Construction on the I-90 and State Highway 41 interchange in Post Falls, Idaho, is starting a year earlier than expected due to the “Leading Idaho” initiative. Construction is expected to be completed by summer 2025.

DEA, a nationally recognized professional services consulting firm of more than 900 people headquartered in Portland, Oregon, acquired Civil Works Engineers, Inc. (CWE), a professional civil engineering consulting firm headquartered in Costa Mesa, California on July 15. CWE provided a range of planning, design, and project management services for public and private clients in southern California.

CWE employees have joined DEA’s office in Tustin, California. The staff of CWE specialize in transportation engineering, traffic engineering design, drainage engineering, and civil site improvements. The acquisition expands DEA’s breadth and depth of transportation services in Southern California.

About the acquisition, DEA Chief Executive Officer Al Barkouli, Ph.D., P.E., said, “DEA and CWE have a long history of successful projects as teaming partners. We are excited about the growth this acquisition affords us. CWE staff bring new, additional expertise to help DEA meet and exceed our clients’ expectations in Southern California”.

CWE Principal Marie Marston, P.E., said, “We are very excited to join DEA, as it will allow us to offer additional resources to our current clients as well as increase our client base. In working together, our firms have long shared a commitment to provide excellent service to our clients and create a company culture where employees thrive. We can do this even more successfully together.”

In 2021 DEA’s HR business partners launched a holistic and expansive wellness program focused on five pillars of health: physical, emotional, financial, career, and community. The firm creates content such as webinars and interactive activities centered around each pillar. The program is meant to be individualized for each employee’s lifestyle.

Congratulations Jeff Schultz, PMP! Jeff recently accepted the role of Chair of the Transportation Research Board (TRB) Standing Committee on Railroad Operating Technologies. In this role, he will support the committee’s goal of exploring innovative strategies and the application of new technologies to enhance rail freight, passenger, and transit operations.

Jeff is also sharing his railroad industry expertise as a member of the Civil Engineering Advisory Board for the University of Washington Tacoma’s School of Engineering and Technology (SET).

This year, DEA introduced our seventh diversity-focused scholarship! Our newest scholarship was awarded to a student at Benson Polytechnic High School in Portland, Oregon, who is interested in exploring A/E-related education or training.

The Benson Tech scholarship will be awarded annually in keeping with our corporate social responsibility emphasis on helping diversify the A/E industry. We are thrilled to support students who are women or members of an underrepresented segment of the U.S. population as they discover exciting opportunities in the A/E industry.

DEA’s Oregon employees joined Solve by volunteering to pick up trash in Portland’s Sullivan’s Gulch neighborhood! DEA staff joined 40 other volunteers to remove 2,000 pounds of trash in just 2 hours. We are living our core purpose by “demonstrating stewardship of the built and natural environments.”

Happy #pollinatorweek! DEA’s Landscape Architects support pollinators by specifying native species and pollinator-friendly plants on our projects. Pollinators like bees, butterflies, and bats are invaluable to ecosystem health.
Learn how you can support and protect pollinators in your community: