2011 Award Winners
The Eastern Chapter of KSPE recognized a few of our outstanding members and a firm during the May Chapter Awards breakfast meeting. These award winners have each made a special contribution to our society, profession, community or combination of all! Each of these recipients has gone above and beyond the normal call of duty to advance the engineering profession and thereby strengthen the Kansas Society of Professional Engineers.
Engineer of the Year - Steve Bachenberg, BHC Rhodes
- Steve is a graduate of the University of Nebraska.
- Currently works for BHC Rhodes as the Vice President of their Public Works Services but has been working in the transportation field for forty-one years.
- He joined KSPE in 1970 and has held all the board positions.
- Most recently Steve chairs our Legislative committee.
- Steve is or has been involved in ACEC, APWA, NCEES, ITE, a couple of chambers of Commerce including Overland Park, Parents as Teachers, and Sports Car Club of America.
Steve’s desire to balance his professional obligation to engineering and his personal dedication to his community has been a driving force in his success. Over his career, he has worked in conjunction with cities, counties and rural communities providing insight on how to better the daily lives for residents from infrastructure planning to underground sewer design. After he rolls up his engineering plans he goes back out into the community... He has coached soccer, volunteers with Christmas in October, planned city
festivals, volunteers with Parents as Teaches and shares his love of racing with children.
Outstanding Young Engineer - Anne Schroer, GBA
Anne graduated from the University of Kansas in 2003. She worked for BRB Contractors before joining GBA in 2005 when she also joined KSPE. Anne passed the PE in 2007 and has been a lead Engineer on several projects including Route 179 in Jefferson City, MO and the Village West Conceptual Study. She is a member of several committees and subcommittees regarding sustainability including APWA, 4A Collaborative, KC Scoreboard, Focus Green, and the Linking Environmental & Transportation Planning Advisory Group. She had an article published last February in the Business Journal regarding sustainable transportation initiatives and opportunities. Anne recently received her Master’s degree in Engineering Management from KU.
Outstanding Engineering Achievement: K-7/Johnson Dr. - KDOT, City of Shawnee, & GBA
A joint project between KDOT and the City of Shawnee, designed by GBA; the K-7/Johnson Drive interchange provides for increased capacity, improved safety, and more efficient flow of traffic.
- Several alternatives were considered, four were short listed and the selected design is budgeted at $21.4 million.
- The final selected design allows motorists traveling along K-7 to pass over Johnson Drive with two multilane roundabouts on either side of the highway.
- The existing signalized intersection operated with roughly 30,000 vehicles a day.
- The new interchange is designed to handle over 120,000 vehicles a day.
- This project had several challenges; one was coordinating with the City and developers due to the number of preliminary plats that had already been submitted along the corridor.
- Another challenge required lowering Johnson drive over 10’ to accommodate the required clear sight distance for the roundabouts.
- This project is currently under construction and expected to be completed late in 2011.