MME Civil + Structural Engineering

The UCSC Great Meadow Bike Path was featured in the Santa Cruz Sentinel this week! About 8,000 feet of the path was widened and reconstructed to meet current Caltrans standards, and now it is safer and easier for cyclists and pedestrians to share the path. MME provided UCSC with the planning, alternatives analysis, layout, grading, drainage, signage, striping, and erosion control design, and construction observation for the successful construction of this scenic and exhilara...ting bike path. The Sentinel wrote an excellent summary of the project, as quoted directly below: The upgraded path includes reconstructed pavement, a wider path to allow for safer bike travel, and a multi-use trail to accommodate both two-way pedestrian, and one-way bike traffic on the uphill portion of the path. These improvements were made in an effort to reduce the number of bicycle-related accidents and injuries and improve the path’s functionality. The upgrades were made possible through grants totaling $1.1 million, including $700,000 from the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission and $434,000 from the California Transportation Commission Active Transportation Program. Photos are by Sentinel photographer, Shmuel Thaler.

Every four years the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) evaluate the health of our nation’s infrastructure in the form of a report card with letter grades. In 2017 our overall score was a humbling D+, and in 2021 we improved a bit and our score is now a C-. We still have a long way to go to get on the honor roll with all A’s. You can learn about the 18 categories, how each individual state was graded, and how you can become more involved in the repair of our nation’s critical infrastructure at: https://infrastructurereportcard.org/

How can we do a better job of repairing and maintaining our roads? Our colleagues from TAMC and APWA will host virtual workshop on March 4 to share their expertise on this topic. Details on how to attend are in the attached flyer.

EXCITING NEWS! The Felton Discovery Park won the APWA Monterey Bay Chapter Project of the Year award in 2021 for Structures under $5 Million! Congratulations to the County of Santa Cruz and BASE Landscape Architecture! We enjoyed working with you on this community focused project!

Another wonderful playground is complete! MME designed the rain gardens, underground detention drainage facilities, erosion control, restroom foundations, and improvements to the pedestrian circulation and parking lot. Our design for the Magical Bridge playground included a play structure tunnel, a retaining wall and an abutment for one pedestrian bridge.

Check out our client’s post and video link about this cute, new park. MME provided the civil engineering design for drainage, grading, site utilities and erosion control for Evandale Park in Mountain View.

MME designed the drainage, grading, site utilities and erosion control for Wyandotte Park in Mountain View. Check out the post below for photos and a video.

One of our projects, Upper Park Road, was a featured photo in the Santa Cruz Sentinel today. By February of 2017, winter storms created significant tension cracks which caused a section of the roadway to drop about two feet, and the northbound lane was closed. MME coordinated with the geotechnical engineer in the design of the repair and recommended stabilization through the construction of a soldier-pile retaining wall with timber lagging and tiebacks, reconstruction of the ...failed road base, drainage improvements and paving. Upper Park Road had to remain open during construction, as it provides the only public roadway access to the City’s popular recreational 35-acre DeLaveaga Park and public golf course, the 911 Center/City of Santa Cruz Emergency Operations Center, and the Santa Cruz Shakespeare theater company. https://www.santacruzsentinel.com//photo-santa-c/Februrary of 2017, winter storms created significant tension cracks which caused a section of the roadway to drop about two feet, and the northbound lane was closed. MME coordinated with the geotechnical engineer in the design of the repair and recommended stabilization through the construction of a soldier-pile retaining wall with timber lagging and tiebacks, reconstruction of the failed road base, drainage improvements and paving. Upper Park Road had to remain open during construction, as it provides the only public roadway access to the City’s popular recreational 35-acre DeLaveaga Park and public golf course, the 911 Center/City of Santa Cruz Emergency Operations Center, and the Santa Cruz Shakespeare theater company. https://www.santacruzsentinel.com//photo-santa-cruz-road-/

The videos in this link provide very helpful post-fire recovery information. Thank you to the San Lorenzo Valley Water District for sharing this. These resources are brought to you by the Resource Conservation District of Santa Cruz County Post-Fire Assistance Program and the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service. https://bit.ly/3i1AqqA

Fresh air (or low on the AQI reading), movement, sunshine, smiles for miles? Does that sound like something you want to be a part of? Join Santa Cruz Biketober! Ecology Action is encouraging Santa Cruz County to keep the bike momentum going into the fall season. Ride, encourage, win prizes, and leave the world a little brighter than you found it. Weekly prizes up to $100 to local bike shops are up for grabs all month long. All you have to do to join the event is log one ride at lovetoride.net/santacruz #bikelovesc

SLV Water District’s unsung first responders Water is essential for firefighting, and the San Lorenzo Valley Water District staff have worked day and night to keep the hydrants flowing and the hoses charged. A great letter to the Sentinel on 9/11/2020 highlights this effort. MME is proud to serve the District and provide engineering design and construction management of several new water tanks and pipelines. https://www.santacruzsentinel.com//guest-commentary-slv-w/

We will be periodically sharing posts from the San Lorenzo Valley Water District regarding the CZU August Complex Lighting Fire recovery efforts.

Congratulations to the Scotts Valley Water District for completing the repairs to Sequoia Tank! During a recoating project of the water tanks in Lodato Park, the Scotts Valley Water District discovered that the center support of the Sequoia tank had developed excessive corrosion and the ability to provide continued service was in doubt. MME reviewed the design and construction shop drawings and conducted a field review of the existing tank center roof support and center vent.... We prepared roof rafter repair plans including center cone replacement, new welded ring support, and new rafter connections. In addition, we provided daily site observations and managed the welding special inspection agency to assist the District in a quicker schedule.

Our local American Public Works Association Chapter gained a lot of new members over the last year! Good job you guys!

MME is providing construction management services for the Lompico Tanks Replacement project for the San Lorenzo Valley Water District. This project is an example of how the District is a great steward and provider of safe drinking water for the community. This is essential construction and it has continued during all phases of the Shelter-in-Place Order of Santa Cruz County. As civil and structural engineers, we enjoy making our life’s work focused on serving the public with ...projects like this. In a recent newsletter to their customers, the San Lorenzo Valley Water District provided the following update about the construction of the Lompico Tanks: The replacement redwood water storage tanks are in full construction. On February 20, 2020 the Board awarded the construction contract to Anderson Pacific for the tank replacement project. The project consists of replacement of six redwood tanks, with bolted steel including the 100,000 gallon upper Lewis tank that was taken off line before the consolidation. To date temporary water tanks have been installed and the existing Lewis and Madrone tanks have been removed. Currently we are now in the grading and soils compaction stages of the project, moving ahead smoothly. The tank replacement project is estimated to be completed by December 2020 with total water storage of 460,000 gallons. To learn more about the Lompico Tanks project & other on-going Lompico projects see the full annual report here (https://www.slvwd.com//first-annual-lompico-assessment-dis).

The construction of Chanticleer Park was completed spring of 2020. The wildflowers are coming up nicely around this culvert, designed by MME. MME supports green design goals set by the community and designed innovative, sustainable, and cost effective Low Impact Design (LID) practices such as bio-swales and bio-retention rain gardens. Working closely with the project landscape architects and geotechnical engineers we developed customized drainage solutions within the const...raints of high ground water and low site permeability to achieve top tier water quality treatment. MME was the lead designer for site grading, storm water drainage, utilities, erosion control, site structures, driveways and parking areas. Our client was SSA Landscape Architects, Inc.; and the owner is the County of Santa Cruz. Civil design by MME Principal, Rodney Cahill, CE. Photograph by MME Civil Engineer, Angie Hershberger, EIT.

We are very proud of the San Lorenzo River Trestle Trail project, for its positive impact on the community; and now with the recent accolades from the California Trails & Greenways Award Program, it is a 5-time award winner!

Congratulations to the Monterey Bay Chapter of APWA! For the 13th consecutive year, they won the 2020 Presidential Award for Chapter Excellence Award for their efforts and good work they completed in 2019. A few of our firm’s employees are chapter members, including Rodney Cahill who was the 2019 Chapter President! For more information about the fun industry-focused networking events and the volunteer community service this chapter hosts, check out their website at http://monterey.apwa.net/.

To Our Clients and Friends, At MME, we are currently in a County mandated Shelter-In-Place order and as we want to ensure the safety of our employees, family members, and do the right thing, we have closed our office and everyone is working from home. Currently, we will be staying home until April 7, 2020, but this date may change in the future. We are working remotely and are available by e-mail and able to retrieve voicemails if calls come into the office. ... Our first priority is to the safety of our staff and their families and we are following the CDC guidelines. We are limiting any travel and face-to-face contact per the order and therefore our ability to meet in-person is restricted to critical or essential services only. We want our clients to know that we are working and we are available to continue providing our engineering services to the best of our ability based on the remote technology we have available. Some Municipal services are essential to the public and if those projects need immediate attention, please reach out to us so we prioritize our staff accordingly. In these challenging times, we want to provide assistance to the public in any way we can to keep the critical infrastructure functional and safe. We hope all of you are well and staying safe. Dale, Rodney and the MME Team

On March 5, 2020, the San Lorenzo Water District celebrated the completion of construction a brand new 530,000 gallon water tank with a Ribbon Cutting ceremony. MME provided the design and construction administrative services for the replacement of the old 100,000 gallon redwood water tank with a new 32’ tall, 60’ diameter welded steel water tank adjacent to the Santa Cruz County Probation Center. MME assembled a multidisciplinary team of sub-consultants to assist in developm...ent of project plans, specifications, and permitting. Expertise included ecological planning and civil, electrical and geotechnical engineering, permitting, construction testing and inspection. Read more about this MME award-winning project here: http://www.m-me.com//mme-project---probation-tank-14176-(n Read the Santa Cruz Sentinel article about the Ribbon Cutting Ceremony here: https://www.santacruzsentinel.com//san-lorenzo-valley-bol/ Photo of Ribbon Cutting Ceremony by Dan Coyro, Santa Cruz Sentinel.