EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR UPDATE Sharing Knowledge on Megaprojects A s I thought about this issue’s theme, megaprojects, I was amid a flurry of activity at DFI headquarters as staff handled the last-minute preparations for our annual conference in NYC. This year, the conference was an international event, not only on deep foundations but also on seepage control and remediation – a megaproject for us indeed. As we approached record-breaking attendance, I 40 Anniversary Conference. We kicked off that conference in was reflecting on the success of last year’s th Oakland, Calif., with a session on megaprojects, and they were ME-GA for sure. Eric Halpin, P.E., of the USACE, spoke on the issues plaguing U.S. infrastructure and how so many people residing in the U.S. weren’t around when the bulk of it was built and are only aware of the D+ score and the billions of dollars needed to restore and rebuild the infrastructure. He challenged attendees to step up and fight for better investment in this megaproject that affects our economic growth, quality of life, and national security and safety by promoting the value of our infrastructure, collabor- ating with stakeholders, finding consensus, identifying funding and influencing decision makers. He was followed by Kevin J. Thompson, P.E., director of engineering for California’s High-Speed Railway Authority, who continued the conversation on the need for better, faster infrastructure and the various phases of this mega undertaking and the various construction packages being awarded. That session was rounded out by John Bendarski, P.E., of the California Depart- ment of Water Resources, on the California Water Fix, a $14.9 billion megaproject; Stephen McLandrich, P.E., G.E., of Arup, on the amazing Geotechnical Challenges of the Transbay Trans i t Center and Downtown Extension; and Lelio H. Mejia, Ph.D., P.E., G.E., of AECOM Corporation, who cov- ered the Panama Canal Pacific Access Channel and Expansion and the challenges faced by the geotechnical engineering design team and the constructors of this me g a p r o j e c t t h a t spanned many years. These reflections had me looking forward the 41 Annual Confer- ence on other mega- projects such as the Go e t h a l ’s B r i d g e Replacement, the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, the Kosciuszko Bridge, the New NY Bridge (Tappan Zee), the Iconic New York Wheel, the Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Causeway Project in Kuwait, Construction of the Tailings Storage Facility Freshet Management Embankment Cutoff Wall at Mount Polley Mine, and the Cannonsville Dam Emergency Borehole Response, to name a few. There’s always excitement in the session room when there is an opportunity to learn about the ins and outs of how these megaprojects are handled. DFI will continue the tradition of to the presentations at st we plan our 42 Annual Conference in New Orleans in October 2017, as well as our participation in IFCEE 2018 in Orlando, Fla., in March of that year. In addition, major plans are being made for the DFI-EFFC International Conference on Piling and Ground Improvement in June 2018 in Rome. The program’s intent is to delivering this type of mega information as nd Theresa Engler Executive Director [email protected] “There’s always excitement in the session room when there is an opportunity to learn about the ins and outs of how these megaprojects are handled.” explore the geotech- nical and industry challenges presented by owners and owners’ representatives (consul- t ant / c ons t ruc t i on managers) who are associated with build- ing mega infrastructure sys tems that meet modern demands. The plan is to feature global megaprojects along with technical presen- tations on projects and studies related to new technologies, methods of construction, design concepts, equipment, materials and electronic Information Data Management Systems (and BIM correlation). Contra- ctors, engineers, researchers and manu- facturers (technology providers) are encouraged to participate in this forum to exchange knowledge on megaproject challenges with owners. I am happy to report that when I finished this article, after the mega DFI conference in NYC, we had surpassed our attendance goals and reached close to 1,100 attendees. Mega thanks to all who participated and supported us in this endeavor. We’re looking forward to sharing information on bigger and better worldwide projects with our membership at future mega events. Keep ’em coming. DEEP FOUNDATIONS • NOV/DEC 2016 • 9
