FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Oct. 10, 2014
Contact: Darrel Berry, Marketing Communications Manager
Hanson Professional Services Inc.
(217) 747-9291
dberry@hanson-inc.com
Hanson finalist in Bentley’s Be Inspired Awards for 3rd straight year
Hanson Professional Services Inc. is a finalist in Bentley Systems Inc.’s Be Inspired Awards for its work on the Tanana River Bridge in Salcha, Alaska.
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Hanson Professional Services Inc. has been selected as a finalist in Bentley Systems Inc.’s Be Inspired Awards. This is the third consecutive year Hanson has been a finalist in the computer-aided design and manufacturing software company’s international competition.
Hanson is a finalist in the Innovation in Bridges category for its work on the Tanana River Bridge in Salcha, Alaska. The bridge is the first phase of the Alaska Railroad Corp.’s Northern Rail Extension, a project that will create an 80-mile railway between North Pole, Alaska, and Delta Junction, Alaska. The extension will provide a safer, all-weather transportation option and give the military improved, year-round access to a one-million-acre training range south of the Tanana River. Hanson has been providing design engineering services since 2006 for the four-phase extension project, including hydraulic and structural engineering services and addressing geotechnical, hydraulic and seismic issues for the bridge. Bentley’s MicroStation and InRoads, ProjectWise and Rail Track programs were used to finalize design plans and manage documents and computer-aided design files.
At 3,300 feet, the bridge is the state’s longest and is designed to serve roadway and railroad traffic with a single bimodal deck. The 20-span bridge was built for $187 million — $1 million under budget — and on time, with a three-year construction process. The designers had to account for wind, water pressure, scouring, sheet ice, ice jams and severe flooding in an area with a broad flood plain. The bridge crosses the glacier-fed, braided Tanana River at a remote site in an area with active and potentially active seismic faults and temperatures that range from occasional highs near 90 degrees to lows near 70 below zero. During construction, piles for the bridge were driven and concrete was placed at 20 below zero in the winter. Ice flows and damming during ice breakup in the spring required the construction causeway and temporary bridging to be removed and replaced.
Since 2004, the annual Be Inspired Awards has recognized more than 2,000 infrastructure projects around the world for outstanding achievement in design, delivery and operations. The awards program is open to all Bentley software users, and nominees will be featured in Bentley’s annual publication “The Year in Infrastructure” and its online Be Inspired Project Portfolios. Finalists will present their projects to jurors, industry peers and members of the press during Bentley’s Year in Infrastructure 2014 Conference in London. Winners will be announced Nov. 5 during the Be Inspired Awards Banquet at the conference.
In 2013, Hanson was an Innovation in Roads category finalist for its work on the Illinois Tollway’s widening and reconstruction of Interstate 90 in the Chicago area. The project, for which the team provided design services, involved a 22-mile section of I-90 west of Chicago from Illinois 47 to Genoa Road. The project’s partnership, with Hanson as the primary consultant, also involved two other firms as major partners and four design firms as subconsultants. The team used Bentley software to manage documents and share files on the Web and for design and modeling. In 2012, Hanson’s customized document-management system for the Interstate 74 Mississippi River crossing corridor was a Be Inspired finalist in the Connecting Project Teams category. The $1.4 billion project by the Illinois and Iowa Departments of Transportation will realign and replace the Mississippi River Bridge, which connects Moline, Ill., and Bettendorf, Iowa. Hanson’s system used Bentley software to manage documents for the project.
Hanson is a national, employee-owned consulting firm providing engineering, planning and allied services. The firm’s corporate headquarters is located at 1525 S. Sixth St., Springfield, IL 62703. The office may be reached by phone: (217) 788-2450 or fax: (217) 788-2503.
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