Burns Cooley Dennis, Inc. (BCD) and Ardurra, Inc. were honored to receive the 2024 ACEC-MS Engineering Excellence Grand Conceptor Award during the annual Awards Banquet at Hal & Mal’s on April 4th in Jackson, MS.

BCD and Ardurra teamed to develop a stabilization solution for the 120-ft high bluff above the Mississippi River where the Natchez National Cemetery is located. Erosion, sloughing, and caving of the bluff during heavy rain events over the years had resulted in significant regression of the top of the bluff towards the cemetery, which is the final resting place for over 7,100 U.S. veterans.

The stabilization system designed by BCD consisted of a 1,270-ft long retaining wall ranging in height from 35 feet to 48 feet, containing over 1,000 soil nails ranging in length from 15 feet to 35 feet, and 89 prestressed anchors ranging in length from 90 feet to 210 feet. Ardurra also designed drainage systems to collect and route storm water to the bottom of the bluff.

BCD and Ardurra faced significant challenges in the design and construction of the stabilization system due to limited land space and access, a steep slope face, and continuing regression and changing geometry of the bluff during the design and construction processes.

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The Design-Build team of BCD and Goettle worked together to develop a Value Engineering (VE) design for the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) to stabilize a large landslide on Rockwood Mountain along a densely traveled and critical stretch of I-40 in Roane County, Tennessee. The I-40 project also won the Grand Award in the Large Projects Category.

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The expansion, which included a heavily loaded, seven-story tower structure and attached multi-level parking garage sites located immediately adjacent to the current Batson Children’s Hospital building, resulted in foundation and site work challenges for the design and construction team due to the presence of highly expansive Yazoo clays. Hundreds of specialized 24-in. high-capacity auger cast piles never before used in this area, a specialized crawl space design, site-specific seismic testing, and construction of a specialized soil nail wall were necessary to support and protect the building foundations from the expansive Yazoo clays.

Other members of the UMMC Children’s Hospital Expansion team were project construction manager and general contractor Brasfield & Gorrie; hospital tower designers/architects HDR of Dallas, TX and Cooke Douglass Farr Lemons of Jackson, MS; and building foundation specialist Morris-Shea Bridge Co., Inc. of Birmingham, AL.

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SoilTech offers a variety of geotechnical engineering services and equipment that will be merged into the BCD portfolio, and this acquisition will increase the number of BCD full-time employees from approximately 60 to more than 70. BCD will also acquire a new office location in Starkville.

“The acquisition of SoilTech will improve Burns Cooley Dennis’s ability to deliver the best engineered solutions to both routine and complex geotechnical projects for our current and new client base,” said Eddie Templeton, PE, BCD’s President. “By expanding our reach in the market, BCD will have even more opportunities for growth by employing the talents of current SoilTech professionals who will join our company. In turn, BCD will be introduced to new clients who are currently being served by SoilTech.”

“Combining our resources, experiences and abilities will allow for even more opportunities for our company to provide state-of-the-art geotechnical, pavement and construction testing services,” said Randy Ahlrich, PE, BCD’s Vice President. “BCD is excited to announce this acquisition, which will further solidify our company throughout Mississippi and beyond.”

“With the acquisition of SoilTech, BCD is expanding to better provide geotechnical services across the midsouth – in the Memphis Region, Golden Triangle Region and the Pine Belt-Gulf Coast Region,” said Tommy Dunlap, BCD Principal. “We are also pleased to continue offering very specialized geotechnical services all across the United States.”

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BCD worked closely with design-build contractor Hayward Baker, Inc. who, in spite of complexities, was able to design and complete installation of the high-quality, environmentally sustainable soil nail wall in less than a year with minimal disturbance to the bluff. The completed wall to stabilize the bluff is unobstrusive, but is essential to preserving the Old Mississippi River Bridge, Navy Circle Overlook and the expansive views of the Mississippi River from these historic sites.

Pictured from left to right are BCD engineers Alex Reeb, Amber Templeton Reeb, Tommy Dunlap and Colleen Campbell, followed by Herman Smith, Superintendent of the Vicksburg Bridge Commission of Warren County, and BCD engineers Brad Campbell and Randy Ahlrich.

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BCD’s Dr. Alex Reeb was recently recognized as an honorary member of Virginia Tech’s Center for Geotechnical Practice and Research (CGPR). The CGPR’s mission is to facilitate connections between practicing engineers, university faculty and geotechnical engineering graduate students in order to promote and advance the geotechnical engineering profession. Congratulations, Alex!

For more information on this prestigious organization, please click on the following link:

https://www.cgpr.cee.vt.edu/cgpr-members/

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The last couple of days have been enjoyably cooler and less humid than our typical July weather in Mississippi.  But last week’s thunderstorms in this area were intense!  Our drill crews had to deal not only with the usual heat and humidity on the job but also with all the mud resulting from the rainfall that occurred at many of our job sites.

We at BCD hope that you are taking the appropriate steps to stay hydrated and cool, whether you work outside, in an office or are just having some fun in the sun!

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