The York College of Pennsylvania graduate designs complex Columbia Gas projects while studying to earn his Professional Engineer (PE) license and mentoring C.S. Davidson interns.
When Paul Pope III walked into C.S. Davidson’s York office for his first internship, the Civil Engineering program at York College of Pennsylvania was brand new. There were 15 students in the inaugural class and all were required to complete three semesters of engineering co-ops before they could graduate.
What began as a single placement at C.S. Davidson turned into two back-to-back internships that lasted until, upon graduation, a full-time position at the civil engineering firm. His colleagues dubbed Paul “the eternal intern.” He discovered at C.S. Davidson a culture of mentorship that helped him grow as an engineer as well as a century of company stories that fed his love of history.
“A lot of people have to go and take a few different jobs to find their niche,” Paul says. “I was fortunate to find mine earlier on.”
A distribution station, railroads, and three miles of gas main
Paul is a Project Designer at the firm, working on permitting natural gas pipeline replacements for Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania and Maryland. One of his latest assignments is the Emigsville Cross Country East Project, an effort to convert aging steel pipelines to modern plastic distribution pipes.
At the hub of the project site sits a point-of-distribution station north of York, where high pressure is stepped down before the gas is distributed into service lines. From that hub, Paul’s role in design will assist in the placement of more than three miles of replacement gas line along Starview Road, under orchards, farm fields, and terrain that demands creative and careful design.
The project will involve two separate crossings of an active railroad, across multiple private parcels, under an existing creek, and alongside other existing transmission lines owned and operated by other energy companies. The new pipes won’t exactly follow the path of the previous lines, which in many cases were laid before the land was developed.
Where the old pipeline ran under farm fields and areas that were not developed at the time of installation, the new line has been designed to be built in areas where it can be properly maintained, and maintenance can be performed. In places where the new line lies outside public rights-of-way, Paul helped Columbia Gas plot new easements and redraw alignments that satisfy landowners.
“Part of my job is to ensure that everyone is happy with what is going on the ground; assisting in the placement of easement for the work to be completed and ensuring that we are meeting the goals of Columbia Gas as our client,” he says.
Less impact through horizontal directional drilling
An option explored for crossing the railroad was to install the gas main using horizontal directional drilling (HDD) instead of open trenching. HDD became highly regulated and restricted in Pennsylvania after environmental concerns arose in 2017, but improvements have opened the door to using the technology again. Paul worked with C.S. Davidson Professional Engineer (PE) Christopher Kraft to solidify the firm’s HDD standards, which have helped Columbia Gas and other utility companies that C.S. Davidson serves to secure the State Department of Environmental Protection’s approval of HDD projects.
“We’ve been working with Columbia Gas and our other utility clients trying to get those HDD installations approved to be less impactful to the project site and the environment,” Paul says. “The goal of Columbia Gas, as well as our own, is to design and complete work with as little impact to the surrounding area as possible. You want to build the new without damaging existing infrastructure.”
With work on the project beginning, Paul remains heavily involved. If alignment tweaks make sense or crews find a more efficient route, he’ll model them and take the proposed changes to the regional Conservation District, which supports careful use of the state’s natural resources, or other permitting agencies for approval. The construction team hopes to have gas flowing through the new main by the end of 2025.
Building better engineers
August marks five years working full-time at C.S. Davidson for Paul, which allows him to take the exam to earn his PE license. That certification permits engineers to enjoy enhanced privileges and greater responsibility. He’s compiling his hours worked under a PE’s supervision to obtain his own PE license, and cracking open study guides when he isn’t mentoring C.S. Davidson’s latest interns, who sit where he did a few years ago.
“It’s wild to think about. You’re now mentoring students who are in the shoes you used to wear, you see the things they go through, the things they’re trying to learn, because you were once there also,” he says. “I tell them you don’t need to know everything. School might not teach you everything, but we will teach you what you need to know.”
Paul was once nervous that when he started his first civil engineering experience, the engineers across the table reviewing his work would tear it apart. That’s something he’s never experienced at C.S. Davidson; everyone he has worked with has wanted to improve his knowledge and skills, and in turn, he wants to do the same for the next generation of civil engineers. “C.S. Davidson is one of those companies that wants to build the people that they have. I’ve experienced it myself. I see it through the work I’ve done and the people I work with,” he says. “They don’t want to see anybody fall. They want to build people up and make them better, not just as engineers but, frankly, as people.”