Day 7: Nice Bridge Visit and Tour!

Today I took a long 2 hours drive down to Newburg, Maryland, which is located in Southern Maryland and Charles County. I drove down this way when I visited St. Mary's College in high school and I also interviewed for some School Counseling jobs down in Calvert County right out of graduate school but it's been a while since I've been down here. Luckily it was a nice, easy drive and no traffic on the way down! I'm excited to see how "nice" this Nice Bridge is that everyone is talking about. It's one of the biggest construction projects KCI is currently working on...

Counselor Connections

• Women in the engineering and construction field are powerful! It's a great field for women to go into!
• You don't always need a certain degree to get into this field. As long as you have the drive and passion and you are willing to learn and work hard, you can get started in the field and work your way up!
• Rotational programs, such as the one KCI offers, are a great way to see what you like and don't like and it allows you to try out different things. You may even find something that you never knew you would be interested in!
• There are entry-level jobs out there in concrete and compaction testing. If you like the idea of working in a lab and with math and science, you will like this job! Also, concrete is used in most construction projects so there is a need out there for these jobs!

Adam Gardner is the KCI lead for the new Nice Bridge and I meet him at the job site. This bridge is HUGE! It is 1.7 miles long so not as long as the Bay Bridge but still very large and a huge project. There is an existing Nice Bridge from 1940 that is still being used while the new bridge is being built. The Nice Bridge connects Maryland to Virginia. It is largely used for commuters to avoid highways. There is also a large military base on the Virginia side of the Nice Bridge and a lot of people also use the bridge to get from Southern Maryland to Richmond and the Outer Banks. The Nice Bridge needs to be replaced because it is old, too narrow, and too steep. The new one will be 2 lanes on each side with a barrier in the middle. The entire contruction process between building the new one and demoing the old one should take about 2 1/2 years total which I think is pretty quick considering how big the project is! They say that they work in all conditions- even in snow! They also tell me that the county is fighting to keep the old bridge as a pedestrian walkway and bike lane...it will be interesting to see if that happens. The project started in January 2019 so it is set to finish soon and the new bridge does look almost finished as you'll see in the photos.

We started the day getting safety training from Joe with the Maryland Department of Transportation. He was a fun guy with a great sense of humor! Then I got an overview of the bridge from Srinivas Gunna, who is an Engineer with a Consulting Firm heading this project and got to see the construction plans. 

Next I met with Lee Anne Janney, who is a Senior Construction Inspector with KCI who leads the Environmental Compliance team for the Nice Bridge. She just earned her Construction Manager certificate as well! Congrats to Lee Anne! Lee Anne is another powerful woman in the business and she is such a hardworker. Her background is in science and she earned a Biology degree from Salisbury University, but she has really developed a passion in Construction Management and has found her niche. She is a super inspiring woman and I really enjoyed spending the day with her. Lee Anne works super long days and has to be at the site super early and sometimes super late but she seems to love it! Lee Anne is our tour guide for the day and she takes us around the site on a gator (which is fun in and of itself).

I also spent the day with a full-time KCI employee, Devon Moravec, who just started his rotational program with KCI and this is his first time on the Nice Bridge project. He is just out of college so it was cool to hear his perspectives. He said that he is more interested in the design/computer side of engineering but I think it's pretty neat that he is getting exposure to all different types of engineering. You never know...you might be interested in something you never thought you would be!

One of my favorite parts of the day was going on a boat ride on the Potomac River for a tour of the bridge! Fun fact: the boat we went on is named "Emily Casey", which is my name and my best friend's name! How funny! 

There are so many cranes and barges involved with this project and a lot of things have to be done using the river. I got to see the tug boats that are used to bring materials in and out. It was super cool! I am also very happy that the river was calm because apparently that is not usually the case and I do get motion sickness!

Next, we went on the gator over to where some of the facilities will be. There was a building constructed for the employees who will continue to maintain the bridge and surrounding area after it is built. I got to meet Sherrita Hill, who is the Construction Project Engineer for the facilities being built. Another amazing young woman! She doesn't have a college degree or a background in engineering or construction but she embraced this opportunity and worked her way up to this position. Another inspiring story! She showed us around the facility and told us about the inspectors and their important job on the project.

We then walked up to the top of the bridge, which was super cool! I got to see what the contractors were working on and I really go to feel like I was "on the job." Definitely a cool experience! Above is Adam and I at the top of the bridge.

Lastly, we gator-ed over to what I want to call a "chemistry lab" where they test the compaction of the concrete. We go into a building where there is a guy testing concrete samples to make sure the concrete being used to construct the bridge is working properly. Who knew this was even a job? This guy is essentially a scientist but he doesn't have a college degree either to do this work! This work is so important too because if concrete doesn't work probably, the structure will fail and people could get injured. It's crucial work!

It was a hot day and we are ready for lunch! Adam so generously took me, Lee Anne, Sherrita, Devon, and a few other KCI inspectors to a really nice lunch at a place called The Charles in La Plata. I highly recommend it! It was really fun to get to know everyone and they asked me lots of questions about being a College and Career Counselor which was very thoughtful. I really felt like I belonged and was part of their team!