SSE Helps Keep Archer Western Contractors on Schedule

AWC is a member of the Walsh group and was ranked as the 2nd largest domestic heavy

Contractor in the United States by Engineering News-Records Top Contractor Rankings and they

were ranked as the 125^th largest privately owned company in America by Forbs magazine. 

The old LVP 109 levee before construction

NEW ORLEANS- Since June 20, 2010 Archer Western Contractors (AWC) has had Schultz and Summers Engineering (SSE) helping them to finish LPV 109.02a levee project.   AWC Project Manager Martin Pospisil said, “Having SSE on the project has been very beneficial to our progress.  Their technicians show up every day on time and ready to work and Stan has been available to handle any questions or problems that arise.”

A drill rig on one of the 126 wells

The Contract Award was for $112,247,806 to rework a 7.2 mile stretch of levee starting on the south bank of Lake Pontchartrain and running South along the bayou.  Work includes moving over 3.1 million tons of soil to enlarge the existing levee, demolish existing gates and construct new gates that cross US Highway 90 & US Highway 11.  Also, they will remove and replace four (4) drainage structures, remove and replace pump station discharge pipes, and upgrade two (2) pump stations. Additionally, they installed over 9 million feet of wick drains as well as constructed T-wall/I-wall transitions at CSX Railroad, US Highway 90, and US Highway 11.  “Working with Martin and all his staff has been very rewarding,” stated SSE owner Stan Schultz.  “There are a lot of moving pieces to this project, but so far technicians like Thomas Hudson, January employee of the month Cory Brown, and James Badkoubei have been able to keep things on schedule and within budget.”

Despite all the wet weather they met their goal of completing this project by August of 2011.  Quality Control manager Raphael Campos added, “With the hurricane season in New Orleans we have to maximize our progress on sunny days.  Around here we put in some long hours and all the SSE folks have been willing to do whatever it takes to keep us moving.”

For Stan and all the SSE employees this was a particularly challenging job.  They also were responsible for drilling 126 well holes and installing the geotechnical instrumentation for monitoring the levee.  This required ordering all the necessary equipment and personal to drill these holes, and properly installing the magnetic extensometers, inclinometers and piezometers all while the work on the levy continued.  SSE technician Cory Brown said, “It was a challenge to keep the drill rig going and ahead of the dirt moving crews.  The whole project schedule depended on us to meet our goal each day and the bad weather was always a worry.  I am proud to say we finished our part ahead of the schedule!”   

Schultz concluded, “I’m thankful to be working on one of the bigger projects in the New Orleans region but being able to help solve problems and keep LPV 109.02a on schedule has been very rewarding professionally.  Martin made us feel like we were a key part of his team and working with AWC has been one of the highlights of our work here in Louisiana.”