Please join us on Tuesday, April 23rd to enjoy lunch, a presentation, and/or a technical tour of the Golden Hill Rd/Union Rd Roundabout from Ditas Esperanza, P.E., Capital Projects Engineer at the City of Paso Robles, Jorge Aguilar, P.E., QSD/P, Principal at Wallace Group, Sarah Huffman, P.E., Senior Transportation Engineer/Project Manager at Wallace Group, and Matt Scholfield, P.E., Resident Engineer at Cannon. Come here about the City of Paso Robles latest completed roundabout project.
Schedule:
12:00pm - 1:00pm : Technical Presentation & Lunch
1:00pm - 1:15pm : Technical Tour of Project Site
Presentation Background:
The Wallace Group team provided feasibility through final design and construction support services to the City of Paso Robles for the improvements at the Golden Hill Road/Union Road intersection. The innovative, one of first “dog bone” single lane roundabouts in California was a cost-effective solution to the traffic operational issues at the intersection and avoided private property acquisition and had significantly less utility impacts compared to other previously proposed solutions. The team developed both photo and video simulations to help communicate the project to the public.
The Wallace Group team provided roadway design services that included field survey, utility design and coordination, drainage and storm water quality services, public outreach exhibits, street lighting, landscape architecture, detour and constructability analysis and geotechnical assessment with Earth Systems as that service lead. The roundabout was designed to accommodate trucks, buses, and passenger vehicles, including custom modifications during construction to accommodate an over 107’ permit load truck and lowboy trailer with a ~4” vertical clearance.
The final design PS&E phase of the project was completed, and construction begun in the summer of 2022 with Granite Construction as the Prime Contractor and Cannon providing construction management services. The City, Design team, Contractor, and Construction Management team worked very closely to open the intersection to the public in June 2023.
Presenters:
Ditas Esperanza, P.E., Capital Projects Engineer at the City of Paso Robles
Ditas Esperanza, with her father, mother, two brothers and a sister came to the United States as immigrants. Her father was a civil engineer and her mom a teacher. They were invited to come to the USA under the “Professional Quota” from foreign nations. Her father worked for then California Department of Transportation (now Caltrans) and her mother worked as a teacher at an elementary school in Chinatown.
Ditas followed her father’s footsteps and received a bachelor’s degree in engineering from the University of California, Irvine (GO ZOT!). Her first jobs from graduating were with the City of Thousand Oaks, then Irvine Ranch Water District in Irvine. She then left the public sector and joined the private sector because “I wanted to know how plans were put together since I was just plan checking them in the public sector”.
She worked on residential tract development, shopping center, industrial parks etc. in the cities of Irvine, Newport Beach, Orange, Laguna Niguel, Rancho Santa Margarita and Riverside. After many years, she decided to go back to the public sector and took a job with the City of Simi Valley. She was there just for a short time because she wanted more of a challenge. A job flyer from the City of Paso Robles came across her desk and decided to apply. At that time, Paso Robles did not have a sole City Engineer. The Public Works Director also functioned as the City Engineer. Development in the City was increasing and became necessary to separate the City Engineer function. Out of 70 applicants, Ditas was chosen to serve as the City’s first City Engineer. She held that job for a few years. Then the development projects and public works projects were increasing in volume, and it became necessary to split out the City Engineer function—one under the Community Development Department in charge of development projects and another under the Public Works Department in charge of public works/capital projects. Ditas was given the choice of which role she wanted. She chose the position under Public Works and came up with her own title—CAPITAL PROJECTS ENGINEER.
As the City’s first Capital Project Engineer, she has completed numerous capital projects ranging from water pipelines, water wells, sewer mains, lift stations, water tanks, parks, road rehab, bridges, pedestrian improvements etc. One of those projects, of course is the Golden Hill/Union Road Roundabout project which will be the subject at the upcoming ASCE luncheon meeting.
Jorge Aguilar, P.E., QSD/P, Principal at Wallace Group
Jorge has over 30 years of specialized transportation project experience in the planning, design, and construction of roadway and bridge projects working with Caltrans and other agencies. He has been the project manager for the preparation of feasibility studies, ADA compliance, corridor studies, bike/pedestrian studies & reports, Project Study Reports, Project Reports, Environmental Documents, PS&E packages, and construction support for large and small transportation projects. A key part of his project management expertise is that he has been both a roadway and bridge designer and is able to speak to the details involved for both disciplines as well as the environmental field having assisted in the writing of multiple environmental documents for transportation projects. His experience includes the facilitation of projects through environmental assessment, regulatory review, utility coordination, railroad and public utilities process, property acquisition, political and public involvement. He has overseen technical project delivery process, including design, traffic, environmental assessment, Right of Way acquisition, specialty studies, jurisdictional agency permitting, and interagency coordination for many state and local agencies including 9 of the 12 Caltrans Districts in the state. With his vast technical experience, Jorge easily recognizes risks and opportunities on projects that may hinder or help a project schedule, and he is adept at value engineering to create innovative solutions to save his Clients money.
Sarah Huffman, P.E., Senior Transportation Engineer/Project Manager at Wallace Group
Sarah is passionate about connecting communities and people through safe and accessible transportation infrastructure. This has led her to focus on roundabout operations and design, ADA improvement projects, regional trails, and roadway improvement projects that incorporate non-motorized user facilities. Over the past ten years, she has gained experience in transportation engineering: roundabouts, sidewalks and curb ramps, shared-use paths, interchanges, bridges, pedestrian crossing treatments, protected intersections, roadway realignments, rehabilitation and reconstruction. Sarah works with Caltrans and various other public agencies in the Central Coast to deliver projects with a focus on improving multimodal access, mobility, safety, and traffic operations.
Matt Scholfield, P.E., Resident Engineer at Cannon
Matt brings more than 17 years of experience in the heavy civil construction industry, serving in various roles and disciplines. He has a strong background managing self-performed work, and his technical engineering knowledge has created a valuable skill set for the safe, timely, and cost-effective completion of projects. In addition, Matt’s supportive and enthusiastic attitude promotes positive work environments, effective project teams, and collaborative owner relationships.
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Lunch: Roast Pork Loin (Buffet Style) with Vegetarian Options
Refunds are not available. We encourage you to invite a friend in your place if you're unable to attend.
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We look forward to seeing you!
Wyatt Banker-Hix, P.E.
2023-2024 ASCE SLO Branch President