Ike Isaacson

Mr. Isaacson leads the Tunnel Sector of Brierley Associates, and possesses diverse cross-licensed expertise and experience as Tunnel and Geotechnical Engineer, Engineering Geologist, and Project Manager working in roles as designer, contractor, and construction management on major tunneling projects.

Ike’s geologic and geotechnical experience include planning and execution of land and off-shore investigations, geologic field reconnaissance, geotechnical instrumentation design, installation, and interpretation, tunnel/shaft mapping, subsurface interpretation and profiling, Geotechnical Data Reports, and Geotechnical Baseline Reports. He has worked with web-based instrumentation management systems such as GeoComp’ iSite™ and instruments such as vibrating wire piezometers (VWP), inclinometers, multi-point borehole extensometers (MPBX), survey targets, automated motorized total stations (AMTS), strain gauges, pressure transducers, thermistors, utility monitoring points, crack gauges, and tilt meters. His tunneling experience includes design, constructability, grouting, ground improvement, ground freezing, tunnel instrumentation, tunnel construction, construction logistics, ground support review/assessment, ground loss mapping and remediation, settlement analysis, data interpretation, resident engineering, and construction management of tunnels projects.

Ike’s multi-perspective insight have been called upon to assess/ troubleshoot and resolve problematic construction issues through his cross-licensed background, knowledge of ground conditions/behavior, and years of experience with geotechnical instrumentation and interpretation.

Relevant Projects

Rondout By-Pass Tunnel, Wawarsing and Roseton, NY

Tunnel Geologist

Tunnel Geologist for the Contractor, Kiewit-Shea, on the Rondout West Bound Bypass Tunnel Project for New York City Department of Environmental Projection. The purpose of the project is to construct a by-pass tunnel for the section of the Rondout West Branch Tunnel crossing of the Hudson River so that major leaks in the existing tunnel can be repaired. The project’s horseshoe drill and blast tunnels were excavated at a depth greater than 700-ft below ground surface, adjacent to the operating highly-pressurized existing tunnel, through extensively sheared slatey shales and interbedded sandstones beneath the east bank of the Hudson River. Responsible for daily mapping of blast excavations in the Shaft 6B East Connection and Drainage Tunnels (constructed using the sequential excavation method, or SEM, classification of ground conditions, and recommendation of design and supplemental ground support type based on observed ground conditions to the tunnel Contractor.

Shoreline Storage Tunnel, Cleveland, OH

Engineer-of-Record

Instrumentation design lead for the Shoreline Storage Tunnel. Brierley is teamed with McMillan Jacobs Associates and DLZ to design the new CSO tunnel as part of the District’s CSO reduction program. The project involves the design of approximately 15,300 LF of soft ground 23-foot tunnel with numerous drop shafts and near surface structures Brierley is currently tasked with all shaft and near-surface-structure support of excavation and geotechnical instrumentation design as well as assisting in all other underground related aspects of the work including geotechnical investigations and the Geotechnical Baseline Report. Ike’s responsibilities include management of the instrumentation design team, which includes a web-based geotechnical data management system, coordination with other structural designers, instrument selection, and preparation of Contract instrumentation drawings and specifications. Instrumentation included in the project includes automated instruments including VWP (8), MPBX (32), AMTS (9) monitoring approximately 440 points, strain gauges (10), and tiltmeters (4) as well as manual instruments including convergence monitoring arrays (10), crack gauges (60), inclinometers (19), and utility monitoring points (77). This included automated MPBX, inclinometers, AMTS, and reflective survey targets to monitor several thousand feet of dual CSX railroad mainline tracks where dozens of trains per day passed over the planned tunnel alignment.

Thornton Composite Reservoir, Chicago, IL

Lead Geotechnical Engineer & Geologist

Geotechnical engineer and geologist on an inspection project for the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District’s Thornton Composite Reservoir located in Chicago, Illinois. The reservoir is located in a former rock quarry over 300 feet deep, bounded on one side by the I-294 Illinois Tollway, and has a capacity to store nearly 8 billion gallons of combined sewer overflow from the TARP system for later treatment and discharge. Brierley assists its partner, HBK Engineering of Chicago, during this work. Brierley’s geologic and geo-structural expertise related tasks included fill event inspection of the rock highwalls, tunnel plugs leading to an operating quarry south of the tollway highwall, a roller compacted concrete (RCC) arch dam constructed in a gap in the highwall beneath the tollway, and interpretation of geotechnical instrumentation data including approximately sixteen 400-ft deep inclinometers, 20 vibrating wire piezometers, and arrays of reflective survey targets to monitor rock dam movement and grout curtain effectiveness during fill events. (2018-2019)

Northeast Boundary Tunnel, District of Columbia

Geotechnical Engineer & Geologist

Tunnel engineer with the Brierley/Salini Impregilio Joint Venture design-build team on the Northeast Boundary CSO Tunnel, a major component of D.C. Water’s DC Clean Rivers Program in Washington, D.C. The project consists of the design and construction of a 23-foot inside diameter, segmentally lined tunnel 27,000 feet long beneath a dense urban corridor. The project includes seven offset drop shafts and connecting adits within various Potomac Group soil types, to collect, store, and convey CSO from the northeast section of Washington DC to the Blue Plains Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant on the Anacostia River. Ike’s duties included constructability input and review of the geotechnical instrumentation program for the project.

Surface Water Supply Project, Segments A & C, Houston, TX

Tunnel Engineer and Engineering Geologist

Geotechnical Instrumentation Lead during the design of the West Harris County Regional Water Authority’s Surface Water Supply Project. The project will supply water along a 39-mile alignment from Lake Houston through north Houston to the City of Katy and south to the North Fort Bend Water Authority. The alignment was separated into three design Segments. Brierley Associates was engaged by AECOM for its tunneling expertise on Segment A and by Freese & Nichols for its tunneling expertise on Segment C. These two segments involve approximately 30 different soft ground 10-foot excavated diameter tunnel crossings ranging from 100 feet to 1.3 miles long beneath railroads, interstates, city streets, bayou’s, creeks and drainage features, and utilities. Brierley’s services include preparing the associated tunnel and shaft Contract Documents, preparing the GBR, and cost estimation. Ike’s responsibilities included, review of geotechnical information, input into the geotechnical baseline report, and all geotechnical instrumentation design for all 30 combined sites for Segments A (Eastern) and C (Western) for the project, which included deep monitoring points, utility monitoring points, multi-point borehole extensometers, vibrating wire piezometers, observation wells, inclinometers, surface monitoring points, and tiltmeters. Additional duties included field reconnaissance, initial planning, determination of appropriate methodologies for tunnel excavation based on geotechnical conditions, and dewatering requirements.

Parallel Thimble Shoals Tunnel Project, Virginia Beach, VA

Deputy Geotechnical Manager

Served as the geotechnical instrumentation lead and deputy geotechnical manager for the design build team for the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel (CBBT) Authority to construct an EPBM bored, 39-foot ID, segmentally lined 6,400-foot long tunnel beneath the Thimble Shoals Channel crossing of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. The bored tunnel serves to double capacity over the existing two-lane immersed tube tunnel crossing between the existing portal islands. Ike was heavily involved in the planning and implementation of the supplemental island and off-shore geotechnical drilling programs, which had to be coordinated with the United States Navy and included geophysics and CPTs to enhance the geologic profile. He also led the planning, design, and implementation of the automated instrumentation and monitoring program for the existing structures and new tunnel (including shape arrays, MPBX, inclinometers, VWP, AMTS, strain gauges, and convergence monitoring), geotechnical interpretation, memoranda, and specifications, and coordinating project and field work.

Euclid Creek Tunnel, Cleveland, OH

Sr Tunnel Engineer

Served as Senior Tunnel Engineer working on this Northeast Regional Sewerage District (NEORSD) combined sewer relief tunnel beneath northeast Cleveland and Lake Erie, 19,000 LF long, mined with a 27-ft TBM and lined with steel fiber reinforced precast concrete segments with a 24.5-ft ID. The system also has numerous drop shafts. Ike’s responsibilities included review and interpretation of geotechnical instrumentation data (dozens of vibrating wire piezometer, observation well, inclinometers, inclinometers, and multi-point borehole extensometers) and forensic engineering, contractor submittal review, blasting, starter and tail tunnel roadheader excavation/support, grouting plans, and constructability review.

East Side Access, New York, NY

Technical Tunneling Construction Manager (CQ031) & Lead Tunnel Engineer (CQ039)

Served as Technical Tunnel Lead on the construction management team to construct four 19.5-ft ID connecting tunnels, 10,000 feet in total, for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Capital Construction (MTACC). Charged with oversight of all technical tunnel aspects and troubleshooting, review and interpretation of separate real-time geotechnical instrumentation and TBM tunnel process control data, contractor coordination, and oversight of simultaneous tunneling operations for two Slurry Tunnel Boring Machines erecting pre-cast segmental linings. The project utilized GeoComp’s iSite™ connected to an extensive real-time instrumentation program from hundreds of instruments during mining, which included sacrificial extensometers to assess the TBM bow wave as it advanced beneath the busiest rail interlocking in North America. Project instrumentation included vibrating wire piezometers, automated motorized total stations, prisms and reflective monitoring points, multi-point borehole extensometers, inclinometers, observation wells, crack gauges, strain gauges, subsurface thermistors, utility monitoring points, seismographs, and pressure transducers. Data from TBM mining was also displayed in tandem with instrumentation results. Ike used instrumentation data to coordinate with the Contractor to rapidly adjust excavation parameters and respond to current field conditions, minimizing surface disturbance. The soft ground project through glacial soils included a short sections of full- and mixed-faces of metamorphic gneiss, compressed air interventions, and safe havens in jet grout, secant piles, and frozen ground. Ike was also heavily involved in the trial of TBM safe havens in frozen ground, oversight of concurrent tunnel drives, and operations beneath and coordination with multiple rail stakeholders. Received a personal commendation from the MTA Capital Construction Contract Manager for contribution and performance on the project.

Elm Road Generating Station (ERGS) Water Intake Tunnel System, Oak Creek, WI

Resident Project Engineer

Served as Resident Project Engineer for the design-build tunneling subcontractor to construct a new cooling water intake tunnel for Wisconsin Electric Power Corporation’s Elm Road Generating Station, which was constructed by Bechtel for WE Power. The project involved the construction of a two-mile long, 27-ft diameter off-shore water tunnel in rock beneath Lake Michigan. Ike managed day to day construction tunnel operations, coordination of subcontractor work; field collection, tunnel geology mapping, project scheduling, and measurement and interpretation of geotechnical instrumentation data from vibrating wire piezometers, observation wells, convergence monitoring, and surface survey instruments. Project instrumentation included nearly 100 monitoring points, 6 wells, 8 vibrating wire piezometers, and dozens of concrete thermistors for mass concrete.

Publications

Engineering Geology as Applied to Tunneling Projects, North American Tunneling Journal, pp. 14-19, Alan J. Howard, Jon Ike Isaacson, and Dr. Gary S. Brierley, September 2019.
Slurry on the Rocks: Trials and Tribulations of ESA Frozen STBM Safe Havens, Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration, 2014 North American Tunneling Conference Proceedings, pp. 1143-1149, Frank Perrone, Jon Isaacson, Brett Robinson, Greg Zeigler, and David Smith, 2014.
21st Century Approach to Geologic Field Reconnaissance for Geotechnical or Tunnel Projects, Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration, 2011 Rapid Excavation and Tunneling Conference Proceedings, pp. 485-497, Rory P.A. Ball, Jon Isaacson, and Trenton Cohen, 2011.
Research in Soil Conditioning for EPB Tunneling Through Difficult Soils, Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration, 2009 Rapid Excavation and Tunneling Conference Proceedings, pp. 320-333, Rory P.A. Ball, David J. Young, Jon Isaacson, Jeffrey Champa, and Christopher Gause, 2009.
Elm Road Generating Station Water Intake Tunnel System, Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration, 2007 Rapid Excavation and Tunneling Conference Proceedings, pp. 889-900, Jon Isaacson, Brendan Reilly, and Paul McDermott, 2007.
Santi, P.M., Isaacson, J.B., Selby, J.C., and Petrikovitsch, J.F., 2000, A New Tool to Teach Hydrogeologic Investigation: BEST DrillSim, Missouri Groundwater Association Spring Meeting, St. Louis, MO.
Isaacson, J.B. and Santi, P.M., 2000, Three Dimensional Hydrogeologic Modeling of Real Sites for Use in a Subsurface Investigation Simulator, Missouri Groundwater Association Spring Meeting, St. Louis, MO.
How Our Investigation Strategy Influences Our Interpretations, Association of Engineering Geologists, 42nd Annual Program with Abstracts Dr. Paul M. Santi and Jon B. Isaacson, 1999.
Unsurfaced Road Investigation and Management Plan, Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.
Geological Society of America, Reviews in Engineering Geology, Volume 14, Jon Isaacson, A. Elaina Hurst, Dan Miller, and Dr. Paul E. Albertson P.E., 1998.
Geospatial Evaluation of Range Roads on Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, Association of Engineering Geologists, 41st Annual Program with Abstracts, p. 99, Hurst, A. E.; Burton, B.; Isaacson, J.; Reiter, C.; Albertson, P. E., 1998.

Awards

HMM Best Paper Award – 2010 (Research in Soil Conditioning for EPB Tunneling Through Difficult Soils).