U.S. 220 Stream Restoration Project Honored

February 19, 2010

Harrisburg, PA

At a banquet held in Harrisburg on Thursday, February 4, the Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) presented KCI Technologies Inc. and teaming partner A.D. Marble and Company with a Diamond Honor Award for the stream restoration efforts associated with realigning a section of U.S. Route 220 near State College, Pa. 

KCI worked with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation to develop a holistic program to restore more than four miles of stream channel. Public involvement and education, innovative design and quick response were among the hallmarks of the project—one of the largest stream restoration efforts ever undertaken by the agency.

In addition to the environmental benefits, the project helped enlighten a community about how small changes and individual sacrifices can have widespread environmental impacts. During design, KCI helped educate and engage land-owners, mostly farmers, whose voluntary participation was needed both to allow access for construction and for pioneering pasture management programs, which effectively limited cattle crossings at the streams to reduce further bank erosion.

Among the project’s challenges, the design team developed an adaptive management strategy focused on flexibility for change orders, field adjustments, permitting and modifications to accommodate drastic field condition changes that occurred after the design was completed but before construction began.

The combined pasture management and stream mitigation program has proven that the public and private sectors can work together for their mutual benefit—to protect the environment, to safeguard water supplies, to provide habitat and migration corridors for fish and wildlife, and to build a highway.

KCI is an engineering, consulting and construction firm serving clients throughout the U.S. and beyond. With revenues of approximately $124 million in 2010, KCI is ranked 82 on the Engineering News-Record's list of the top 500 engineering firms in the country. Roughly 850 KCI employee owners provide environmental, transportation, telecommunications, construction, facilities, and land development services from more than 20 locations. For more information, visit www.kci.com.

For more information please contact:
George G. Perdikakis, Sr.
georgep@kci.com
410.316.7951