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We held our 2022 annual company dinner, to enjoy a fun-filled night celebrating a great year of hard work and accomplishments. Members of the Soltesz team enjoyed an elegant evening at the Sunset Room at National Harbor, a location where we have provided engineering services for over 20 years.

We celebrated the anniversaries of team members who have been with Soltesz for ten, twenty, and even thirty-five years! Our team's unique skills, talent, and dedication are what make Soltesz truly great. Thank you to our entire team for your continued commitment to providing quality engineering for our clients and our local community.

Check out the photos from this year's event:

Members of our design team visited the future site of The Carnegie at Washingtonian Center, an independent senior living and memory care residence next to the RIO Lakefront in Gaithersburg.

The project team led by Project Manager, Jyotika Sharma, walked the site while discussing erosion and sediment controls, design constraints, and stormwater management facilities.

Senior EngineerDana Chiao, mentioned, “We spend so much time designing and engineering projects and often don’t see too much of the construction progress or project completion in person. It’s an amazing feeling to see something you’ve designed come to life, and it was a great learning opportunity for our younger staff as well.”

Read more about the 8.5-acre site here: solteszco.com/the-carnegie-at-washingtonian-center

We’re happy to announce Soltesz has made the list for another year and has been ranked on The Washington Business Journal’s 2022 List of Largest Engineering Firms in Greater Washington D.C. The list ranking is based on Metro-area engineering billings in 2021.

We’re grateful to our hard-working team who make this possible and appreciative to our clients and partners for entrusting our team to provide quality engineering that supports our local communities.

The full list can be viewed here:  WBJ Largest Engineering Firms in Greater DC

We’re honored to be part of the team selected by MDOT, MDOT SHA, and MDTA to perform Predevelopment Work and delivery of the American Legion Bridge I-270 Beltway Relief Plan.

Accelerate Maryland Partners LLC (AM Partners), led by Transurban and Macquarie Capital, has been selected as the developer for this program which will expand transit options, ensure trip reliability and reduce some of the worst congestion in the nation.

In collaboration with Maryland, stakeholders and residents, this Relief Plan would add two high-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes across the American Legion Bridge to I-270, and north on I-270 to I-370. This would provide a primary link between key economic centers in Maryland and Virginia.

The announcement is an important step toward designing new managed lanes aligned to the concurrent Environmental Impact Statement process, as well as the short- and long-term objectives of Maryland and its communities.

The Soltesz team is looking forward to working alongside Transurban, Macquarie Capital and the additional subconsultants that form this P3 team of experts.

More on this can be found here:

‍Accelerate Maryland Partner’s press release

MDOT Press Release

In late 2020, members of the Soltesz team joined the Montgomery County Economic Advisory Group’s Speed-to-Market Working Group comprised of members from the county executive staff and representatives from M-NCPPC, DPS and DOT. This public-private working group helped identify areas within the permitting process commonly known for being lengthy, costly and often challenging. The group has developed specific recommendations for the Planning Board to adopt without compromising standards of the permitting process.

Our Soltesz experts were instrumental in advocating for these changes recommended to the Montgomery County Planning Board, and here’s what you may want to know:

Streamlining & Consolidating the Planning and Land-Use Approval Processes

Proposed changes would create a more streamlined review process, and for certain development projects create one concurrent review. Montgomery County requires three major approvals for development projects that occur over two sequential hearings by M-NCPPC. With these proposed recommendations, certain projects that provide Strategic Economic Development or offer public benefits in excess of standard requirements—would require only one concurrent hearing. This consolidated process for Planning and Land-Use permitting could potentially shorten the approval timeframe by as much as one year.

Post-Entitlement Process Integration

Recommendations have been established for Post-Entitlement to adjust the currently linear step-by-step process to adapt a condensed concurrent review. This integration could potentially cut the entitlement review period in half.Montgomery County’s full press release is available here.Get in touch with our expertsOur team members part of the Speed-to-Market Work Group are experts in their fields and knowledgeable resources on local permitting and these recommended changes.

Montgomery County’s full press release is available here.

We’re very proud to share this year marks the 30th anniversary since forming the Soltesz Homeless Fund in 1990. This voluntary employee program allows Soltesz team members to electively contribute funds throughout the year that are collectively donated to local community non-profit organizations. These organizations help families find transitional housing and offer financial support to struggling families to prevent them from becoming homeless. These non-profits also offer other essential programs that include educational development, tutoring, workshops, mentoring, counseling, daycare support, food bank funding and more.

Currently we have over 100 employees participating and contributing to the Homeless Fund annually. We’re proud to have such a skilled team of engineers, designers, project managers, field technicians, landscape architects, surveyors and support personnel. But what makes us truly proud to call these individuals part of our team is their tenacious spirits and willingness to give back to our local community.

The Soltesz Homeless fund provides annual donations to The Dwelling Place, Angel’s Watch Regional Shelter, Three Oaks Center and The Community Ministry of Prince George’s County.

Thank you to our team for participating and supporting the continued success of this program! The Soltesz Homeless Fund has donated over $150,000 to these worthy causes.

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“Your contributions help make it possible for us to continue our mission of assistance to the homeless by restoring dignity and purpose to their lives” - Executive Director, Three Oaks Center

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For more information on these organizations and how you could help support those in need this year, please follow these links below:

The Dwelling Place‍

‍Angel’s Watch Regional Shelter‍

‍Three Oaks Center

Throughout the school year, the Winston Churchill High School’s Engineering Honor Society holds lectures from experienced industry professionals to expose students to various types of engineering and provide greater insight into what it’s truly like to be an engineer.

This month Civil Engineer Dana Chiao of our Rockville, MD office virtually presented to the current junior and senior Honor Society members. She shared her journey from her undergraduate years at the University of Maryland, College Park to her current role at Soltesz, where she has worked as an engineer since graduating in 2015.

Of the 120 members that make up the Honor Society, the 11th and 12th grade students have a wide variety of interest that include mechanical, computer, electrical, chemical, biomedical, and of course civil engineering. Dana was able to provide a review of the different disciplines within civil engineering and what the typical project process entails.

Dana wrapped up her educational presentation by highlighted a few local projects she has worked on including the Washingtonian Rio Center in Gaithersburg, the Glenstone Museum in Potomac, and the Washington Monument Visitor Center in Washington, DC.

Soltesz has the honor of being recognized for our exemplary commitment to building excellent workplaces in Maryland.  The official 2020 AWE Workplace Excellence Seal of Approval was awarded to Soltesz by the Alliance for Workplace Excellence; this award is given to businesses that improve a community's quality of life and economic strength. This award is the newest in a long line of AWE Workplace Excellence awards Soltesz has earned, solidifying Soltesz' commitment to their employees, clients, and community; Soltesz has won the AWE Workplace Excellence Seal of Approval 17 times previously.

Soltesz's application included in-depth employee feedback, and was reviewed by an independent panel for excellence in several categories:

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The Alliance for Workplace Excellence (AWE) is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization founded in 1999 by Discovery Communications, Mental Health Association (now EveryMind.), and Montgomery County, MD. Over the past 21 years, AWE has been dedicated to empowering employers to build excellence in the workplace as a means of supporting the quality of life for employees, their families, and the community-at-large. AWE is devoted to increasing the number of excellent workplaces within the business community through education and recognition, as a means to enhance the quality of life of its citizens and empower economic growth.

• Innovative corporate culture and management practices
• Family and employee friendly policies and programs
• Strong health and wellness initiatives
• Employee growth and learning opportunities
• Commitment to corporate, social and civic responsibility
• Diversity and inclusion practices
• Flexible work environment
• Safety and security

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Review our Current Employment Opportunities

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In compliance with the laws enacted during the National Health Emergency this year, AWE will not host an on-site award ceremony.

On March 17, 2020, Soltesz marked 40 Years in Business! From our roots as a small civil firm with a vision for eco-conscious engineering, the company has expanded to five offices across the State of Maryland and the District of Columbia, serving clients in both public and private sectors. Our focus over 40 years of providing forward-thinking, innovative and sustainable strategies to our clients has successfully delivered some of the most preeminent communities, facilities and project developments in the region. Soltesz has received multiple awards and established a solid reputation for providing unmatched service.Proud of our accomplishments and investment in our community, Soltesz recognizes our success is due to the dedication of our talented staff and partnerships with our clients and State and County agencies. Soltesz has given back through our company philanthropy program by supporting charities and local organizations that help thousands of individuals.The Soltesz 40th Anniversary is a time of reflection and celebration. We are honored to share this milestone with our employees, families, friends and community partners who have so clearly contributed to our success!

International Women's Day is a UN-sponsored, global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. It takes place on March 8 each year.International Women's Day is powered by the collective efforts of allCollective action and shared ownership for driving gender parity is what makes International Women's Day successful. Gloria Steinem, world-renowned feminist, journalist, and activist, once explained: "The story of women's struggle for equality belongs to no single feminist nor to any one organization but to the collective efforts of all who care about human rights." So make International Women's Day your day and do what you can to truly make a positive difference for women.www.internationalwomensday.comSoltesz is proud to announce that our firm is a rising leader in developing an inclusive workforce; the average number of women employed in our firm in a technical capacity is nearly double the national average. According to the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), the percentage of women in the Civil Engineering field is 14%. When adjusted to remove all corporate and administrative employees from the calculation, Soltesz found that 22% of our technical workforce comprises women employees, which is nearly double the US average! We're proud of this statistic, and we also hope that it inspires potential employees to apply for our jobs, as well as inspire future generations of civil engineers of any gender.Working for SolteszReviewing our open positions!More InformationWomen in Engineering ASCE ResourcesOfficial International Women's Day WebsiteUN Women's Day WebsiteVisualizing the data: Women's representation in society