I bet you thought that we had lost our pulse since this is the first newsletter of the year (and it is almost May) but actually we were holding our breath and holding off until we could celebrate several great events all at once! Well now we can boast about new projects, celebrate great accomplishments get back on track (that is an Amtrak phrase!)
 

This month, we acknowledge Curtis Lillard for his 15 Years of work with Collage. As Curtis takes a leave of absence, we offer our appreciation for his hard work and dedication and wish him continued success in his life ahead.

With $10.5 million in Recovery Act funding, Collage will construct Amtrak's new station at the Auto-Train's southern terminus in Sanford, Florida. The Auto Train, one of Amtrak's best performing long-distance services, and one of the nation's most innovative forms of intermodal passenger transportation, transports passenger together with their private automobiles non-stop from Lorton, Virginia (15 miles south of Washington, DC), to Central Florida. The new station will replace temporary facilities that have been in place since the destruction of much of the previous station by the 2005 hurricanes, and will provide Auto Train passengers with a more comfortable waiting area and allow for faster, more efficient boarding operations. Amtrak estimates that the project will result in 84 person-years of work for those directly employed in the construction of the new station.

We are excited to Welcome Terry Forrester to our Pre-Con team. Terry has many years of experience working in the construction industry with some of our well respected peers (that we cannot mention in our newsletter!) and brings great energy and excellence to the pursuit of new projects.

David Trindade was once again successful in securing a new project with a repeat client: Martin County! The project is $1.7M park elements, a bridge, driveways and parking. David and Tom Brumfield have gotten the project started and it will finish before the end of 2009.