McCarrell Canyon Storm Drain, Rancho Palos Verdes, California
Alan Braatvedt of CBM (now KOA) was selected to be the project manager for this project, which is currently being constructed. This is a major storm drain project for the City of Rancho Palos Verdes to convey water from the steep McCarrell Canyon through 3,000-feet of pipeline to the beach. Mr. Braatvedt was involved in the development of the concept design, selection of the design engineering firm and managing the project all the way through the design phase. The design was developed into an extremely innovative design with numerous fail-safe components. The main components of the project included: A large intake structure; 500-feet of 54-inch CMP; 2,300-feet of 66-inch steel pipe and a 300-foot slant drain through the bluff to the beach, constructed in a tunneling operation.

Mr. Braatvedt bid the project and evaluated and selected the contractor and together with the contractor pre-planned the project, with particular emphasis on scheduling. He also selected the geotechnical consultant, an important player in the team to deal largely with the tunneling operation.

The construction cost of the project was $5 million and with so much of the project being constructed underground, very tight cost controls were necessary to deal with the numerous unforeseen conditions.
APWA So. Cal. Chapter Project of the Year 2009