Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from all of us at Y&H!

Notice of Award: Y&H will be providing engineering for a team awarded the contract for AE design for the California National Guard.

After not working on Residential projects for the past year, our Engineers are working on three Tracts in the Central Valley.

Project Update - Plans for 3 Traffic Signals in the City of Soledad have been approved and published for Bidding.

New Project - YH was selected to provide engineering services for Jensen River Ranch project near San Joaquin River http://goo.gl/Z50V

Project Completed - Chevron Station

Located at Shields and Armstrong, a new Chevron gas station recently opened for business. We are proud to have helped the developer and contractor with the surveying and civil engineering. Led by Philip Romero, our tasks began in 2004 with the Tentative and Final Parcel Map used to create the individual parcel. Our engineers provided the street improvement plans as well as the on-site grading, drainage and utility plans. Our survey crews were asked to provide construction staking to the contractor.

The new station is located just down the street from our new office. It was great to be able to see the construction progress. Our office is no longer the most eastern commercial establishment on Shields Avenue!

New Project - Fresno RDA

Yamabe and Horn was selected by the Fresno Redevelopment Agency to provide Land Surveying and Civil Engineering services for a street median project near downtown Fresno. The project will improve a portion of Tulare Street west of Freeway 99. This project is an extension of a similar previous project along Tulare Street. We are looking forward to continue working with the RDA and to help improve Downtown Fresno.

Dos Palos High School

Two new classroom buildings are nearly complete at the Dos Palo High School. The classrooms will house the students teachers dispaced by the fire that destroyed the wood and ag shops in December of 2009. Our staff provided the surveying and civil engineering required to construct the two buildings. We are proud to have helped the students and faculty get these new classrooms.

Orange Cove Trail

Construction continues on a 1.25 mile pedestrian and bicycle trail through Orange Cove, CA. The project will convert an abandoned railroad right of way into a public trail for the community.

Company Website

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Project Awarded - California USA Wrestling

Yamabe and Horn is proud to be a consultant on the team awarded the new Wrestling Convention Center in Tulare, CA.  We have been asked to provide Civil Engineering and Land Surveying services for the project team led by Justo Padron of Studio5 Architects.  We are excited to be a part of such a unique development that will benefit our community and young athletes across the state.

Project Update - Oakhurst Elementary

The survey and improvement plans began in 2006 for a new Multi-purpose building, parking lot, classrooms and upgraded underground utilities. The first classrooms are nearing completion and will be ready for this school year. The steel structure for the Multi-purpose building is currently under construction.

We are proud to help the school get improved classrooms and utilities. When the project is completed, the school will definitely enhance the Oakhurst skyline.

Jerry Jones, PE

We are proud to announce that one of our Assistant Engineers has passed the California Board for Professional Engineers exam.

Jerry Jones (RCE 76803) has worked for Y&H since June 2005.  Jerry typically works on Municipal projects for multiple small cities in the Central Valley.  Congratulations Jerry, we appreciate your hard work and are proud to be a part of your professional development.

Project Update - Bryant Middle School

The Bryant Middle School near Dos Palos is in the Dos Palos Oro Loma Joint Unified School District and has new Bus/Parent Drop-off lanes. Our staff was able to provide engineering for the project Architect and provide the students safe access to their transportation. This project required plans to be approved by DSA and Merced County due to the road improvements. As with other projects, this one had a few challenges, and it is nice to see the finished product benefiting the community.

New Project - Soledad Traffic Signals

Yamabe and Horn has just been awarded a Traffic Signal project by the City of Soledad, CA.  Our Senior Engineer, Yohanes Makmur, PE, PTOE championed the effort in preparing the response to the City Engineer's Request for Proposals.

The current scope of the project is to provide traffic signals at three intersections within the Business District of Soledad.  This is an exciting project for our staff to expand their experience and utilize their skills from similar recent projects.  We are also looking forward to building a new relationship with the City of Soledad.

City of Sanger approves Drainage Report

A storm drainage report prepared by our staff under the supervision of Ron Yamabe, City Engineer, and Gary Horn was presented to the City Council for the City of Sanger this week.  The report provides recommendations for expanding the City's storm drainage system and basins to eliminate the dependence on the local irrigation district.  The City Council approved the report.

Project Spotlight - Starbucks

It was wonderful to work on a project with a tenant that supports a habit some of us are trying to control. This Starbucks and Panda Express on Blackstone near Barstow was a new building pad within an existing shopping center. Our staff helped the Developer with the surveys, civil engineering and supplied the Contractor with construction staking.

Project Spotlight - Sierra Vista Mall

Completed in 2007, this 9.3 acre expansion to the Sierra Vista Mall greatly enhanced the style and experience of shopping at the Clovis mall complex. Lead by Principal Brandon Broussard, our team of surveyors, designers, civil and traffic engineers helped the Mall Management provide these improvements for the Clovis community. Unique to this development was the traffic circle at the mall entrance complete with an elevated landscape island/water feature, and the community style park surrounded by retail stores. We are proud to have been a partner on this project.

Seminars - AutoTurn

Yamabe & Horn's in-house Traffic Engineer, Yohanes Makmur, PE, presented a seminar for our staff introducing the AutoTurn software.  As a result of our 2009 Strategic Plan, this was the second in-house seminar geared toward the professional development of our staff.  Yohanes, discussed the theory behind using AutoTurn and the mechanics of the tool, used within AutoCAD.  Sharing his knowledge of the software and the reasons to use it, our designers can help our clients get the best possible traffic related infrastructure.

Market Indicators

A few good indicators were in the news today regarding our industry and the recovery from the recession.  Trends regarding Consumer Spending, Industrial Output and Business Inventories showed positive increases of about 0.4%.  These sectors help our company by fueling Developers and Municipalities needs for Engineering and infrastructure.  We are hopeful that 2010 will be the beginning of recovery and by 2012, the market will be stable.

Seminar - AutoCAD Standards

We held our first In-house Seminar this week in response to our Strategic Plan.  One Action Item from our Strategic Plan was to begin holding monthly seminars for our staff on a variety of topics to help develop skills and increase knowledge.  Our first seminar was given by our CAD Manager, Jeremy Pope.  He discussed our current system for organizing standard files and forms.  The seminar was a success and a great time to learn together.

New Project - Lyons Magnus

We appreciate the wonderful clients that Yamabe and Horn has been blessed to have over the past 30 years.  Lyons Magnus is one of those repeat clients.  We have been asked to provide civil engineering services for the South Fresno client.

New Project - Stanford

Yamabe and Horn was selected to lead a team of Engineers to help the Stanford Shopping Center meet the new Palo Alto Green Waste Initiative.  The shopping center will be adding three large trash compactors to handle trash, recycle and compost for the mall.  Our staff is excited to be a part of a new, important trend in helping clients reduce their environmental impact.

Cub Scouts

A "den" of enthusiastic Cub Scouts came to our office to learn about Engineer's and Surveyor's. Our survey crew manager, Jason Bradshaw, setup a game in the parking lot using tripods, homemade compass', tape measures and cones. The boys learned how to locate the correct cones by using a bearing and distance.

It was great to meet some very smart young boys and encourage them to keep learning about math and science.
Special Thanks to Jason Bradshaw for his help and Carol Young for providing snacks for the group.

Carol Young

In January, we celebrated our Office Managers 25th Anniversary with Yamabe and Horn. Carol Young, has been managing the day to day office activity as well as the bookkeeping, billing, public bidding, and office supplies since 1985. Thank you Carol for all of your hard work and long term loyalty to the success of Yamabe and Horn.

Traffic Engineering

Congratulations to Brandon Broussard and Yohanes Makmur for completing the Traffic Signal Engineering Academy and passing the rigorous test presented by UC Berkeley Institute of Transportation Studies. The training programs cover all aspects of traffic signal operations, from designing and developing traffic signal improvement plans, performing traffic simulation using Synchro and SimTraffic, developing basic and advanced signal timing schemes to inspecting installation of traffic signals. The courses taken were:

• Traffic Flow Principles for Practitioners
• Traffic Signal Design
• Signal Timing and Operations
• Advanced Traffic Signal Operations
• Synchro and SimTraffic
• Type 170 Traffic Signal Controller
• Type 2070 Traffic Signal Controller
• Construction Inspection of Traffic Signals

Yamabe & Horn has designed and prepared many traffic signal improvement plans and traffic signal modification plans in the past. These certifications will enhance the quality of our traffic engineering service, which will ensure that a well-designed traffic signal system is installed in an efficient and cost-effective manner.