OMAHA, NE Burns & McDonnell is establishing a Transportation Group in the firm's Omaha, Nebraska, office, gearing up to help Nebraska and its communities repair, rebuild and expand their roads, highways and other critical transportation infrastructure.

The group will provide comprehensive services, from program planning to detailed transportation design and design-build project delivery. Burns & McDonnell has decades of experience executing such projects integrating project planning, engineering and construction to accelerate schedules, reduce costs, promote flexibility and lower client risk.

The Nebraska Department of Transportation (NDOT) is moving ahead with its first design-build project expanding a two-lane section of U.S. Highway 275 to a four-lane expressway as the state plans to invest $1.2 billion through its Build Nebraska Act, a 20-year plan to update and add highways, local roads and other transportation infrastructure.

"Nebraska is ready to embrace design-build, and we're ready to deliver," said Mike DeBacker, Transportation Director at Burns & McDonnell. "Combining a project's design and construction tasks under a single point of contact allows the client to get what they want, need and deserve: the best project, as soon as possible, with the best value."

Leading the transportation team in Omaha are two experienced transportation engineers:

Steve Schmidt, extending his responsibilities as the firm's transportation manager for the Upper Midwest. Schmidt is experienced in highway design and transportation planning, and is registered as a professional engineer in eight Midwestern states. He earned his bachelor's degree in civil engineering at Iowa State University, and his master's degree in civil engineering from the University of Kansas.

Donny Cerwick, a civil engineer who has served as project engineer on viaduct, widening, interchange, bridge and other transportation projects during his four years with Burns & McDonnell. He earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in civil engineering from Iowa State.

They look forward to growing their transportation team alongside fellow employee-owners in Omaha, who work on airport, energy, electrical transmission and distribution, environmental services, and water and wastewater projects statewide. Schmidt and Cerwick will work to meet the needs of municipal, county and state transportation officials. They will be supported by the firm's entire Transportation Group, which is growing as transportation officials nationwide continue seeking economical, efficient and effective ways to address their ongoing infrastructure needs.

Burns & McDonnell currently is helping a citizens task force examine how to implement a comprehensive transportation program for the city of Lincoln, Nebraska. It is among the first of what they expect to be many relationship- and results-driven initiatives to deliver successful projects for governments and their constituents.

"Burns & McDonnell opened the Omaha office as a permanent office in 2010 to better serve our clients, and with the addition of our transportation team we continue to build on that promise," said Rick Besancon, Project Manager and Head of the Omaha office. "With Water, Environmental, and Transportation, we have three global practices supporting our clients locally and regionally. We bring the resources of a 5,700-person firm but provide small-firm responsiveness."