Drawing on his 15 years of experience with contaminated site investigation and remediation, Project Manager Zack Clark recently led an informative presentation on managing soil and groundwater pre-characterization assessment during linear infrastructure projects.
Speaking at the ACEC of Vermont’s Environmental Protection Technical Workshop, Zack focused on contaminated material management for linear infrastructure projects, which include municipal streetscape projects, bridges, and underground utility replacement projects.
"Soil and groundwater pre-characterization assessment isn’t just a check box for regulatory compliance," said Zack. "It adds value to overall infrastructure project design by helping developers plan around known site issues, avoid expensive construction delays, and create clear and cost-effective plans and contracts.”
Zack provided insights on interactive data management tools, such as ArcGIS online, Microsoft Power BI, and EQuIS Solutions, that can summarize, utilize, and create visualizations of this pre-characterization data—informing planners of anticipated site issues and helping to keep construction on track. He also shared effective sampling methodologies from recent VHB projects in Vermont, highlighting the soil management plans and tools that set these initiatives up for success. Project examples included the Great Streets Main Street project in Burlington, the Federal Street Multimodal Connector project in St. Albans, and the National Grid UTEN Syracuse Project.
The annual ACEC of Vermont’s Environmental Protection Technical Workshop brings together industry professionals and experts to discuss the latest developments and best practices in environmental protection, including forward-thinking methodologies, emerging challenges, and solutions for both local and regional environmental concerns.
