Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper

Scottsbluff engineering firm to open Sidney office

As new developments and projects continue to pop up in the city, Baker & Associates, an engineering firm, is opening an office in Sidney this week.

"We've never had an engineering firm make that kind of commitment," said city manager Gary Person.

Baker & Associates is a civil engineering and surveying firm based in Scottsbluff. The new office, located on Illinois Street, will be home base to one full time employee. Others from the Scottsbluff office will work in the Sidney office from time to time when overseeing projects in the area.

"I think it's very significant and makes a statement about where we're headed in the future," Person said.

The new office in Sidney will help it better serve the firm's current clientele and possibly help to facilitate future business growth in the area as well. Baker & Associates will consider moving additional workers to the Sidney office, if need arises.

"We've had a long term involvement in the community and see a lot of promise in the way it's growing and developing," said owner, Jack Baker.

Baker & Associates will be requesting permission from the city council at this week's meeting to work as special engineers on a new subdivision near Comfort Inn. The company is currently working with Wieser Construction on the subdivision in Glover Business Park as well as the local Bell Pole and Lumber Location. Baker & Associates is working on more than 8 projects in the Sidney area at this time.

The company was founded in 1977 by the father of the current owner. The company has a separate architecture firm called Studio 120 Architecture.

Baker & Associates has a long history of working in waste water engineering, a significant concern to those in Sidney.

"We do a lot of planning and design for municipalities," Baker said.

Baker & Associate's presence in the community will open them up to new business in the area, Person theorized. Sidney is big enough in size, with enough projects in the works that outside engineering firms are regularly interested in working in Sidney, but Baker & Associates is the first to commit to an office in the city. It has enough faith in the amount of business that will be available in the area to buy a building and open an office here.

"I think it's very much a leap of faith on their part," Person said.

The city tries to be unbiased when giving possible developers lists of engineers who work in the area, but having an office located in Sidney will be a large benefit to Baker & Associates, Person added.

"Anytime you can add a professional service right in the community, it's beneficial," Person said. "Hopefully we will see more of this as we see all the existing development moving forward."

This might spur even more businesses to come to the community, Person added.

Baker & Associates says it is dedicated to excellence and precision in design as well as creating quality infrastructure that is completed on time and on budget. The company was awarded a National Award for Excellence from the American Concrete Pavement Association for work on an intersection in Scottsbluff.

The firm serves Nebraska, Wyoming, South Dakota and Kansas. The company currently has 24 employees, including four civil engineers, a structural engineer and a licensed architect. Baker & Associates has worked with the Nebraska Department of Roads and the Wyoming Department of Transportation in the past. The company does traffic studies, traffic engineering, highway design and urban street and intersection design.

The attached architecture firm engages primarily in commercial work.

The company's primary office is in Scottsbluff, but Baker & Associates also has a branch office in Torrington, Wyo. and a field office in Alliance.

 

Reader Comments(0)