DFI ACTIVITIES The Outstanding Project Award team for the Wolf Creek Restoration – USACE and the Treviicos/Soletanche JV DFI’s 38th Annual Conference Load Resistant Factor Design, (LRFD) was the subject of the Keynote Address by Jerry DiMaggio, of Jerry A. DiMaggio Consulting LLC, who offered a detailed history of the approach, required since 2007 for all fed- eral transportation projects. Beginning with the first codes in 1933, promulgated by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), he traced the evolution of codes to the present, sug- gesting that the geotechnical engineering community had “let themselves be out of the process.” As a consequence, a lot of geotech- nical engineers are not well informed about LRFD. Some attendees agreed, especially those from California, and others did not, but most thought DiMaggio’s address highly useful. “Change” was an underlying theme at DFI’s 38th Annual Conference. The conference, two and a half days of technical presentations and a large exhibition, was held three weeks earlier than usual, and was preceded by a day devoted to the 15 DFI Technical Committees. Those meetings were staggered throughout the day, so there were few conflicting meeting times, allowing members and the public to participate in all that interested them. Other changes were announced at the Phoenix event. One was the first individual membership dues increase in 15 years — with fees going up a nominal $10 — while dues for corporate members, not increased since 2008, will also rise in all four class levels. DFI’s governance will also change slightly, though the officers remain the same as follows: President Robert Bittner, Bittner- Shen; Vice President Patrick Bermingham, Bermingham Foundation Solutions; Treasurer John Wolosick, Hayward Baker and Secretary Matthew Janes, Isherwood Assoc. The number of trustees on the board increased from 18 to 21 with the election by membership of DFI’s three regional chapter chairs, Frank Haehnig (Zueblin), Khaldoun Fahoum (Langan) and K.S. Rama Krishna (L&T). Two long-standing trustees, Kirk McIntosh (AMEC) and Maurice Bottiau (Franki) retired and were honored for their service at the business meeting lunch, making space for two newly-elected trustees, Gerry Houlahan (Moffatt & Nichol) and Marine Lasne (Soletanche-Freyssinet). USACE/DFI session on seepage control drew a crowd Technical sessions covered a wide range Theresa Rappaport with Dwight Metcalf, Kiewit Infrastructure, who accepted the Distinguished Service Award for Arturo Ressi di Cervia of subjects among the session topics. Examples included ground freezing in Florida to pile driving in Brazil’s Amazon River (less than ideal). And from area soils for a transmission line to papers on such highly-visible projects as San Francisco’s Bay Bridge during the transition from the old to the new structure. A new stadium for the city’s 49ers NFL team was yet another complex project. Sessions on lessons learned and value engineering were plentiful. In one dramatic case, a Florida Bridge’s cost was reduced from $300 million to $300,000 after a value engineering pro- posal was requested by a new project mana- ger. A standing-room-only presentation from the US Army Corps of Engineers during the Seepage Control Working Group’s meeting highlighted DFI’s support for the Corps’ dam and safety program. “The collaboration between the two is good for the Corps and for DFI,” according to Michael Zoccola, chief, Civil Design Branch, USACE, who attended the session. DEEP FOUNDATIONS • NOV/DEC 2013 • 21
