Transportation

AET provides critical testing, inspection, analysis, and consulting services that support the new construction, repair, and rehabilitation of roadways, light rail and bus rapid transit projects, bridges, railways, and airports. We also perform forensic evaluations and assist owners with deterioration issues in pavement, bridges, and other structures.

Roadway Projects benefit from five decades of AET experience

As a pre-qualified vendor for multiple state departments of transportation (DOTs), local highway departments, and regional planning agencies, AET has extensive experience on roadway construction projects across the Upper Midwest and Wyoming.

For over 50 years we have worked with civil design engineers, general contractors, cities, and counties, under traditional and integrated delivery methods, to provide geotechnical engineering, environmental consulting, construction materials testing and special inspection, forensic, and pavement engineering services for roadway design, rehabilitation and reconstruction projects.

AET environmental professionals have performed due diligence services along roadway corridors. For many projects this included a full range of services — from Phase 1 and 2 environmental site assessments (ESA) and asbestos and hazardous material and regulated waste surveys to management of contaminated soils and environmental remediation planning, coordination, and implementation. Many linear projects have also involved the management of environmental permits such as water appropriations permits, work in waters permits, construction stormwater permit compliance and compliance with wetland permits.

AET services support bridge planning, design and construction

From box culverts on local city and county roads to major river crossings for state highways and interstates, AET provides geotechnical engineering, construction materials testing, forensic testing, petrography, environmental, and nondestructive testing services.

Our Geotechnical team is experienced with barge drilling to evaluate multi-span structures, and our cone penetrometer testing capability is especially useful for deep foundation design.

We are also experienced with site investigation, analysis, and geotechnical design for large embankments and cut slopes, retaining walls, bridges, box culverts and other major roadway components. AET is often engaged to monitor slope and embankment stability and foundation loads, using carefully installed sensors and skilled remote monitoring.

Our Concrete team has provided specialized mix design consulting on projects that include mass concrete structures — helping to model heat generation/dissipation and develop thermal control plans.

AET’s Nondestructive Testing Group also performs weld inspections during bridge component fabrication and installation, as well as other component inspections and quality control.

Light rail and bus rapid transit projects

Transit projects have many unique challenges, as they often involve numerous stakeholders and significantly impact the communities they serve during construction.

AET has performed a wide range of professional services to advance some of the largest light rail transit and bus rapid transit projects in the Upper Midwest. In addition to rail and bridge work, we support the construction of substations, signal houses and station platforms, as well as bus garages, maintenance facilities, and transit offices.

AET environmental teams have performed corridor-wide environmental due diligence studies and followed through to consult with government and private developers on contaminated property remediation, redevelopment of Brownfields, and land revitalization projects tied to transit.  Many linear projects have also required the management of environmental permits such as water appropriations permits, work in waters permits, construction stormwater permit compliance and compliance with wetland permits.

Our geotechnical, environmental and construction materials groups are involved in pre-construction planning and testing all the way through inspections, materials testing, and quality control. We provide detailed geotechnical exploration and analytical services for bridge and building foundations, slopes, retaining walls, and other critical structures important to transit, as well as vibration monitoring during construction.

AET also provides Nondestructive Testing, such as weld inspections during fabrication and material installation and proof load testing on bolted connections.

Airport runways, taxiways, terminal buildings, and parking

AET provides geotechnical engineering, environmental, construction materials testing, forensic, and nondestructive testing services for municipal, private, and military airfields.

We understand the magnitude of infrastructure investments at airports and the importance of keeping runways, taxiways, and aprons safe for aircraft operations, while working around budget constraints and tight schedules.

Clients such as the Federal Aviation Administration, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, state and local government, and civil design firms engage AET on airport expansion projects and to investigate runway and taxiway pavement distress. Our Environmental Group has performed several projects at the Minneapolis Saint Paul (MSP) International Airport – one of the largest in the region.

Regionally, we have worked on small rural airports, municipal airports, regional airports, as well as large USAF bases like Minot FB, Grand Forks AFB, and Ellsworth AFB and other military airfields around the world. 

Our Petrography Group has provided pavement forensic services to evaluate runway pavements and aggregates throughout the United States, as well as at numerous international locations.

AET supports railway expansion and facility upgrades

AET has played a major role in significant railroad expansion throughout the Upper Midwest to accommodate increased rail demand by the oil and gas industry, agriculture, and other expanding markets in the region. Our experience includes rail expansion, bridge replacement, and terminal loading/unloading facility projects.

AET has provided geotechnical and construction materials testing services on projects for Canadian National, Canadian Pacific, and the Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) railroads. We worked on numerous track expansion and rail bridge replacement and widening projects in North Dakota, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Illinois to handle heavy freight capacity and to meet government standards.

An impact of the Bakken oil boom was the need for large rail loading and unloading facilities. These projects included new sidings or rail loops and many structures requiring special foundations. We’ve also worked on numerous rail loading/unloading facilities for various private clients.

Loading areas for large crude oil and frac sand storage tanks and the frac sand unloading equipment have high loads and low settlement tolerances. Our Geotechnical Group is experienced in evaluating these sites and facilities. In addition, AET can provide quality assurance testing services during construction.