Pavement Enterprise Qualifies for National Civil Engineering Student Competition

by Mark Blehm, student writer

The Michigan Tech Pavement Enterprise recently won the Heavy Civil Division at the Associated School of Construction Region III student competition, held in suburban Chicago. The win qualifies the team to compete in the national championship, to be held in Las Vegas in March.

According to Kris Mattila, the team’s advisor, the competition required teams to develop and present a mock bid proposal for a construction project. The team from Michigan Tech defeated the University of Cincinnati, a nine-time defending regional champion and defending national champion.

“The competition began with teams receiving drawings and specifications for a major construction project, in this case, a highway overpass.” Mattila said. “The teams were then asked to come up with a proposal for on the project in only 16 hours, using only anything they may have brought with them and having no contact with the outside world.”

The team estimated the amounts of materials and equipment required and how much they would cost, estimated labor productivity and costs, identified the risks in the project, developed a plan to execute the project and presented their proposal to actual members of a construction firm involved in the project.

Mattila noted the team paid great attention to detail, right down to noticing that they had been instructed to sign their contract documents in blue ink. Indeed, Michigan Tech was the only “responsive bidder” whose bid would have been accepted for consideration in the eyes of the judges. Mattila also added that they were also able to get one step ahead of the judges by coming equipped with their own crane capacity charts, essential documents which would eventually be given to all teams by the judges.

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