Ask any Abonmarche employee about the company’s mission and vision and you’ll readily hear about the firm’s dedication to making great places within the communities they call home, and that certainly came home to roost last month when the Benton Harbor-based company garnered recognition for projects in Northwest Indiana.
Abonmarche was recognized as a state finalist for three projects during the 2018 American Council of Engineering Companies of Indiana (ACEC/I) Engineering Excellence Awards Competition back on March 16. John Linn, who serves as Chairman of the Board at Abonmarche says, “The ACEC awards honor firms for engineering excellence,” and adds, “Being selected as finalists for three projects shows our commitment to delivering superior services to our clients.”
The projects recognized were Abonmarche’s work on Ignition Park in South Bend, NewPorte Landing in LaPorte, and Western Avenue in South Bend.
On the Ignition Park project, Abonmarche provided surveying, engineering and landscape architecture services for that public-private venture with the City of South Bend and Great Lakes Capital Development. Those services included site planning, drainage design, developing a master development drainage plan, sanitary sewer and water main design, sewer separation, and design of the roadway, sidewalks, lighting and landscaping.
For the City of La Porte, Abonmarche assisted in redeveloping that community’s old Allis Chalmers factory site into a new commercial development called NewPorte Landing. Services included surveying, civil engineering, and landscape architecture. La Porte was eager to invest in storm water management practices that reduce volume and improve the quality of runoff that leaves the NewPorte Landing Development. Abonmarche’s infrastructure design takes a comprehensive approach to storm water management; including mechanisms that utilize infiltration, reduce the amount of impervious surfaces, and remove pollutants. The City hopes that the best management practices employed at NewPorte Landing will set the bar for adjacent developers and communities alike to help facilitate low impact development.
Finally, on another South Bend project, Abonmarche provided surveying, civil engineering, and landscape architecture services to the City of South Bend to reconstruct and enhance its Western Avenue corridor from Bendix Drive to Olive Street — approximately a ¼ mile.
The use of permeable pavers over an aggregate drainage bed addressed a drainage concern for that area. The roadway was previously drained into a combined sewer with no storm sewers in close proximity deep enough to extend service to the entire project by gravity. The permeable pavers provide the flexibility to have flatter profile grades on the road, varying cross slopes in the parking lanes, and flatter pipes in the drainage bed under the pavers.
As they remind everyone, Abonmarche is committed to making great places in our communities.
