WORCESTER, MA — Approximately 30 members of the Southeastern New England Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) recently joined a group of VHB and Barletta Heavy Division team members at the site of the I-495/I-90 Interchange Improvements design-build project.

VHB co-hosted the event with Barletta, one of the contractor partners on this design-build project — currently the largest transportation infrastructure project in Massachusetts. To begin the visit, Don Cooke, New England Regional Service Lead - Transportation, and VHB Design Manager on the project, led a presentation on the redesign of the interchange. Attendees then went on a site walk, led by VHB’s Josh Cone-Roddy and Barletta’s Terry Cassidy and Renee Pisano.

One highlight of the site walk was visiting the future Ramp ES (which connects I-90 East to I-495 South), where visitors saw precast and cast-in-place barriers on top of the ramp’s largest retaining wall, which is nearly complete. Visitors also saw Ramp WN (which connects I-90 West to I-495 North) and the new I-90 bridge over the railroad.

This event was targeted toward emerging professionals, giving young engineers from other firms a chance to connect with VHB and Barletta team members. It also gave young professionals from VHB who have contributed to the I-495/I-90 Interchange Improvements project a chance to see their work come to life.