DIXON, IL – January 2, 2009 – One little bridge in Princeton Township has won three very big awards. 

At the November 5, 2008 Wood Solutions Fair held in Minneapolis, WoodWorks North-Central presented Willett, Hofmann and Associates, Inc. (WHA) with an Engineering Award for the Captain Swift Timber Covered Bridge.  WoodWorks presented awards in four separate categories to projects that exemplified the outstanding use of wood in non-residential projects.  The Engineering Award presented to WHA was to recognize engineering firms that specify, design or build commercial, industrial or institutional projects using wood.

This is the third peer reviewed award WHA has received for the design of the Captain Swift Bridge this year.  In February WHA was presented with a Special Achievement Award from the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC), and in May WHA received the Juror’s Favorite Award from the Structural Engineers Association of Illinois (SEAOI).

The Captain Swift Timber Covered Bridge crosses Big Bureau Creek in Princeton Township and was designed for Princeton Township, Bureau County and the City of Princeton, Illinois. 

Covered bridges of the past were designed for limited use of horse-and-buggy traffic and are unpractical today.  What makes the Captain Swift Timber Covered Bridge unique is that unlike a typical covered bridge, this one has two lanes of traffic and is built to modern highway standards - semi trucks and even farm combines can safely travel the bridge.  Made entirely out of wood, it is the only two lane timber covered bridge in Illinois.

The key to the bridge is its unique combination of 19^th century design with 21^st century materials.  The strength of the bridge comes from its burr arch design, an idea patented by Theodore Burr of New York in 1804.  Willett, Hofmann & Associates engineers used the traditional design but replaced cut lumber with “glulam” lumber, a wood product manufactured by gluing laminated lumber together to increase the strength and length of the wood.  While Burr and his fellow 19^th century bridge builders were limited by the height of available trees, glulam lumber allowed WHA engineers to use lumber that is longer and stronger than any tree, making the two-lane bridge possible. 

The bridge has already attracted sight-seers to visit the unique bridge in its rural setting, and the design of the bridge includes a parking area to accommodate visitors.  In addition to bringing tourist dollars into the area, the Captain Swift Bridge is designed to save taxpayers money.  Wood bridges are immune to the effects of salt that deteriorate steel structures during Illinois’ harsh winters, and the roof of the bridge itself will keep the structure dry and prevent wood rot.  The outer skin of the structure is Douglas Fir, which will age to a lovely chocolate brown and the attractive natural color will make painting unnecessary, further reducing maintenance costs.  With proper maintenance a timber covered bridge can last 150 years or more, which amounts to a savings for many generations of tax payers.

The lead engineer on the project was Brian Converse.  Converse is both a licensed professional engineer and a licensed professional structural engineer, and has almost 20 years of experience in structural engineering and bridge design.  Converse works out of the Dixon WHA office, and lives in Geneseo.

Willett, Hofmann and Associates, Inc. provides land surveying, civil and structural engineering, architectural services, and grant and loan funding application preparation from offices in Dixon, Freeport, Rockford, Joliet and Sterling, Illinois and Monroe, Wisconsin. 

DIXON, IL – December 8,  2008 – The holiday season is a time for goodwill towards our fellow man.  Local engineering intern Brandon Janes of Willett, Hofmann & Associates (WHA) had an opportunity to experience international goodwill firsthand during an engineering mission trip to Rwanda in July. 

Janes’ experience was part of Engineering Ministries International (EMI), a non-profit, non-denominational Christian mission group.  EMI organizes teams of architects, engineers, surveyors, CAD technicians and construction managers to design infrastructure improvements in the developing world.  Their motto is “Designing a world of hope.”

Janes’ project was an EMI  partnership with Kids Across America and their sister organization, Kids Across Africa.  With a team of 12 composed of architects, engineers and one surveyor, their project was to design a Christian sports camp near the town of Musanze in Northern Rwanda on a 120 acre site overlooking Lake Burera.  The area was made famous by the movie “Gorillas in the Mist,” and the volcanoes surrounding Lake Burera are the only natural habitat for silver back mountain gorillas. 

The camp will include 10 girls cabins, 10 boys cabins, indoor and outdoor meeting facilities, kitchen and dining facilities, and extensive sports fields.  The sports facilities will include a ropes course, a boat dock, a World Cup sized soccer field, and an Olympic sized swimming pool.  When camp is not in session it will not stand idle.  The plan includes using the facilities as a training ground for Olympic athletes.  Janes noted that there currently is not an Olympic sized swimming pool in Rwanda, so aspiring athletes train in hotel swimming pools. 

The campers will be children who have been affected by genocide, and the hope is that the camp will build Christian leaders of tomorrow by healing the deep generational wounds the killings have inflicted.

To understand the children they are building the camp for, the trip included a visit to the Kigali Memorial Centre.  Opened in April of 2004, on the tenth anniversary of the Rwandan Genocide, the museum is built on a site where over 250,000 people are buried.  Janes said, “The Genocide Museum is an experience, to say the least.  They show you how it developed, what occurred, and the reconciliation.  Its surreal.” 

The pain of genocide, Janes notes, is still there.  “It’s awfully hard to express in words all the emotions that this subject means to these people. There are no longer people’s groups, they are all Rwandan.  There are memorials everywhere.  Everyone has a story.” 

Janes said his job in the camp design was to “design everything related to the water and wastewater on the site,” which included a wastewater treatment plant, a sanitary collection system, a water distribution system, and the related water treatment process.  A lot to put on the plate of a fresh-out-of-college budding engineer, but Janes confidently remarks “Sounds like a lot, but you do what you have to do.”

But he wasn’t feeling quite so confident at the project’s onset.  The site was beautiful, but his thoughts weren’t on the visible beauty, he was focused on what was underneath.  Janes notes “They literally wanted us to design a kids camp on the side of a mountain and on a steep peninsula.  All I could think about was, ‘How am I going to get piping through all this rock!’”

As if he wasn’t feeling overwhelmed already, Janes had a meeting with the head sanitary engineer of the country who said that Janes’ design would “set the pace” for the rest of the region.  In our country wastewater is tightly regulated.  Permits are required, inspections are conducted, and local ordinances dictate the size of detention and retention basins, maintenance responsibilities, and sewer connection procedures, all for the purpose of keeping our drinking water safe and our sewage thoroughly treated.  But Rwanda doesn’t have any regulations, and will depend on the EMI design to set the standard for future development. 

Janes noted on the youth of his teammates.  Of the twelve of them, only four were over age 30.  The lead architect was 24, the civil engineer was 25, and Janes, the environmental engineer, was just 25. 

Inspiration came from the EMI and Kids Across Africa leaders, who served as both project managers and spiritual guides.  With the realization of his responsibilities sinking in – all scheduled to be completed during a short two-week visit – Janes looked up at Jonathan Nimrod, president of Kids Across Africa, and said “But I’m only 25.”  The president’s response was “Big deal, quit your whining and realize that God put you here for a reason.”  Janes said that it was exactly what he needed to hear, and what he would have said to someone else in the same situation. 

Janes noted that having complete control over a project of such magnitude was scary, but that he found it forced him to step up and lead.  Says Janes, “It gave me a greater confidence in what I am doing, having that kind of responsibility.” 

“Why did I go? I wanted to try my hand at missions and see if that’s a road I need to take.  Would I go back?  In a heartbeat.  I can easily say that it was one of the best experiences of my life, and I would highly recommend a short term missions trip for anyone who wants to serve,” said Janes. 

Janes grew up in Stillman Valley and graduated from Stillman Valley High School.  He attended the University of Wisconsin – Platteville, and worked as a summer intern for Willett, Hofmann & Associates while a student.  In 2007 Janes graduated with a degree in environmental engineering, then passed his exam to become a registered Engineering Intern (E.I.) and was hired full-time at WHA soon after.  Janes works in the Environmental Engineering Department under the supervision of licensed professional engineers to design water distribution and treatment systems.  After four years of supervised work he will be eligible to take the engineering exam to become a licensed Professional Engineer (P.E.).  Janes lives in Stillman Valley and works in the Dixon office of WHA. 

Willett, Hofmann and Associates, Inc. provides land surveying, civil and structural engineering, architectural services, and grant and loan funding application preparation from offices in Dixon, Freeport, Rockford, Joliet and Sterling, Illinois and Monroe, Wisconsin. 

DIXON, IL – December 3,  2008 – The overall quality of water in Illinois has steadily improved over the last 35 years, due in part to the success of the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency’s revolving fund loan programs.  The State Revolving Fund Loan program provides communities with access to long term (20 years) low interest (currently 2.5%) funding for water pollution and public water supply projects. 

Of the 31 communities throughout the state receiving a total of $108.7 million in wastewater loans and $66 million in drinking water loans during Federal Fiscal Year 2008, five were local communities working with the local engineers of Willett, Hofmann & Associates. 

Davis Junction received a loan of $11,846,600 for wastewater improvements.  WHA designed a new 800,000 Gallon per Day extended aeration Wastewater Treatment Plant and a connecting sanitary sewer system for the Village.   The plant is located East of U.S. Route 251 and South of Illinois Route 72.   

The City of Dixon was awarded a $5,217,402 loan for the first phase of their three phase Radium Reduction Waterworks Improvement Project.  Phase I includes the design and construction of the radium reduction facilities for City Wells No. 7 & 9.  The second phase for the City’s wells No. 6 & 8 is scheduled for construction to start in the spring of 2009 with Phase III for wells 3 & 5 following in late 2009 or early 2010. 

The Village of Ohio received a $1,160,000 loan for a waterworks improvement project.  Ohio’s water had been in compliance, but with the IEPA’s lowering of the minimum allowable amount of arsenic MCL it would not be.  WHA designed a new water treatment plant with a gravity filter, chemical feed equipment and a new building to improve the water of the existing well. 

The Village of Milledgeville received a loan of $1,135,508 to construct a new 250,000 gallon elevated water storage tower and new well building.  The new water tower replaces the Village’s 110 year old hydro pneumatic tanks and well building. 

The Village of Mount Morris was awarded a $706,382 loan for drinking water improvements after receiving notice that a well exceeded the IEPA’s maximum level for combined radium.  WHA designed a new well to replace the well that was out of compliance. 

The loans are revolving loans.  Principal and interest payments from current loans go back into the kitty to be loaned to other municipalities. 

Ronald J. Steenken, P.E., S.E., CEO of Willett, Hofmann & Associates, states “Many times a municipality doesn’t have a choice in making water improvements – it is something that just has to be done.”  Steenken notes that funding is often out there, but municipalities don’t always know where to look.  “We are proud that we can offer Illinois municipalities so many choices in loans, grants and other assistance so that the taxpayer feels the pinch of safe water improvements as little as possible.  That’s important to us – we all have to go home and pay our own taxes, too.”

Willett, Hofmann and Associates, Inc. provides land surveying, civil and structural engineering, architectural services, and grant and loan funding application preparation from offices in Dixon, Freeport, Rockford, Joliet and Sterling, Illinois and Monroe, Wisconsin. 

DIXON, IL – October 20, 2008 – The Illinois Department of Transportation has announced their first Civil Engineer Scholarship Program, and local engineers are applauding the incentive.

A growing number of civil engineers are nearing retirement age, and the scholarships are intended to bring more young people into careers in civil engineering.  “We’ve noticed it in the industry, as well as in our own work force” reports Ron Steenken, P.E., S.E., president of local engineering firm Willett, Hofmann & Associates.  For example, the head of the WHA transportation engineering department, Jerry Hinrichs, is planning to retire next year.  Steenken notes “By that time Jerry will have worked as a professional engineer for almost 40 years.  We need students in engineering now so that we will continue to have 40-year veterans like Jerry in the future.”

The IDOT scholarship plans to award up to 20 scholarships for up to $7,000 each academic year.  Students need a high school grade point average of at least 2.5 on a 4.0 scale or 3.125 on a 5.0 scale, and must be admitted to or enrolled in a select Illinois pre-engineering or civil engineering program.  Applicants must also include two letters of recommendation and complete an essay question. 

Steenken notes “Hopefully, some students who are leaning towards majoring in math or science, but aren’t really sure what direction they want to go, will consider civil engineering as a career.” 

Willett, Hoffmann and Associates, Inc. provides land surveying, civil and structural engineering, architectural services, and grant and loan funding application preparation from offices in Dixon, Freeport, Rockford, Joliet and Sterling, Illinois and Monroe, Wisconsin.