Barr helped the Capitol Region Watershed District realign a section of the 100-year-old Trout Brook interceptor to make way for new Minnesota Department of Transportation highway bridges near downtown Saint Paul. BNSF Railway agreed to a rare 30-hour shutdown of two mainline tracks to allow removal and replacement of 120 feet of track, open-cut excavation, installation of 162 feet of box culvert, and backfilling. Months of planning preceded the effort. We designed a three-tiered diversion and dewatering system to accommodate lower base flows so that the stream could handle higher flows to prevent flash flooding. Challenging soil conditions, a high groundwater table, and contaminated soils and groundwater complicated site design and construction. A sophisticated track-monitoring system was installed to verify that the surrounding railway was not impacted. 

During the 30-hour work window, an abandoned tunnel was discovered and removed in hours, rather than the weeks or months this would ordinarily take. A compressed schedule, coupled with unforeseen obstacles, required a rapidly evolving design that could meet changing conditions and overcome construction challenges. Working with stakeholders, regulators, contractors, and the watershed district to solve problems and overcome obstacles in real time enabled our team to minimize disruptions, allowed the highway construction project to move forward, and restored rail service on time. After conclusion of the 30-hour work window, the rest of the 800-foot tunnel realignment was completed and the old tunnel abandoned, allowing the bridge project to proceed on schedule.

Since 2016, Barr has provided a contracted employee and support team to assist Michigan Gas Utilities (MGU), a WEC Energy Group subsidiary, with day-to-day environmental compliance activities for natural-gas-distribution projects in southern Michigan.

Our work includes independent coordination of environmental reviews using online databases and tools. These environmental reviews assess potential impacts to wetlands, streams, floodplains, and protected species within each project footprint. We also interpret environmental regulations, assess permit requirements and exemptions, and advise MGU on scope alternatives to mitigate risks to environmentally sensitive resources. In addition, Barr conducts site visits as needed to identify and delineate wetlands, conduct habitat surveys for protected species, and perform soil erosion inspections.

All of this work helps the utility determine the best overall path to environmental compliance. Our work continues in Michigan, where we have completed over 450 natural-gas-distribution projects including the installation of new residential service lines and mainline extensions.

For the redevelopment of Williams Hill Business Center in downtown Saint Paul, Minnesota, the Saint Paul Port Authority hired Barr to install vapor mitigation measures in a building that houses multiple tenants, including a sign printer, bakery, parts supplier, and book warehouse. In addition, we coordinated and provided oversight and documentation to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and other stakeholders. 

After selection of a mitigation contractor, Barr was hired to provide oversight, ongoing engineering support, and troubleshooting during installation of a sub-slab depressurization (SSD) system; perform ongoing monitoring and maintenance of the SSD system; and assist with achieving overall site closure. While SSD-system operation and maintenance is typically relatively straightforward, the fact that the port authority did not own the building presented some challenges. To address the owner’s concerns about O&M, Barr installed a telemetry system that allowed the owner’s consultant to log in remotely, prepared an operations manual, and developed detailed O&M cost estimates.

Barr also evaluated and justified discontinuing and decommissioning a groundwater dual-phase extraction (DPE) system. With the resolution of the SSD and DPE systems, we assisted in obtaining site closure.

In 2014, Barr helped the RPBCWD reinstate a regulatory program based on sound science, stakeholder input, and the district’s mission to protect, manage, and restore water resources. As the district’s technical adviser, Barr assists permit applicants with meeting their project goals within the confines of the district’s regulations (e.g., stormwater management, floodplain management, erosion and sediment control, shoreline/streambank stabilization, wetland and creek buffers, waterbody crossings and structures). We guide applicants through the permitting process, including preparing and distributing review memoranda and presenting the application materials to district managers.

To aid in routine erosion-control site inspections of permitted activities, we developed and use a mobile, GIS-based mapping tool for the tracking and inspection of district permits and stormwater BMPs. Using a mobile tablet, Barr inspectors and district staff members use the mapping tool to easily identify and collect location and other information in real time in the field. The collected information is stored in an enterprise database, which can be used to generate reports that allow users to view active and inactive permits, inspection histories, and corrective actions. Barr also developed a customized review portal to share comments and track the progress of each permit.

For more than three decades, Barr has been helping a Minnesota iron mining company with design and maintenance of its tailings basins and dams. The client wanted to replace a rock weir in its tailings basin that was difficult to raise, required constant maintenance, and exhibited a high risk of failure. Barr designed a reinforced-concrete spillway featuring a series of concrete steps to dissipate the energy during transfer from one tailings cell to the next at lower elevation. Designed to be raised more than 50 feet during operations by increasing the height of the abutment walls and concrete steps, the spillway can accommodate additional tailings storage for the planned life of the mine.

Barr has been testing a confidential steel client’s stack emissions at multiple facilities in Minnesota for a quarter century. In part because of our longstanding service to client, Barr was hired to perform a demanding stack test project at a coke oven works to gather data in response to a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Coke Ovens Information Collection Request (ICR). 

Barr helped the client scope the project in agreement with EPA and industry collaborators and undertook testing at coke oven battery combustion and quench tower sources.  We wrote the test plan, performed testing, and prepared the report. Barr mobilized a 10-person team comprising two 14-hour daily shifts in order to test around the clock for 11 consecutive days.

According to the EPA, our work product was the sole test report submitted by the industry on time with project deadlines set by the agency. EPA technical review of the 1,000-page report resulted in just one question—an unusually low number of comments for projects of this size and complexity—which was addressed promptly in a report revision.

For nearly two decades, Barr has provided air permitting and compliance assistance to a confidential water filter manufacturing client that owns and operates a coating facility subject to 40 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 60 Subpart VVV, Standards of Performance for Polymeric Coating of Supporting Substrates (Subpart VVV).

Over the years, the manufacturing facility has had several coating line additions. For each addition, Barr’s team of permitting experts has helped our client navigate major modifications to the air quality permit. Our emissions testing group has also performed emissions testing to demonstrate post-project Subpart VVV compliance. Barr has prepared permit applications and worked with the client and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) to develop agreeable permit language.

In 2010, Barr worked with our client to gain Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approval for an alternative compliance test. The manufacturing facility’s emissions unit uses water baths as part of its process, which also partitions volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) emissions to the water. Removal of VOCs and HAPs via the water stream serves as the air pollution control method for the process. Therefore, Barr collects and analyzes water samples to demonstrate air compliance. The EPA-approved alternative compliance test must be repeated every five years. The last test was performed in 2022. Barr assisted in test plan preparation, performed test oversight, and prepared the compliance test report.

(stock photo shown above)

The City of Des Moines, Iowa, is undertaking a multi-phase project known as the Des Moines Levee Alterations Project (DMLAP) modify the city's levee systems on the Des Moines and Raccoon Rivers that do not meet FEMA levee accreditation requirements as outlined in 44 CFR 65.10. The primary goal of the project is to bring the levee systems into compliance with these FEMA requirements, obtaining FEMA accreditation and reducing the risk of flooding to surrounding communities.

Barr is providing detailed design and construction management to support several phases of the DMLAP. Improvements include raising the crest elevation of select levees and floodwalls, modifying gatewell structures, enhancing temporary closure structures, improving embankment protection measures, assessing geotechnical stability, constructing seepage mitigation measures, and addressing deficiencies identified by the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE).

Our diverse geotechnical experience and expertise have been valuable during critical project phases involving geotechnical challenges. Our project team conducted a thorough assessment of the geotechnical conditions to ensure the stability of the levees and structures and to implement appropriate mitigation measures. Seepage mitigation has included a seepage relief trench system, which eliminates the need to relocate extensive utility infrastructure.

We coordinated design and construction to meet USACE’s guidance. This includes obtaining the necessary USACE permits, such as those related to Section 404 and 408, which govern wetland impacts and alterations to levees. 

The successful completion of the DMLAP will result in an improved flood risk management system that meets FEMA's accreditation requirements. By bringing the levee systems into compliance with 44 CFR 65.10, the project will enhance the overall resilience of the City of Des Moines, further protecting its residents and infrastructure from flooding.

Aging transmission and distribution infrastructure is one of the biggest challenges power utilities face. An ever-growing number of U.S. transmission lines and substations have exceeded their intended 50-year lifespan, threatening companies’ ability to consistently provide reliable power.

Barr has been helping the Southwestern Power Administration (SWPA), a regional division of the U.S. Department of Energy, upgrade transmission line assets. We recently completed design of two 161kV transmission line segments totaling more than 40 miles of reconductoring and structure replacement.

Barr provided design, technical specifications, construction cost estimate, bidding and construction support to upgrade these segments with larger conductors, additional optical ground wire (OPGW) communication line, and new steel structures. The structures consisted of H-Frame tangent structures and 3-pole guyed running angle and dead-end structures. To accommodate undulating topography, Barr worked closely with subcontractors to obtain additional survey and geotechnical data where new and existing guy wires would be anchored. These services were not originally requested by the client but provided value added engineering to the projects through a more streamlined design.

Due to the additional OPGW, work was performed to design the fiber optic upgrades inside multiple substations. Barr provided new and revised substation drawings, including material and construction costs for the additional infrastructure.

A confidential client owns and operates a natural gas pipeline network in Pennsylvania. As a part of its ongoing pipeline maintenance program, the client sought to replace multiple pipeline sections (approximately 2 miles total). Barr was hired to assist with environmental field reviews and permitting related to regulated wetlands, streams, and floodways as well as threatened and endangered (T&E) species to comply with state regulations. Our services included: