Bair Island Restoration Project Wins Merit Award

October 14, 2014

Moffatt & Nichol in less than three weeks won its second Engineering News-Record Merit Award, the award winner was the company’s Bair Island Restoration project in San Mateo County.

Bair Island is one of the largest wetland restoration projects in California, restoring approximately 1400 acres of tidal wetlands. The project won a Merit Award in the Water/Environment category on September 29, 2014.

The work involved placement of approximately 1 million cubic yards of fill to raise grade within Inner Bair Island, breaching of levees to restore tidal influence to previously diked islands, construction of two flow control structures, and construction of a pedestrian bridge connection Inner Bair Island with the San Francisco Bay Trail.

The restoration project provides habitat for shorebirds, harbor seals, endangered clapper rails and salt marsh harvest mice, while also providing access to the popular walking trail on Inner Bair and improving safety for nearby San Carlos Airport.

The project team consisting of engineering, environmental and architectural consultants, non-profit organizations, federal and state agencies, and local governments/agencies faced numerous challenges due to regulatory issues, cost considerations and a general slowdown in the economy.

However, through stakeholder coordination, the project team secured and managed grants from 13 entities, including the California Wildlife Foundation, the Peninsula Open Space Trust, and the San Francisco Bay Trail Program, among others.

Moffatt & Nichol led the design team effort, and construction management/oversight was led by Ducks Unlimited and LifeScience Inc.

“Good work really pays off,” said Moffatt & Nichol Project Manager Dilip Trivedi. “Innovative contracting techniques to leverage market economics combined with practical engineering allowed the restoration to commence within a year of the environmental studies.”

Bair Island was among 20 projects selected for this year’s competition. Nearly 140 projects were submitted.

The first one, ANB Harbor Replacement project in Sitka, Alaska, won a Merit Award for Best Small Project on September 11, 2014 for finishing on time and under budget despite technical challenges along the way.

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Press Release, October 14, 2014