Achen-Gardner Wins Safety Award

We are proud to have won the Ben Patton Luster Construction Safety Excellence Award from the Arizona Transportation Builders Association (ATB). This award recognizes a companywide commitment to safety and creative solutions to safety challenges. Cesar Martinez (Safety Manager) and Geoff Tucker (Area Manager) accepted the award at the ATB Installation and Awards Dinner on February 1st.

One of our most unique safety challenges in 2019 was our Salt River Siphon Repair Design-Build project for Central Arizona Project. This work was featured in our award submittal and we are proud of our safety achievements on this and all of our projects.

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Salt River Siphon Repair Project Wins Build Arizona Award

Photo Courtesy of the Arizona Chapter of the Associated General Contractors of America.

Photo Courtesy of the Arizona Chapter of the Associated General Contractors of America.

Achen-Gardner Construction is honored to have won a Build Arizona Award from the Arizona Chapter Associated General Contractors of America for our Salt River Siphon Repair Design-Build project for Central Arizona Project (CAP). Members of the project team accepted the award at the Annual Dinner and Build Arizona Awards Banquet on Friday, January 24th.

This project included the dewatering, assessment, and repair of the Salt River Siphon, one of the largest segmented steel pipelines in Arizona. The siphon spans 8,900 LF underneath the Salt River near Granite Reef Dam and is constructed of 21-foot diameter steel pipe that is buried more than 50 feet below the river bottom. Work during this project was conducted 24/7 and provided the most detailed assessment and coating repairs ever performed on a CAP steel siphon. Click here for more project details and photos.

2019 Year in Review

Thank you to all of our employee-owners, clients, colleagues, friends, and family for making our 30th anniversary year spectacular. Here are some of the many highlights from this year.

AZAGC RACERS

Achen-Gardner Construction was a Gold Sponsor and sent an all-women team to the Arizona Chapter Associated General Contractors of America (AZAGC) event at Octane Raceway on September 13, 2019. Thanks to all who participated and cheered on the team.

Our team included drivers Diana Martinez, Abby Goode, Richelle Soto, and Lidia Valladares, crew chief Cailey Jones, and supporter Karen Bilby. They sported racing-style shirts with as many logos as a professional pit crew. The racers took turns driving 14 laps around the track and their times were averaged to provide our team score. The team refueled on refreshments and snacks after the race while spending time with all of our friends and colleagues from AZAGC.

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Arizona APWA Conference Wrap Up

Achen-Gardner Construction was a sponsor, exhibitor, and several of our employees attended the Arizona Chapter APWA Statewide Conference on August 7-9th at the El Conquistador Tucson. We were a Premium Sponsor, Public Agency Sponsor, and Friday Prize Drawing Sponsor and handed out fun and useful giveaways at our booth. We also participated in several technical presentations about our recent projects: the Fiesta Tech Sewer Service and Lift Station CMAR (Town of Gilbert) and the Twin Peaks-Blue Bonnet Road Gravity Sewer DB project, and we conducted a demonstration of pressure pipeline rehabilitation using Primus Line, with a discussion about our Primus Line Installation project for the City of Peoria.

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Two of our projects also won Project of the Year Awards: the Downtown Chandler Canal Restoration (GMP 4 of our Downtown Chandler Infrastructure Improvements CMAR) (winning in the category of Historical Restoration/Preservation, Less Than $5 Million), and the Val Vista Transmission Main Rehabilitation CMAR project (winning in the category of Environment, $5 Million, But Less Than $25 Million). Congratulations to all of our team members and partners on these projects.

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Primus Line Rehabilitation Demonstration

WHAT: Achen-Gardner Construction, Construction Product Marketing, and CVL Consultants will be demonstrating a pipeline rehabilitation with Primus Line at the Arizona Chapter APWA Statewide Conference.

WHEN: Thursday, August 8th, 7:30 am - 8:30 am

WHERE: Hilton El Conquistador Tucson, 10000 N Oracle Rd, Tucson, AZ 85704

Click here to download a printable flyer with more information about the demonstration.

AZ APWA PROJECTS OF THE YEAR

Two of Achen-Gardner’s projects have won Project of the Year Awards from the Arizona Chapter of the American Public Works Association (APWA). The project teams will accept these awards at the Awards Lunch during the Arizona APWA Statewide Conference on August 8th at the El Conquistador Tucson.

The Downtown Chandler Canal Restoration has been selected for the Project of the Year Award in the Historical Restoration/Preservation, Less Than $5 Million category. This project involved the restoration of the historic Commonwealth Canal in downtown Chandler. This project was completed as GMP 4 of our Downtown Chandler Infrastructure Improvements CMAR project. Click here for more information about this exciting project.

The Val Vista Transmission Main Rehabilitation CMAR project has been selected for the Project of the Year Award in the Environment, $5 Million, But Less Than $25 Million category. This project included the rehabilitation of more than 8,000 LF of 90-inch to 96-inch transmission main using a welded steel liner. Click here for more information about this exciting project.

One Week, Two Conferences

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Achen-Gardner Construction attended two great conferences in April: the AZ Water Association 92nd Annual Conference and Exhibition and the ACEC Arizona 68th Annual Conference on Roads and Streets.

AZ WATER CONFERENCE

Achen-Gardner was a Silver Sponsor and had a booth at the AZ Water Association 92nd Annual Conference and Exhibition on April 16-18th at the Phoenix Convention Center. We showcased recent projects, handed out fun and useful giveaways, and conducted a business card raffle every hour to give away some of our 30th Anniversary hats. Click here to download our construction themed activity book, one of our most popular giveaways at this conference.

In addition to the fun in the exhibit hall, there were technical presentations about several of our recent projects:

ROADS AND STREETS CONFERENCE

Achen-Gardner was the closing reception sponsor at the ACEC Arizona 68th Annual Conference on Roads and Streets on April 17-19th at the Westin La Paloma Resort & Spa in Tucson. We provided free beer, assisted with vendor prize giveaways during the reception, and gave away some of our 30th Anniversary hats.

We also delivered a presentation about our Fiesta Tech Sewer Service and Lift Station CMAR project. This presentation highlighted how the Town of Gilbert (Owner), Achen-Gardner Construction (General Contractor), and Sunrise Engineering (Design Engineer) utilized the Construction Manager at Risk pre-construction process to identify associated risks and challenges and develop a best value plan to efficiently, safely, and cost effectively install the new gravity sanitary sewer utilizing the Horizontal Directional Drilling trenchless construction method.

Arizona State Prison Bar Screen Wins Southern AZ APWA Award

We are honored to receive a 2019 Public Works Project of the Year Award from the Southern Arizona Branch of the American Public Works Association (APWA) for our Arizona State Prison Bar Screen project for the Pima County Regional Wastewater Reclamation Department (RWRD). This award was in the Structures, Less Than $5M category. Members of the project team will accept the award at the Southern Arizona Chapter APWA Awards Luncheon on March 28th.

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Bar screens are commonly used in wastewater treatment facilities to remove large or non-degradable items from the influent stream. The Arizona State Prison Bar Screen is unique in that it was installed in a gravity sewer to filter debris prior to entering an interceptor. The installation of the bar screen with minimal modifications was a significant accomplishment considering 95% of the associated sewer system components were completed prior to arrival of the bar screen. Coordination between the owner, contractor, equipment manufacturer, Tucson Electric Power, and prison personnel resulted in the completion of the project on time and within budget.

The Arizona State Prison Complex sewer system has a large amount of plastics, fibrous material, clothing, and other solids that necessitate the use of a specialty system for removing these items prior to the wastewater treatment process. This problem was addressed by designing a new solids handling rake system that can handle the unique nature of the solids produced by the prison facility. Additionally, the two gravity lines that exit the north side of the prison grounds had to be re-routed and tied together, before entering the new solids handling system, to create one consistent source. In the future this re-alignment will allow the wastewater from the sewer to be tied into a proposed future gravity line that will be routed west along the nearby Old Vail Connection Road as a part of the Old Nogales Interceptor project. The installation of a solids handling/removal system and a new gravity main allowed the owner to remove the current failing system, which included an aging lift station and a wet well that required weekly maintenance due to debris build up.

2019 Arizona Chapter AGC Awards

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We are honored to have won two prestigious awards at the Arizona Chapter Associated General Contractors of America 85th Anniversary Celebration Dinner and Awards Ceremony.

The event took place on Friday, January 18, 2019, at the Heard Museum and was attended by more than 200 construction industry professionals.

Achen-Gardner Construction received a Build Arizona Award for our City of Phoenix Val Vista Transmission Main Rehabilitation CMAR project. This award was in the Reconstruction Over $10 Million Municipal/Utilities Construction category. Find out more about this exciting project on our website.

Cesar Martinez, Safety Manager, received the Safety Professional of the Year Award. Cesar’s hard work and dedication to safety has resulted in Achen-Gardner Construction working more than 1.5 million man-hours without a lost-time accident. This amazing accomplishment spans back to January 1, 2013, and continues as of this day. During this time, Cesar has been directly responsible for numerous valuable innovations that have helped him to create a culture of safety awareness and support from all levels within the organization. Learn more about our safety program and watch the “Safety Cesar” video on our website.