It was a privilege to host Jennifer Ray, an Environmental and Ecological Engineering student at Purdue University, for a week to job shadow the various departments at ERA. Job shadowing allows her the opportunity to align academic pursuits with her career goals. One of her tasks was to suit up in waders and assist the structural department in completing a special feature inspection of the Mack Road bridge over the West Branch of the DuPage River.

Jennifer also completed a walkthrough inspection of a commercial/residential development project in Warrenville focusing on erosion and sediment control onsite. Our environmental engineers discussed the importance of tying together abiotic/non-environmental projects with biological systems for water quality and natural habitat improvement, some benefits of native stormwater systems versus older styles of basin construction (concrete/turf), and the benefits realized by native systems.

In addition, Jennifer learned about what is involved in our Parks and Recreation group projects. Our engineers showed her some example plan sets and explained the services we provide including geometry, grading, and utilities. Important project tasks including permitting, storm sewer and detention design, wetlands, and floodplains were also discussed.
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We enjoyed having Jennifer on board with us for a week of job shadowing. Good Luck at Purdue this year!

The weather this week has been perfect for annual vegetation monitoring visits. We captured some photos of the beautiful plants and wildlife on our most recent field outing. If you are having trouble meeting performance criteria for permit sign off or need a plan to maintain your naturalized area, our environmental team can help! ​

​ERA’s project inspections frequently take our engineers to interesting and fun places, including Quarry Lake in Naperville. Our project managers used the Naperville Park District’s paddleboats to complete an inspection under the Eagle Street pedestrian crossing. This photo also shows the Moser Tower, which ERA is beginning preliminary design phase services on to complete a variety of repairs and improvements. Consider visiting this spot in Naperville for some outdoor fun this weekend! 

​ERA continues to provide professional land surveying, construction phase staking layout, and construction observation services for the Antioch Crossings commercial development under construction in Lake County, IL.  The development includes a 6,500-sf multi-tenant retail building and a 2,200-sf stand-alone Starbucks store with a drive-thru on a 2.5-acre project site.

​Roughly 12 months after it was first conceptualized, construction for the Village of Minooka’s Aux Sable Springs Park is now underway. Led by Upland Design, the park design includes three baseball fields, two soccer fields, a lacrosse field, a playground, new parking areas, a native detention basin, 6,600 feet of trails, and a fishing outcropping. Shown here is the new access and canoe launch to Aux Sable Creek.

A beautiful day for construction at the Rudzinski Park Redevelopment for the Rantoul Recreation Department!  New walking paths are currently being installed along with an expanded parking area, a variety of fitness equipment, playgrounds, and two new picnic shelters. This project is being financed with funds from the IDNR OSLAD grant program and will provide an exciting, much needed area for gathering and play in this area of town. Construction is expected to be finished by the end of this summer.

​ERA provided land surveying, civil engineering, entitlement, and construction phase services for the Tiny Boardwalk Shops located in downtown Batavia, IL.  The shops are a small business incubator development in partnership with Batavia MainStreet and the City of Batavia. According to The Batavia Boardwalk Shops Facebook page, “this program is designed to attract small businesses, create more retail shopping, and bring people into Downtown Batavia for both this unique destination and the rest of our downtown.”

ERA is a part of the Adopt-A-Stream program with The Conservation Foundation. Through this program, we adopt a waterway to clean up. Once we have cleaned that waterway at least twice a year for two years, ERA’s name will be added to a sign that is posted on a local roadway. We decided to participate in the DuPage River Sweep this month as one of our cleanups for the year. Our assigned area, Will-O-Way Park in Naperville, most likely had trash swept downstream with the recent flooding. See below for some photos of our recent cleanup! 

​We always enjoy the release of the National Public Works Week poster and theme each year and this one is more fitting than ever in the current times we are living in. The theme of this year's poster is "The Rhythm of Public Works".

APWA states "the poster challenges our members and their citizens to think about their communities as a symphony of essential services, working in concert to create a great place to live. Every community has a rhythm, a heartbeat that reflects its essence and tempo of life."

Thank you to all of the clients, friends, and colleagues working in PUBLIC WORKS and doing these ESSENTIAL SERVICES that keep our communities going every day!

​In celebration of Earth Day today, ERA’s Erin Pande and Drew Kustusch have prepared some tips on how you can be more environmentally friendly in your daily life. See below for their Food Waste Reduction Tips and Water Conservation Tips. Please feel free to share!