This year’s annual International Right of Way (IRWA) Competition announced the winners during lunch at the Education Conference, June 6-9, 2021 at the Marriot River Center in San Antonio, Texas.

The IRWA is an international organization including countries from the U.S. to Canada, England and some in Africa. It organizes the conference for professionals to stay current with best practices, latest laws and review, and the newest technology for the Right of Way industry. Attendance this year was virtual and live. Meridian’s Right of Way Manager, Tyler Baron was able to attend virtually and get us entered.

Meridian’s ROW and GIS team were happy to be involved in showcasing some great design ideas for the transportation and GIS categories. Out of the 5 plats entered, we won 3 of them. Check out these designs from our winners: Tyler Baron for Transportation, Travis Jensen for Industry General and Christopher Higham for GIS. 

UDOT and UTA held a groundbreaking for the Vineyard Commuter Rail Station and double track May 13, 2021. Vineyard, a fast-growing Utah County community, is near the east side of Utah Lake between Lindon and Orem I-15 exits. With this project now officially underway and under construction – the first expansion of the commuter rail system since the original construction of the north and south lines, it will greatly improve mobility to this area.

Meridian Engineering completed the overall base mapping for this project using all the tools in our arsenal including terrestrial LiDAR 3-D scanning, UAV flights, and finalized the project with GPS and Robotic Total Station methods. Meridian also provided an interactive GIS dashboard for the design team and prepared the Right of Way Design for negotiations and acquisition for the parcels impacted by the project. Meridian is thankful to the Lochner team for having us on this project. We look forward to more similar opportunities in the future.

Check out this clip from KSL news for more detail:
https://www.ksl.com/article/50165982/project-underway-to-build-frontrunner-station-in-utahs-fastest-growing-community

Meridian’s LiDAR specialist in Terrestrial, Mobile and Aerial Laser Scanning technology, Brian Boehmer, has worked for the firm for over 5 years, serving as a Project and LiDAR Manager. In his own words, “The licensing exam is no easy feat. If you are planning on taking the exam, make sure you are ready and know your reference material.”

Meridian’s survey division manager, Michael Nadeau states, “Brian is a loyal, hardworking, career driven Surveyor. Meridian is proud to have Brian on our team and we are very excited for his future as one of Utah’s newest Professionally Licensed Surveyors.”