Articles

Technical Sessions- GI and SI May 2022

GEOTECHNICAL INSTITUTE SESSION @ 11:00 AM

Topic: 

Speaker: Rafael Mendez

Rafael Menendez is a licensed professional engineer with several years of experience in geotechnical and pavement engineering in Texas and Internationally. He is a senior geotechnical engineer at Foresight Planning & Engineering Services, LLC. He holds a Ph.D. and an M.Sc. from Texas A&M University. He previously worked for Raba Kistner, Fugro Roadware, the Texas A&M Transportation Institute, and consulting companies in central and south America.

STRUCTURAL INSTITUTE SESSION @ 1:10 PM

Topic: I-40 Hernando de Soto Bridge Repair

Speaker: Steve Hague- Vice President HNTB, Robert Flinn- Bridge Designer, Jordan Greene- Structural Engineer 

Steve is an HNTB Vice President and Bridge Project Manager. After starting his career in HNTB’s Dallas office, he relocated to Kansas City where he specialized in the design and construction of major river crossings and complex bridges around the country including nine cable-stayed bridges and twelve bridges over the Mississippi River.  Recently he was requested by the Arkansas DOT to support the effort to restore the Hernando de Soto Bridge to service after a crack was found in the fracture-critical tie girder. Other recent projects include the new Broadway Bridge in Little Rock, the Stan Musial Veterans Memorial Bridge in St. Louis, and the new Park Road Bridge in Iowa City, Iowa. He is a licensed Professional Engineer or Structural Engineer in 19 states. Steve was named an HNTB Fellow in 2007.

Robert Flinn is a bridge design engineer at HNTB working in the Plano, Texas office. His experience includes bridge inspection and design, sound barrier and retaining wall design, and various rehabilitation projects. Throughout these projects, he has served clients including: TxDOT, NTTA, ARDOT, KDOT, and Kansas City Southern Railroad. Robert was heavily involved with the preliminary planning, post processing and report writing, and was onsite performing the routine and fracture critical inspections of the I-40 Hernando de Soto West Approach and Main Arch spans.

Jordan Greene is a Structural Engineer with professional experience including bridge and retaining wall design, bridge inspection, construction oversight, and program management for clients such as: Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority (CTRMA), North Texas Toll Authority (NTTA), Arkansas Department of Transportation, Union Pacific, BNSF, and Kansas City Southern Railroad, and various counties, municipalities, and private clients. He has been involved in the design of technical aspects of projects and has solved problems and made decisions using site data, design goals, and local and industry standards.  Jordan has developed technical knowledge with a range of engineering software knowledge.