LITTLE ROCK — This is the story of how an Arkansan and his engineering firm helped bring two cities together.
On Saturday, the former Union Pacific Railroad bridge spanning the Arkansas River was reopened, providing a pedestrian link between Little Rock's River Market District and North Little Rock's Riverfront Park.
The $6 million conversion of the late 19th-century Junction Bridge "is such an important project because it brings the whole central Arkansas community together," says Jim McClelland, chairman of McClelland Consulting Engineers Inc. "We will be able to walk across the river. We'll be able to connect to the River Trail and ride out toward the Big Dam Bridge and take that long 14-mile loop. It's a great use of an old bridge."
As it completes the year-long project, McClelland's company is also celebrating its 45th birthday. He remains head of the statewide operation 31 years after opening a Little Rock branch of the planning, design and consulting firm his father founded in Fayetteville.
As an outdoorsman himself, McClelland is excited about the bridge's bicycle- and pedestrian-friendly design. The newly restored structure is just over a quarter-mile long and 17 feet wide. It features two elevators to transport users to the second-level lift span, which puts them about 75 feet above the river.
McClelland's firm oversaw the overall design of the project. That included raising and securing the lift span, installing steel beams across the tops of the rails to pour a 6-inch thick reinforced concrete slab, installing electrical connections along with 125 lights and six security cameras to be monitored by the North Little Rock Police Department, building the elevators as well as the staircases that wrap around them, and constructing entrances to the bridge from each side.
"The cities have different needs," says Mc-Clelland. The North Little Rock entrance will have a set of stairs and a handicap-accessible ramp, while the Little Rock side will feature an additional bridge over an access area to a fragment of the "little rock" formation for which the city was named. Though the bridge opened as planned in time for Riverfest, it may later be closed temporarily so McClelland Consulting Engineers can finish the job.
As his firm is accustomed to doing on its frequent multimillion-dollar projects, Mc-Clelland Consulting Engineers helped Pulaski County apply for and obtain 80 percent of a $1 million grant from the state Highway and Transportation Department and the federal Department of Transportation. That first grant was followed by others.
"One of the challenges that comes up in many projects is how to finance the project because costs are constantly going up, and it'sdifficult for cities and clients to borrow all the money that they need," he says. "So, we're constantly trying to find new ways of financing projects or reducing the scope of projects."
The firm's efforts to help clients apply for and secure financing set it apart from competing engineering firms, says Dickie Kennemore, mayor of Osceola, a Mississippi River town in northeast Arkansas. He first met Mc-Clelland close to 17 years ago when he became mayor.
"Osceola has experienced in the past 10 or 12 years a considerable amount of industrial and commercial growth, and Jim's firm has been the engineering and consulting company that has helped us with several projects," Kennemore says. "McClelland Consulting Engineers as a company, and Jim McClelland personally, have been directly involved and have played an enormous role in helping in the economic development of this area, as well as the continual upkeep of the city infrastructure: water, sewers and streets."
McClelland has accompanied Kennemore to Austin, Texas, where they obtained grants from the U.S. Department of Commerce's Economic Development Administration to support two projects: a 2003 Denso Manufacturing Arkansas Inc. plant which required new road construction and other infrastructure improvements, and LS Power Group's $1.5 billion Plum Point power plant, currently being built. Kennemore says McClelland's firm also has helped extend the city's water and sewer system, expand the airport and find relevant state Department of Parks and Tourism grants.
Through its home office in Fayetteville and McClelland's office in Little Rock, the company's staff of 90 specializes in master plan studies and projects in airports, water supply and treatment, wastewater, drainage and bridges, street design and recreational facilities. Clients include municipal, county, state and federal governments, government agencies, private corporations and individuals. Several hundred projects are under way at any given time, McClelland says.
CLINTON LIBRARY PROJECT
The Junction Bridge is only the latest signature project for the company. McClelland is proud of the Clinton Presidential Center, which carried a $165 million price tag.
"When I learned in the late '90s that [Bill Clinton] was going to build the library in Little Rock, my wife and I made two trips to Washington and were able to visit with the president about being his engineer," Mc-Clelland says. "That was very special to be in the White House and then to visit with him about his library and tell him I wanted to do the work."
McClelland maintains a connection to the library by volunteering as a tour guide. The job gives him a soapbox to describe the facility's LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification, which rates how environmentally friendly a building is. When the Clinton library opened in November 2004, the U.S. Green Building Council certified it as Silver, the lowest of the three "green" certifications. Six months ago, the building was upgraded to the highest level, Platinum.
"The only other Platinum building in the South sits next door to it, the Heifer [International] building," McClelland says. "We did the civil engineering for both."
Becoming LEED-certified "is the right thing to do," he says. "It's a new way of doing business that a lot of people are going to embrace. Our part involves things like gravel-paved parking lots and recycling water for reuse ... and reusing concrete foundations by crushing them back into gravel and sand or reusing them on the project."
The Clinton Presidential Center was the first LEED-certified building on which McClelland Consulting Engineers worked, but McClelland intends to make it a more frequent occurrence.
"As civil engineers, we've always been involved in the environment with water and wastewater treatment and drainage systems," he says. Currently, the company is applying Green Building Council standards to its expansion of Winrock International's parking area in Little Rock, as well as a project through the Arkansas River Regional Intermodal Facilities Authority in Jefferson County that will restructure the water supply and treatment system.
"We are beginning the survey work, and then we'll go into the design of center collector wells,"he explains. "Those wells will sit on the bank of the Arkansas River and have horizontal pipes that reach out under the sand and bring river water into the center pier. Then, we'll pump that water to the paper mill, and it'll be treated, and then it'll be used to manufacture the paper in their industrial process.
"Before, they've had to drill deep wells in the Sparta aquifer and pump that water into the plant, and so the aquifer throughout Arkansas and adjoining states has begun to deplete itself. To go in and do this project and convert from deep water to river water will allow the aquifer to recharge and fill back up, and cities around the entire southern part of the state will use that water, so that's a real good environmental project."
McClelland Consulting Engineers never works alone but integrates its civil engineering role with architects, construction firms and other engineers. In the case of the Junction Bridge, McClelland relied on subconsultants Ken Jones, a structural engineer from Crafton Tull Sparks; Philip Hargrave, an electrical engineer from Hargrave Consulting Engineers Inc.; and Wittenberg, Delony and Davidson Architects. Sometimes, McClelland hires an architect, and sometimes, a project's architect is responsible for selecting engineers.
"When we respond to a request for qualifications, we put together the best team we think can do the job and that we can trust to perform on time," says Tom Adams, president of Wittenberg, Delony and Davidson. Adams and McClelland were Sigma Nu fraternity brothers at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and have been working together for three decades, often on prison projects. "[Mc-Clelland Consulting Engineers] is dependable," Adams says. "We can rely on them to do what they say they're going to do when they're going to do it, and they have a reputation for doing goodwork."
ALWAYS SOMETHING DIFFERENT
McClelland says his work remains interesting because no two days are alike.
"I'm always doing something different and probably in a different location," he says. "We work for 40 cities and different people all over the state, so we travel a lot to see different parts of the state, and it's interesting dealing with different clients and different agencies."
His work requires cooperating with numerous people representing numerous interests on each project, often new people with whom he hasn't worked previously.
"They don't teach you that in college," he says.
Like his father, the late Jim McClelland Sr., McClelland graduated from the University of Arkansas. He grew up in Fayetteville, and when he was 20, his father founded McClelland Consulting Engineers Inc.
The younger McClelland met fellow student Pat Finley of Little Rock his sophomore year, and they married two years later. About to celebrate their 43rd anniversary in June, they have supported each other's causes ever since. Their two sons, Jay, 38, and Kirk, 33, are also UA graduates.
"He's backed me in every project I've ever undertaken, and I like to think that I've backed him as well," she says.
"This is really just one more example," she says of the Junction Bridge, which she helped him to inaugurate with an opening event this weekend. "I didn't think much about it because it's just one more thing we could do together."
She veered away from her volunteer work, which would grow to include the Arkansas Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the 20th Century Club and Arkansas Children's Hospital, among a long list of othercauses, to be his first secretary.
"I've watched Jim have very strong morals about how to run the business," she says. "He has felt very strongly about being a fair competitor, and more than anything, I would emphasize that he has wanted all of his employees to have the best possible working conditions that he could provide. He absolutely considers all the families of his employees as his responsibility."
She remembers Dickey-Stephens Park, the Arkansas Travelers stadium which opened in North Little Rock last year, as one of his favorite projects, but also acknowledges the pride he has felt by "helping smaller communities, many of whom were struggling, who really didn't know how to go about getting the services they needed."
"He gained a reputation for being community-minded and for caring about Arkansas, andI think that's why he has had an opportunity to do some of these jobs," she says.
After graduating from UA with a major in civil engineering in 1967, McClelland served briefly in the U.S. Army Reserve, then moved to Little Rock to begin his career with the Mehlburger Firm Inc. He stayed with that company for 10 years and lists the late Max Mehlburger, the firm's founder, Mehlburger's son, the late Don Mehlburger, and his own father among his mentors. He didn't always want to become an engineer however, even though his father and uncle worked in the field.
"I wanted to go into architecture initially, but I found during my freshman year that I didn't have the imagination that architects have," he says. "I really appreciate architects for their ability to create structures. By being an engineer, I could support their efforts and be a part of a project team."
McClelland left Mehlburger to open a Little Rock branch of his father's company. He was named vice president, then became chairman when his father died in 1986. Though he has always led the Little Rock office, he makes frequent trips to visit project sites around the state.
His firm has been heavily involved in development of UAFayetteville, including the Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium, Charlie Baum Stadium at George Cole Field, Bud Walton Arena, John McDonnell Field, and drainage, streets, parking deck and building projects across the campus.
"At some point in time, Jim and his firm made a commitment that they were going to do everything they could to help the University of Arkansas," says Chuck Dicus, president of Razorback Foundation Inc., which helps finance scholarships, facilities and programs in the athletics department. "They've been extremely competitive in the bidding process, so they have won a lot of the work just by rolling up their sleeves and sharpening their pencils and getting what's best for the university, as well as the athleticdepartment."
CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL
McClelland's influence on the community goes beyond the field of engineering. Following in the footsteps of his wife, who joined the Arkansas Children's Hospital board of directors in 1993 and has been chairman since 2006, he joined the board of the hospital's ACH Foundation in 2000 and raises money for the hospital, which will celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2012.
"Someone told me one time that children make up a small percentage of the population, but they are 100 percent of our future," he says. "Children's Hospital treats our sickest children from all over the state. [The staff and faculty] are themost caring people I've ever been around. It's a wonderful facility. We need everyone to support it."
John Bel, foundation president, says McClelland's amiable personality, interest in Arkansas and ability to develop new relationships for the foundation makes him a valuable board member.
"He combines pretty well passion and commitment," Bel says. "So much of what the foundation board member needs to do is be a person who brings his energy and credibility to this cause, and boy, does he do that. I think one of the reasons for Jim's great enthusiasm is that it's not only doing what's right and best for the children of Arkansas, but it gives him an opportunity to be supportive of Pat's leadership. They're a terrific team."
McClelland also serves on the boards of the Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce and the Old State House Museum Association and is a member of Fifty for the Future. He was named Engineer of the Year by the Central Chapter of the Arkansas Society of Professional Engineers in 1987, and the Public Works Professional of the Year by the Arkansas Chapter of the American Public Works Association in 2007.
McClelland enjoys his recreational time too, especially outdoor activities like bicycling, hiking, downhill skiing, being out on the water in the summer, playing golf and traveling. He is also a first-time grandfather to Sophia, born in February. He doesn't intend to leave Arkansas.
"My whole life is here," he said. "My wife's here. If she's going to be here, I'm going to be here."
SELF PORTRAIT
Jim McClellandDATE AND PLACE OF BIRTH July 30, 1943, Baltimore.
THE ENJOYMENT I GET OUT OF MY WORK IS IN Seeing
a project completed, and that it does what it was intended
to do.
I'M PROUD TO TELL ANYONE, ANYWHERE THAT I am
from Arkansas.
MY FAVORITE PLACE IN ARKANSAS IS Hot Springs on
the lake.
I LOVE THE UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS BECAUSE I met
my wife there, and our whole family has attended it.
MY FAVORITE AUTHOR IS David McCullough. The man
is more informed about our presidents and our history than
any person I've ever known, so I really appreciate him. I
think he does a service to our country when he writes these
biographies.
MY FAVORITE VACATION SPOT IS Frisco, in the Colorado
Rockies.
MY FAVORITE TRIP WAS A safari in Botswana with my
family.
MY FAVORITE BIRTHDAY PARTY WAS At Graceland in
Memphis, when I turned 60.
THE MOST AMAZING SIGHT I HAVE EVER SEEN IS The
Terra Cotta Warriors in Xian, China.
IN THE FUTURE, I WANT TO Snow ski with my new grand
daughter.
MY MOTTO TO LIVE BY IS Arkansas is always first. It's a
modification of one David Pryor had.
ONE WORD TO SUM ME UP Blessed - but very
appreciative.
High Profile, Pages 50, 57 on 05/18/2008