How We Celebrated Our First 100th Year

The National Capital Section of ASCE celebrated its 100th year in 2016. During our Centennial Year, all activities had a centennial focus. We held walking, driving, and boating tours of civil engineering landmarks located in the nation's capital region. We had a monthly article on Outstanding Civil Engineers in our Monthly Newsletter, and participated in two major Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math events, including the Science and Engineering Festival where we highlighted civil engineering to over 10,000 students, teachers, and parents. Our lasting tribute to our first hundred years was a coffee table book, Engineering the Nation's Capital, that features memorable civil engineering projects from our past. The highlight of our Centennial was a day-long Centennial Conference held on June 3, 2016 that featured Technical Sessions, Panel Discussions, and Exhibits.

Presented By: Kevin Volbrecht, P.E., M.ASCE (Project Director-Package A) & Stephen Barna, P.E., M.ASCE (Director, Project Engineering)

ASCE-NCS received an update on the Phase II progress for the 23-mile-long extension of the Metrorail System. Construction of the Silver Line, which will extend Metrorail from East Falls Church to Washington Dulles International Airport and west to Ashburn, is being managed by the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) and will be operated by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. The project is being constructed by Capital Rail Constructors. Phase 1 of the project opened in July 2014, and serves Tysons Corner, Virginia's largest employment center. Phase 1 runs from East Falls Church to Wiehle Avenue on the eastern edge of Reston and includes four stations. Construction began in March of 2009 and service opened in July 2014. Phase 2 picks up at the Wiehle-Reston East station and serves the Reston/Herndon area, the state's second largest employment concentration. It will run from Wiehle Avenue to Ashburn in eastern Loudoun County and include six additional stations. Once complete, it will provide a one-seat ride from Dulles International Airport to downtown Washington. Construction on Phase 2 began in 2013 and has an anticipated completion date of late 2019.

Kevin Volbrecht was born, raised, and educated in California, where he worked in the San Francisco Bay Area for 23 years on transportation projects that included extensions on the BART system. He also worked on the Ft. Lauderdale International Airport extension and the Miami Dade Transit system. In 2007, he became the Deputy Director in charge of all the construction on Phase 1. In 2014, Volbrecht became the Project Director for the $1.2B Package A (Mainline Stations and Systems) contract.

Stephen Barna has over 44 years of construction, construction management, design, and design management experience in the federal government and public sectors. Since joining the Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project as Senior Project Manager for Construction in early 2009, Mr. Barna has been responsible for the construction management of all Phase 1 design-build construction activities with specific responsibility for civil works, tunnels, aerial guideways, rail, and the West Falls Church Yard Service and Inspection Annex. For Phase 2, Barna serves as the Director of Project Engineering. He is responsible for all engineering aspects for both Package A and Package B (Rail Yard and Maintenance Facility).