CATEGORY: Structural Systems

ENTERING FIRM: Gonzales Companies, LLC fka ESI Consultants, LLC/Ardmore Roderick/A. Epstein & Sons International

OTHER CONSULTANTS: Bradshaw Consultants, Knight E/A, Material Service Testing, GMA Construction Group, STV Group, Milhouse Engineering, Wight & Company, Horner & Shifrin

OWNER: Illinois Tollway

DESCRIPTION: The team of Gonzalez Companies, fka ESI Consultants, Ardmore Roderick and A. Epstein& Sons International worked together to seamlessly manage the construction of the new Aurora (M-8) and Bensenville (M-16) maintenance facilities. Professional engineering services were provided for construction of both new state-of-the-art, LEED-certified and ADA-compliant facilities. Each facility included a maintenance workshop, storage garage for all the maintenance vehicles and equipment, support offices, locker rooms, maintenance supply storage and vehicle wash facilities. Other site work at both facilities included construction of salt storage buildings, a fueling station system with new underground storage tanks, construction of a liquid chloride dispensing system, extensive grading, drainage, paving and utility work for the new services. The Aurora facility included construction of an approximately 100,000-square-footmaintenancefacility (truck parking, mechanics’ bays with underground vehicle lifts, parts and lube equipment rooms and support office spaces) including all furniture, fixtures and equipment. Construction involved erection of precast concrete wall panels and structural steel; installation of underground utilities including sanitary sewer, storm sewer, water, electric, gas, telephone and fiber-optic lines on site; site grading including a detention basin and concrete parking lot paving. Construction also included a precast truck wash building with desalinization station, a salt barn with brine system and installation of new underground fuel storage tanks with a fuel dispensing island. Similarly, the Bensenville facility consisted of a new 98,000-square-footbuilding to house the section’s maintenance workshop, storage garage for all the maintenance vehicles and equipment, support offices, locker rooms, maintenance supply storage and facilities for Illinois State Police Troop 15, the special district that patrols the Tollway system. This facility also housed a vehicle wash, salt storage building, a fueling station system with new underground storage tanks, construction of a liquid chloride dispensing system, extensive grading, drainage, paving and utility work for the new services.