CH2M HILL

Bridge Condition Assessment & Load Ratings

Innovations developed by CH2M HILL engineers have significantly reduced the cost of bridge condition assessment and load ratings for our clients, while validating bridge condition and serviceability. CH2M HILL's highway and bridge staff provide a full spectrum of services, ranging from transportation planning and design to assessment and inspection services for some of the most complex highway and bridge projects in the world.

Our staff has a comprehensive knowledge of National Bridge Inspection Standards and bridge inspection mandates by the Federal Highway Association. CH2M HILL engineers have provided bridge inspection, load rating, cathodic protection assessment, and scour evaluation services for our clients. CH2M HILL has load rated state-owned bridges and has completed several local agency inspections and load rating contracts. We have conducted special in-depth and fracture critical inspections of larger bridges in several states.

A thorough bridge condition assessment and load rating analysis will involve an evaluation of safety issues, load increase due to rehabilitation activities, lifecycle cost analysis, traffic management during rehabilitation, bridge deck condition, fatigue analysis, and paint condition.

Bridge Planning & Design

CH2M HILL project teams have designed bridges for uses ranging from vehicle thoroughfares and pedestrian bridges, to freight rail structures and pipeline suspension bridges. CH2M HILL's reputation for technical excellence, teamwork, cost-effectiveness, and quality of work has resulted in its being chosen for some of the most technically challenging, environmentally sensitive, and high-profile bridges throughout North America.

Our designs incorporate community input for aesthetic treatments on structures and walls. The bridge solutions proposed for each structure incorporate the most economical superstructure and substructure elements based upon considerations of structural requirements, constructibility, maintenance of traffic, and aesthetic compatibility with existing bridges and adjacent structures. We have incorporated the use of pre-cast and pre-fabricated elements whenever possible to minimize disruptions and inconvenience to the public and to expedite the construction process.

Key to the firm's success is its broad base of knowledge and capabilities, including computer programs for structural and hydraulic design; in-house soil and environmental laboratories; and professional experience in planning, traffic analysis, surveying and mapping, seismic design, materials testing, foundation engineering, bridge hydraulics, value engineering, construction management, and construction.

Construction Management

CH2M HILL has been a leader in providing construction management and inspection services for more than 60 years. For the fifth year in a row, Engineering News-Record has ranked CH2M HILL the #1 firm for fee-based construction management services (2009). During the past eight years, CH2M HILL has provided construction management for more than 2,000 projects around the world, including some of the most complex transportation projects in the U.S.

CH2M HILL leverages our full-service engineering, procurement, and construction expertise to deliver construction management work for clients. We customize our proven and technologically advanced construction and program management tool sets to reflect client needs for each program or project. These tools include tailor-made Web-based management processes for cost and schedule control, document management, bidding and award, and design and constructibility reviews.

CH2M HILL's construction managers know the industry and understand contractors' concerns and priorities. We are able to prioritize and resolve important issues for owners during construction. We maintain professional leadership in the construction management industry. We are at the forefront of new information management technologies for our projects, including Web-based reporting and integrated data management systems.

Context Sensitive Solutions

CH2M HILL literally "wrote the book" on Context Sensitive Solutions (CSS). Our staff served as the primary authors of the National Cooperative Highway Research Program Report 480, A Guide to Best Practices for Achieving Context Sensitive Solutions (2002).

CSS is an emerging trend and requirement in the planning and design of highways, and CH2M HILL has been at the forefront, bringing clients, stakeholders, agencies, and the public together in the earliest phases of projects to achieve sustainable solutions sensitive to the project context. CSS not only incorporates the views of diverse stakeholders and community members, but it requires their input in order to be successful. This approach addresses safety, mobility, aesthetics, and other community values at the earliest stages of design, instead of reacting to issues later in the process.

CH2M HILL has been involved with CSS since the early stages of both the concept and its implementation. The firm has worked with state departments of transportation and the Federal Highway Administration to develop processes for integrating CSS into transportation organizations and their projects, including developing guidebooks and other resources for implementing cost-effective CSS practices.

Design-Build

CH2M HILL has grown to become the largest program manager, the 7th largest design-build firm, and the 6th largest transportation design firm (Engineering News-Record, 2007). As one of very few firms offering both engineering and construction services in a truly integrated design-build delivery model, CH2M HILL enjoys a well-earned reputation for providing innovative, 'can do' project teams for the most challenging transportation projects.

CH2M HILL has performed thousands of transportation projects, ranging from small rehabilitation efforts to large-scale transportation corridor studies, to design and construction of major transportation systems and related infrastructure. The firm is currently performing more than $950 million annually in at-risk delivery projects. Through design-build, we help clients reduce risk while achieving cost reduction, schedule compression, reduced claims and disputes, reduced long-term operating costs, and innovative application of proven technologies.

Backed by the resources of the entire CH2M HILL family of companies, our construction projects—and our clients—benefit from the extensive design capability, bonding capacity, financial stability, procurement expertise, and project management proficiency integral to our organization. These full-service design and construction capabilities under one roof make us the logical partner of choice for project owners and contractors alike.

Environmental Studies & Documentation

CH2M HILL is a leader in providing a wide range of environmental science, planning, economics, and engineering services to public and private sector clients. Through consistent, high-quality performance and sensitivity to our clients' needs, CH2M HILL has grown to become the largest U.S. environmental consulting firm, with a solid track record of accomplishment for transportation infrastructure projects.

CH2M HILL offers services for every phase of a transportation project's development, including environmental and strategic planning, design, construction, and operation. From wetland delineation to delivery of major environmental impact statements, CH2M HILL's planners and scientists serve the needs of clients from project inception to the issuance of construction permits, including a range of activities from construction management to follow-up monitoring. Our environmental services include alternatives development and analysis, National Environmental Policty Act (NEPA) and state-specific environmental documentation, and a full spectrum of permitting assistance, including background studies, preparation of permit applications and drawings, and agency coordination.

Additional services include land use planning, noise and air quality analysis and modeling, natural resource and threatened and endangered species studies, habitat assessments, wildlife crossing studies, and public involvement.

Highway Planning & Design

With more than 60 years of infrastructure design and construction expertise, CH2M HILL's highway planning and design approach promotes a high level of interaction and collaboration—where specialists in design, construction, environmental, and quality control work hand in hand with each client to provide a design that is safe, readily constructible, and that provides long-term benefit to travelers, commuters, and state and federal transportation agencies. The end result is design creativity that preserves and enhances safety, mobility, aesthetics, and environmental conditions.

CH2M HILL is currently ranked by Engineering News-Record (2007) as the nation's 6th largest transportation design firm and the 5th largest design firm overall. Our transportation experience includes corridor, interchange, and traffic engineering studies, road and bridge design, and environmental planning.

CH2M HILL has participated in some of the most groundbreaking highway development and design projects across the country. These include the $785 million Eastern Transportation Corridor in Orange County, California; the $287 million public-private partnership (between a project-specific entity and the New Mexico Department of Transportation) to reconstruct and expand the 128-mile NAFTA corridor highway in northwest New Mexico; the innovative delivery of Virginia Route 288, a $246 million project to complete 17 miles of controlled access four-lane freeway that closes the circumferential loop around Richmond, Virginia; and the $644 million Foothill South Transportation Corridor in Southern California involving a new 16-mile limited-access toll road with six to eight lanes.

Program Management

CH2M HILL is a leader in the engineering and construction industry with extensive program management experience. As the country's top-ranked program manager for five years running (#1, Engineering News-Record, 2009), we have successfully managed and delivered multi-billion dollar transportation programs across the U.S.

Our team is also more than just a design and program management team—we have strong construction experience and know-how in highway and bridge projects, giving us the ability to streamline project delivery by building constructibility and long-term performance into the program management process from day one. We do this through innovative program management tools, such as tailor-made Web-based cost, schedule, and document control systems, and by promoting a culture of safety and quality in our teams and subcontractors.

CH2M HILL has successfully applied our respective control tools to programs and major projects around the globe and across the United States. For example, we are using innovative tools and delivery processes to manage the Connecting Idaho-GARVEE Transportation Program, involving more than $1 billion of roadway projects, 10 major transportation corridors covering 250 miles, through more than 100 engineering and construction contracts throughout the State of Idaho.

Public-Private Partnership

Rapidly increasing demand for new capacity has resulted in many states considering the benefits of public-private partnerships. Recent transportation acts have also provided tools for states interested in exploring innovative financial and contracting methods that make greater use of private sector resources.

Public-private partnerships can generate substantial benefits for public agencies interested in encouraging innovation and saving time and money on projects. These benefits include not only time and budget savings, but also increased quality, safety, and environmental protection.

CH2M HILL provides extensive experience in the public-private partnership project delivery method, having worked on a number of transportation projects using this approach. These projects include the Sudley Manor Drive Extension in Virginia; the Virginia Route 288 Project; New Mexico State Route 44, one of the first public-private transportation infrastructure projects ever completed in the U.S.; and the Sea-to-Sky Highway Improvement Project in Vancouver, British Columbia, which received a Best Global Project Award at the 2006 Public Private Finance Awards.

Value Engineering

Value engineering is the systematic evaluation of value, function, and cost to bring the optimal combination to our client. Whether applying value engineering at early conceptual stages or well into design, CH2M HILL's certified value specialists have identified and refined solutions on more than 200 transportation projects, and have saved clients millions of dollars in construction costs without compromising quality, safety, durability, or schedule.

In our more than 33 years of providing value engineering services to clients, CH2M HILL has been able to save an average of $50 for every dollar invested in value engineering services. We have more than 300 professionals who specialize in value engineering, including certified value specialists and cost engineers who have completed more than 500 value engineering workshops for our transportation clients.

Our goal is to provide cost-effective, integrated value engineering support as part of the overall project delivery process for each project we work on. Because our value engineering specialists are project managers and project engineers, they are current with new technologies, systems, and requirements necessary to plan, design, and construct transportation projects. For example, for the State Highway 44 Project in New Mexico, our value engineering services have expedited the project by more than one year ahead of schedule and have achieved significant cost savings. For the E-470 Project in Colorado, CH2M HILL's value engineering proposals resulted in capital savings of more than $50 million.