The New Jersey office of COWI North America has moved to new premises in Florham Park, New Jersey. After many years at the Springfield address, the company’s team of engineers will now operate from a base at 25B Vreeland Road, Suite 300, Florham Park, New Jersey 07932.

COWI link to US tunneling history

The Springfield address was the headquarters of Jenny Engineering, the company founded in 1965 by Bob Jenny, which was acquired by Danish COWI consulting in December 2012 and incorporated fully into the COWI branding and North America practice in January 2016. COWI continues the heritage of the Jenny Engineering practice, which spearheaded many tunnel design and construction developments in North America.

COWI staff of the new office are to host an opening event in November with invited guests joined by guest speaker David Klug who has introduced many technical and materials developed in Europe to the North American market. Klug is also co-author of The history of tunnelling in the United States, a commemorative coffee-table publication that is published by UCA of SME, the American tunnelling society of the USA, and includes references to many tunneling and underground space excavation projects on which Jenny Engineering was involved.

JEC, which celebrated 50 years of business in September, will officially join forces with sister companies Buckland & Taylor, bridge engineering specialists, and COWI Marine North America, marine and coastal engineering specialists, to create a harmonized bridge, tunnel and marine engineering operation in the North American infrastructure market.

JEC Principal Prakash Donde accepts 2015 Leader of Industry Award

COWI is a leading international consultant in five international specialist services: major bridges, tunnels, marine structures, airports and mapping. Established in 1930 in Denmark, the company now employs 6,200 people in 24 countries and maintains more than 17,000 ongoing projects at any given time.

COWI's tunnel group, which includes JEC staff, is now one of the largest in the world, and comprises approximately 350 tunnel specialists.

In 2012, when COWI North America was looking to add tunneling capabilities to the organization, JEC was judged the perfect fit. “When we started talking to JEC, we found that there was excellent synergy in terms of our client base including government agencies and major construction contractors,” said COWI North America President and CEO Steven Hunt.

“A lot of the heavy civil contractors we work with in our bridge and marine businesses were the same that JEC worked with and had strong relationships with. It was a good fit from the moment we first met," he added. JEC officially joined the COWI organization on December 31, 2012.

JEC has a number of notable projects under its belt including the UK–France Channel Tunnel, Washington Metro's Fort Totten Station and tunnels, New York City Tunnel No. 3, and Central Artery Bird Island Flats Tunnel. In addition JEC designed the first soft ground NATM/SEM Tunnel in North America (Washington Metro in 1985). Prakash Donde, who has been with JEC since 1980 and now serves as Principal, is widely considered to be one of America’s NATM pioneers.

Future projects for the tunneling group including the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel’s Parallel Thimble Shoals Tunnel. Working with the Jacobs Engineering Design Manager team, COWI North America’s tunnel group has provided design-build bridging documents for the 5,800ft long immersed tube tunnel and bored tunnel alternative, two eight-acre artificial islands, and a fishing pier. JEC is currently reviewing design-build proposals by the bidders and will be providing engineering support during construction. COWI North America’s marine group is also collaborating on the project, providing ocean engineering, marine engineering, and engineering support during construction.

COWI is involved in owner design for the parallel Thimble Shoals Tunnel

Hunt said: “We are quite strong in these types of projects, and feel we are well positioned to be involved on any immersed tube projects in the world. By combining the specialized skills of our COWI bridge, tunnel and marine groups on local projects moving forward, we see ourselves as a force to be reckoned with in the North American transportation infrastructure industry.”

COWI North America’s tunnel offices will continue to operate out of the main Springfield, New Jersey office and the newly opened Braintree, Massachusetts office, but there are plans in the works to continue this expansion geographically.

“Because of the size of the projects, we think there is room for us to be bigger,” said Hunt. “With the large contract packages that are coming out with compressed schedules, you need a certain critical mass to address that demand, so we plan to continue growing our tunnel business in North America, both in numbers and the locations where we deliver services.”