ECI – Engineers Construction

From our Press Release on March 26, 2025

Williston, VT – Engineers Construction, Inc. (ECI), one of Vermont’s leading heavy civil contractors, is pleased to announce Kenneth Pidgeon’s selection as the 2025 Vermont Engineer of the Year at the Engineers Week Banquet held recently in South Burlington.

The National Engineers Week Foundation is a formal coalition of more than 70 professional societies, major corporations, and government agencies. Engineers Week is dedicated to raising public understanding, recognition, and appreciation of engineers’ contributions to society. Founded in 1951 by the National Society of Professional Engineers and celebrating its 85^th year in 2025, Engineers Week is among the oldest of America’s professional outreach efforts.

Mr. Pidgeon was nominated by the Vermont Society of Engineers and selected for the honor by the Vermont Society of Professional Engineers. Ken joins the list of distinguished Vermont registered professional engineers, spanning back to when the honor was established in 1961. As part of his acceptance speech, Ken expressed gratitude to his family, the ECI community, and his past mentors and mentees throughout his career.

Ken: “I am honored and humbled to be your Vermont 2025 Engineer of the Year (. …) As I look around the room, and at the list of previous Engineers of the Year, I see [those] that have inspired me to be a better engineer, and a better person.”

Ken graduated from UVM with a BS in Civil Engineering in 1984 before obtaining his MS in Civil Engineering from UNH, with a concentration in geotechnical engineering. Ken became a registered professional engineer in 1991 after gaining his professional engineering experience with GEI Consultants in Winchester, MA. In 1998, Ken returned to Vermont and joined his father Alan and younger brother Scott in the family business, Engineers Construction, Inc. (ECI).

Ken and Scott purchased ECI from Alan in 2004, with Ken becoming President and CEO. They continued to grow the company and build the culture of a modern construction company. ECI had always been known for its ingenuity, integrity, and ability to perform under challenging conditions. Under Ken’s leadership, ECI further expanded its capabilities and recognition through multiple successful high-profile projects. He was considered the “Lead Specialist” at ECI and provided guidance and council for the senior engineers and mentoring for the younger engineers.

On November 1^st of 2024, ECI became 100% Employee-Owned through an ESOP. With that transition, Ken now serves as ECI’s Chairman of the board of directors and continues a limited management role of engineering assignments. Ken is a member of several local and national engineering associations, the author of multiple technical publications, and a recent past president of the Vermont Association of General Contractors.

Pictured below are the Pidgeon family and a group of ECI team members celebrating with Ken.

ECI was the recipient of the 2024 AGC-VT Best Builder Award for Specialty Innovation – Civil Highway

ECI contracted with VTrans to replace NECR (New England Central Railroad) Bridge 35.01 over Route 14 in Royalton, VT. The existing 26’ clear span bridge was only 12’-1” above the roadway and choked traffic down to a single lane with no signals and a blind approach from each direction. In the past it had been hit hard enough to mangle the outside beams and knock the tracks off alignment, and ECI routinely saw it hit while on site. The new 127’ steel girder bridge has improved vertical clearance of 14’-6” and allowed for Route 14 to be realigned so it is now 30’ wide from shoulder to shoulder with clear visibility and a traveling speed of 35mph.

The contractor provided for two full construction seasons with four relatively short railroad closures. The bridge is supported by two precast concrete cap beams which each sit on two drilled shaft foundations. The drilled shafts allowed for accelerated construction since the shafts were able to be in-stalled during normal rail traffic. Once everything was completed outside of the travel lanes and with two short railroad closures to install the new abutments there was a 21-day highway closure and a 134-hour railroad closure.

During the railroad closure crews worked around the clock to excavate between the previously installed abutments, remove the temporary bridge, set precast wingwalls, backwalls and approach slabs.

We then set the new bridge with a Self-Propelled Modular Transporter and restore the tracks. Once the railroad was open we continued work on the road realignment and had it open to the public 8 days ahead of schedule.

We are proud to announce that our employees have collectively donated $19,672 which was divided between the following local charities:

• American Cancer Society https://www.cancer.org/about-us/local/vermont.html
• Vermont Make-A-Wish https://vermont.wish.org/
• Vermont National Guard Charitable Foundation  https://www.facebook.com/Vermont-National-Guard-Charitable-Foundation-185255287247/
• Mike Loyer Foundation https://www.theclassicmikeloyer.org/about-us/

ECI employees have a history of making charitable contributions during the holiday season and this is the largest contribution by its employees to date – exceeding last years contribution of $17,340.

Winter is a good time to get caught up with our safety training requirements.  Over the coming months ECI will be holding several training sessions, including:

Confined Space Training Entry Training  (29 CFR 1910.146)

Purpose:  To train a worker that enters a confined space.

Credit Hrs:  4 Hours

Content:  Definition of a Confined Space, Air Monitoring, Retrieval Systems, etc.

Confined Space Entry Supervisor Training  (29 CFR 1910.146)

Purpose:  To train a supervisor prepare a permit, inform the workers, and ensure a safe entry

Credit Hrs:  4 Hours;  Must attend the Confined Space Entry Worker Training

Content:  Confined Space Basics, Hazard Evaluation,  Monitoring Instruments, Permit Preparation, etc.

Hazardous Waste Operations & Emergency Response Refresher (29 CFR 1910.120)

Purpose:  HAZWOPER covers activities on contaminated sites and emergency releases

Credit Hrs:  8-hour; required every year; 40 hr course a prerequisite

Content:  PPE Levels, Monitoring Instruments, Exposure Paths, etc.

CPR/AED/First Aid

Purpose:  To provide CPR, AED, and basic first aid ability

Credit Hours:  4 hours

Content:  CPR Certification, AED demonstration, general first aid

Rigging/Signal Person (ECI Specific)

Purpose:  Qualify ECI workers to select, inspect, use rigging, and signals for a lift

Credit Hours:  4 Hours

Content:  Chains, wire rope, shackles, hooks, etc.

A couple of points to consider when attending these training sessions:

• An OSHA Officer might very well ask a worker about what training was given to the worker
• Some of these courses involve tests.  Don’t be nervous.  The test are to verify that you comprehend the content.  If you don’t understand, our trainer will work with you personally until you are competent in the content and able to practice the standards.

Welcome:

Welcome to ECI’s new website.  Our previous website was mostly as a marketing tool to show the world who we are and what we can do.  The new website is more interactive with blogs so we can reach out to our employees, customers, vendors, and friends.  The blogs may contain announcements of ECI’s achievements and project news.

New Features:

There are several features that we would like to point out:

1. The site has been totally revised.
2. We now are in complete control of content, unlike the previous site.  This means we can make changes anytime and anywhere, without hiring a website designer.
3. We have an Employee Portal and a Vendor Portal.
4. The Employee Portal has documents for downloading, news, the safety manual, calendar, and personal photos on the Employee Wall.
5. The Vendor Portal will have similar documents, safety & quality standards, and a calendar.

We hope everyone takes advantages of these features.

Ken & Scott Pidgeon