and distributes them to children who do not have their own.  Holland Engineering’s employees will be helping in the donations of these items for girls and boys in need of some extra warmth this winter.  

 In addition to the “Winter Wearables Drive,” HEI also participated for the third consecutive year as a sponsor for DTE’s Annual “Nights of Warm Hearts” fundraiser.  The Heat and Warmth Fund (THAW) is an independent non-profit agency that provides low-income individuals and families with emergency energy assistance and advocates for long-term solutions to energy issues. Since its inception in 1986, THAW has provided more than $102 million in aid to more than 155,000 Michigan households who have found themselves in a temporary crisis. The Night of Warm Hearts Gala Event was held this year on November 11^th in Detroit and is a signature event for THAW which will help hundreds of families in the community keep safe and warm this winter.  HEI is proud to once again participate in this event and remain involved in the effort to continue helping those families in need throughout Michigan. 

Holland Engineering recognizes the importance to give back to the communities where we live and work.  For more information on the Holland Junior Welfare League please visit their website at:  www.hjwl.org.  For more information on THAW Fund, please visit their website at www.thawfund.org. 

Holland Engineering is pleased to have been selected to support a portion of TransCanada's 2011 Fall Protection Remediation Program. This program has been put in place to correct potential fall hazards that have been identified in existing TransCanada facilities throughout the United States.

Since many of these facilities have been place for over 50 years, the requirements of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and American National Standards Institute (ANSI) have changed significantly. These changes, along with current use at some of the facilities, have made the existing fall protection systems obsolete. As part of this project, HEI will meet with facility staff to identify the fall hazards presented at specific sites, prepare concept drawings and budgets for the remediation of the identified hazards, and once solutions are identified, prepare bidding and construction documents.

HEI is pleased for this opportunity and looks forward to future opportunities to assist TransCanada with our services.

Holland Engineering is currently assisting TransCanada with surveying, engineering and drafting services for a variety of Class Change Projects.  HEI is able to take the project from start to finish beginning with the preliminary survey to identify the extent of the areas affected by the increased population density and following with the supporting engineering and drafting to provide construction drawings for any required replacement segments. All of this is done while taking into consideration the need to minimize both pipeline outages and the effect to the local residence.   Once the project goes to construction, survey field staff stake out the proposed improvements and as-build the construction. 

As our clients’ geographic locations continue to grow, Holland Engineering is prepared to support their needs by providing field personnel throughout the United States.  Our current class change project locations include Coos County, New Hampshire, St. Martin Parish, Louisiana, Spokane, Washington and additional sites in Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio.  In addition, HEI continues to maintain, and when necessary obtain, additional corporate and professional licenses for the states where we provide our services.

From start to finish, Holland Engineering has been providing the engineering design, surveying and construction services for Northern Border Pipeline Company's (Northern Border's) Princeton Lateral Project. This new 8.65 mile long, 16-inch diameter, interstate natural gas pipeline lateral will transport natural gas from the existing Northern Border's Kasbeer side valve located in Bureau County, Illinois to Central Illinois Light Company‘s (CILCO) facilities near Princeton.  Construction is currently underway and facilities are scheduled to be placed in service this fall. 

HEI’s lateral design services included four horizontal directional drills (HDD’s), nine road borings (one road boring includes a railroad crossing) and one open cut road.  HEI also designed the launcher facilities at the Kasbeer side valve and the receiver facilities at the CILCO facilities.  

Additional design related services included the civil survey, alignment sheets, plats, HDD drawings, launcher/ receiver drawings and the Kasbeer Meter Station drawings.  HEI also provided 3D renderings of the launcher facilities showing the above ground facilities from four different directions for the township building permits.

For the construction portion of this project, HEI provided the layout of the entire construction corridor, pipe and civil as-builts and the as-built of both launcher and receiver sites as well as the Northern Borders’ metering facility.

HEI has been pleased for the opportunity to assist Northern Border Pipeline with this project and for the opportunity to see the project from concept to completion.

Holland Engineering has a long history of assisting the City of Grand Rapids with our land surveying services for a variety of street reconstruction projects. Since 1984, Holland Engineering has been assisting the City of Grand Rapids with topographic surveys and to date, we have performed over 25 topographic surveys for the City. As Michigan's second largest city, it is home to over 188,000 inhabitants and despite much of Michigan's significant economic downturn; Grand Rapids has seen steady growth throughout the last several decades. Many of the reconstruction projects that HEI has assisted with have been in inner city locations creating significant improvements to the community and surrounding areas.

In addition to typical surveying services, projects have required significant amounts of research involving old survey records with underground combined sewers. The projects have also required researching old utility records to assist in determining the location of connectivity of underground utilities, particularly combined sewers. HEI has often worked alongside with Kent County Archives to locate and research these needed records.

HEI is currently assisting the City with a topographic survey of Jefferson Avenue between Fulton and Cherry. Earlier this year, HEI provided a topographic survey of Burton Street between Eastern and Plymouth. HEI has been pleased for the opportunity to assist Grand Rapids with growth and maintenance of their roadway infrastructure and continues to look forward to future opportunities. 

With the ground thawing and the temperature rising, Holland Engineering prepares to move forward with three significant projects slated for construction this year.

The first likely project to break ground will be a segmental block retaining wall located in South Haven Michigan.  The Edward W. Thompson American Legion Post 49 is located on the bluff overlooking Lake Michigan and the Scenic South Haven Harbor.  Over the past several years, members have been noticing significant erosion of the bluff. HEI developed several options to stabilize the bluff and then presented these options to a committee made up of post members and then to the entire post. A two-tiered segmental block design was chosen and the walls were engineered and permitted before the construction was sent out for bid. After more than a year of planning, the construction is scheduled to begin early this spring with completion prior to the seasonal kick-off Memorial Day holiday. HEI will be providing construction staking and engineering services throughout the construction process.

HEI is also preparing for the ground breaking of the West Michigan Park Dry Fire Line System. HEI will be providing construction staking, construction engineering and project management services on behalf of Park Township for this project. Park Township and the West Michigan Park Association are currently discussing the timing for construction of this project.

Thirdly, HEI is also preparing for the ground breaking of the Thompson River Bank Stabilization. The Thompson River is an active river located in Harrison County, Missouri. Over the course of the last several years, the river has eroded its banks at an accelerated rate at this particular oxbow. This erosion is causing a local farmer to lose a significant amount of property and crops and is also quickly approaching two high pressure natural gas transmission lines. In order to mitigate the risk of the lines being exposed, TransCanada contracted with HEI to design and permit a solution to the erosion through the US Army Corps of Engineers. HEI teamed with the nationally renowned river engineering firm, River Research and Design, to develop several different bank stabilization alternatives and present them to both TransCanada and the US Army Corps of Engineers. The chosen design utilizes a  combination of Bendway Weirs, Stone Keys, and Longitudinally Peaked Stone Toe Protection in place of hard bank armoring to protect the bend from further erosion. These bank armoring methods have been developed and thoroughly tested by the Corps of Engineers along the Mississippi River and its tributaries and have proven to be both a cost effective and an environmentally friendly technique to stabilize oxbows and prevent continued river migration. To better coincide with the summer low flows and to protect the fish spawning that takes place in this section of the Thompson River, construction will not begin on this project until June 1, 2011. During construction, HEI will provide construction staking, construction engineering and as-built services on behalf of TransCanada.  

For the past year, Holland Engineering has been assisting TransCanada with environmental services for the Bison Pipeline Project.  The Bison Project is a 302-mile, 30" pipeline that will provide additional natural gas pipeline capacity to the Midwest market. 

HEI's Environmental Manager Gayle Konik's work first began with preparation of environmental specifications, translating the many plans, procedures and permits into construction contract document and participating in the review and evaluation of bids related to it.  Ms. Konik's role expanded to provide environmental compliance services including preparation of plans/reports, agency negotiations, and as Deputy Environmental Compliance Manager for the Project, became responsible for oversight of field surveys and the environmental inspection team.  This included HEI's subcontractors who serve as Assistant Environmental Compliance Managers on each construction spread.

Currently, Ms. Konik is the Field Environmental Manager for the 2011 Restoration Phase of the project.  In this role, Ms. Konik liaises with the construction and environmental inspection teams and various Federal and State agencies to facilitate negotiations and approvals which are needed under frequently changing conditions and tight schedules.  HEI has been pleased to assist TransCanada with this exciting and challenging project.