Project Highlights

Municipalities

City of Chicago Central Business
District Mapping Initiative
In the interest of facilities protection and in a climate of increased vigilance for the protection of key infrastructure in our nation’s urban centers, the City of Chicago selected HBK to map the underground infrastructure of the City’s Central Business District (CBD).

The project divided the CBD into 12 panels, and each panel was surveyed by HBK’s survey crews, and then a detailed basemap of each panel was generated to enable utilities, excavators, and emergency responders to quickly identify key infrastructure. All of the information produced is on the Illinois East State Plane coordinate system, which allowed the drawings to be integrated into the City’s Geographical Information System (GIS), putting high-level detail drawings a mouse-click away for key City officials.

HBK was awarded the Illinois Road Technology Advancement Award (the “TAD”) for this project. The “TAD” award is given to the individual or organization that has utilized electronic communications or technology in the best interest of the transportation, design and construction industry. HBK was recognized due to our advances in underground infrastructure, specifically on the innovation in electronic utility mapping used throughout the Central Business District Mapping Initiative.

City of Chicago GIS Inventory
of Combined Sewer Outfalls
HBK was selected by the City of Chicago to perform a comprehensive survey of over 200 combined sewer outfalls (CSO’s) that daylight into the Chicago River.

By boat, HBK’s survey crews traveled the entire length of the River, collecting key information about the location, size, elevation, and condition of all of the sewer outfalls. Deliverables included the location of each CSO in Illinois East State Plane Coordinates, elevation in Chicago City Datum, and documentation of condition, including a detailed video of the inside of each outfall. This information is used by the City’s Department of Water Management, as well as the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District for their ongoing projects and improvements.

CSO_Cutsheet.pdf (123 K)

City of Chicago Residential Street Lighting Program
The City of Chicago’s Bureau of Electricity (BOE), within the Department of Streets and Sanitation, selected HBK to perform an annual survey of all of the new street light installation throughout the city, and produce record drawings.

Each year, approximately one to two blocks are selected in each ward (50 wards total) for street light replacement. These record drawings are used by BOE for the City’s Office of Underground Coordination utility search procedure. The survey data is collected on the Illinois East State Plane Coordinate System, which allows it to be integrated into the City’s GIS system.

City of Chicago Water Main Improvement Program
In 2002, HBK was awarded one of the City of Chicago’s multi-year contracts for the Department of Water Management’s Water Main Replacement Programs.

In May 2004, HBK was assigned the first task-order in connection with this contract. Working in conjunction with Chicago Water Partners, HBK performed approximately 3 miles, or 15,840 linear feet of topographical survey, utility atlas drafting and completed base drawings for twelve (12) separate water main replacement projects located in twelve (12) different wards throughout the City of Chicago.

The project turnaround time was limited to eight weeks from the notice to proceed and HBK was successful in delivering all of the completed project base drawings within the specified timeframe. Due to the success of the initial locations, HBK was awarded an additional six (6) Ward locations to completed within a three (3) week timeframe. In 2005, HBK performed approximately 2 miles of survey and basemap development work in 9 different locations throughout the City of Chicago. In 2006, a HBK performed approximately 5 miles of survey and basemap development work in 18 different locations throughout the City of Chicago.

See below for other recent successes:

Electric Utility Industry
Construction Industry
Municipalities
GIS Engineering
Subsurface Utility Engineering (S.U.E.)