PILLAR was contracted to serve as an O&M technical advisor to the Walsh-led team on the I-75 widening and reconstruction project, providing review and assessment for RFP documents and assisting bid strategy and pricing review.
With drainage ditches failing to convey stormwater runoff at the Bastian Rest Area due to years of wear by tractor trailers, PILLAR was hired to survey the ditch and design a remedy. Despite challenges posed by a limited area and presence of a slope, PILLAR came up with a solution to convey the runoff and prevent damage from occurring again.
VDOT hired PILLAR to survey rest areas throughout Virginia, performing civil engineering duties to ensure ADA compliance.
PILLAR designed a slope stabilization repair to a landslide area at the mouth of an abandoned mine as part of its annual contract with the Virginia Department of Mine, Minerals & Energy (DMME). Rated as a Priority 1 project due to the danger of flooding damage to nearby property and residences, work included the following: soil nail placement to stabilize slope material; armoring of the slope to offer erosion control; and armoring of stream banks adjacent to the residences to help mitigate future property loss due to flooding.
Hired by the maintenance contractor of various rest areas managed by VDOT, PILLAR performed a facility condition assessment of the rest areas. The resulting repair list of deficiencies and safety issues was provided to the contractor before it entered into a maintenance contract with VDOT so that it was fully aware of the physical state of the facilities.
VDOT District 2 needed to identify where their stormwater basins were located, as well as determine whether or not they were in proper working condition. PILLAR was hired to condition assess the basins throughout the district. Work included locating the top of basins using handheld GPS devices, documenting deficiencies and required repairs, and rating the overall condition and functionality of the basins.
Virginia International Raceway (VIR) must submit track details to Federation Internationale De L’automobile (FIA) to be a recognized motor racing circuit. PILLAR used mobile LiDAR to scan the entire facility to obtain and render a 3D terrain model of the VIR site in order to meet FIA requirements and be a certified venue. Track characteristics including centerline elevation and alignment, markings, barriers, run-off areas, kerbs, fences, pit lane and buildings needed to be documented and submitted in a prescribed CAD format. We used photographs and automatic feature extraction to locate and identify these characteristics, submitting them to FIA.
VDOT’s Safety Rest Area task order required the management of water and wastewater sanitary sewer systems on rest areas not on publicly served systems. PILLAR, assisted by Bowman Consulting, performed program project management and program services, including permit reviews, site evaluations and inspections of work performed by the maintenance contractor, compliance inspections, operations and maintenance support.
PILLAR joined forces with several other engineering firms to help in the design and construction of the new water plant on the New River. PILLAR’s responsibility in the project included boundary and topographic survey and plats for design and construction inspection for the three divisions. Division 1 consisted of the plant and intake construction; Division II included the installation of the 30” raw and 24” finish water line; Division III encompassed the hanging of a 24” concrete insulated pipe on a steel girder bridge crossing the New River. The $17 million plant went operational six months ahead of schedule.