Industry Insights

The Spring 2025 Site Visit to Great Lakes Dredge and Dock (GLDD) left a strong impression on many students, offering a deeper understanding of planning and estimating for heavy civil construction including dredging operations and the intricate machinery involved. 

Students agreed, the field trip to GLDD was an eye-opening experience that expanded their understanding of the heavy civil industry, from the scale of operations to the dedication of the workers involved.

A special thanks to Dave Allen, Bruce, Wade and all the team at the GLDD site in Sabine Pass for taking the time to help students better understand Engineering Planning & Estimating for projects and operations such as on the cutter suction dredge at the Port Arthur Liquified Natural Gas (PALNG) project works.

This amazing field trip was sponsored by the Beavers and had the honor for Mr. Dave Woods, Executive Director of the Beavers, to be in attendance, traveling with us from College Station to the site and back. Thank you Dave!

Kyleigh Alonso, Texas Aggie Class of '24, was a student of Professor Leveridge's senior Engineering Planning and Estimating course in Fall 2023. During the course, she investigated as a case study the Butt Valley Seismic Modifications project for Plumas County, California.  

After graduation, Kyleigh took a position with Kiewit in Ellicott City, Maryland as a Field Engineer for Kiewit's Tunnel Project. "In partnership with Traylor Bros., [Kiewit is] making significant progress on the Howard County Government Ellicott City North Tunnel Stormwater Conveyance Project in Maryland, a component of the Safe and Sound Plan. This critical infrastructure will protect the area’s homes, businesses and landmarks by reducing the risk of severe flooding. Using a Robbins main beam tunnel boring machine, our team will construct two 160-foot-deep shafts, a 5,800-foot-long tunnel and an outfall structure to connect the tunnel to the Patapsco River. Once complete, the North Tunnel will be capable of moving 26,000 gallons of water per second, safely diverting stormwater underground and away from Main Street. The team’s primary access underground is the mining shaft. Blasting started at the end of 2024, and the shaft collar is nearly ready to resume excavation. If the weather cooperates, [they] expect the North Tunnel to be substantially complete in fall 2027."[1]  

She said in her current role, she is planning the work for the Outfall where the tunnel boring machine will break through. They will build a concrete outfall structure and flap gates to direct the flow of water into the stream. This will require drilling to excavate the rock face and then concrete work to build the structure. Downstream, a concrete apron slab with dissipators will be built to slow the velocity of the water before it enters the stream. Kyleigh is in charge of procurement, workplans, submittals, RFIs, quantity tracking and claiming, and survey.

In addition to her work as a field engineer, Kyleigh is also supporting the environmental quality requirements of the project.  As the Project Environmental Coordinator, Kyleigh is responsible for ensuring SWPPP and other environmental permits are in compliance. Many of these permits are for the Maryland Department of Environment. This required her to become very familiar with the Maryland Code of Regulations in order to best perform inspections based on permits and ensure compliance. Since there is a stream that runs through the site at Papillon and the Patapsco River at the Patapsco Outfall, there is added risk of prohibited discharges impacting the stream and river. 

The reason why Kyleigh chose to work for Kiewit Underground District is because of the impact that the projects have on communities and the positive difference good project work can make. She said, "Not only do I enjoy the work that I do at the Ellicott City North Tunnel due to the technicality of the job and the responsibilities that I have, but I also enjoy forming relationships with the community members and playing a part in keeping Historic Ellicott City a place where locals and visitors can continue making memories."

Kyleigh was recently back in College Station, Texas mentoring the Student Engineers Council of which she had been a member during her tenure in Aggieland, providing support to campus panels, and even made time to discuss the project to this semester's CVEN 473 course. 

Gary Johnson, 2024 President of The Beavers and President of his fourth-generation family business. 

Mary Teichert, 2023 President of the Beavers and President and CEO of her fifth-generation family business.

Dawn Davis, President & CEO of her family business

Angelia Wesch, Partner in her law firm supporting construction and government contract law

The 19th ASCE ASD Biennial International Conference on Engineering, Science, Construction and Operations in Challenging Environment (Earth & Space 2024) held at Kovens Conference Center, Florida International University, Miami, FL, USA

The 20th ASCE ASD Biennial International Conference on Engineering, Science, Construction and Operations in Challenging Environments, Earth & Space 2026 at Texas A&M Hotel & Conference Center, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA