Designing and building California’s $500-million Lake Oroville Spillways Emergency Recovery Project in just nine months—a job that typically would take 10 years—required an army of engineers and workers. Leading the charge in the construction effort, project director Jeff Petersen put his life on hold to guide the challenging first phase to an on-time completion without any lost-time injuries.
While Petersen serves as a senior vice president for general contractor Kiewit Infrastructure West Co. and chief of the firm’s northern California district, “Jeff stepped away from his executive responsibilities to go out and lead this project,” says Dave Miles, Kiewit executive vice president.