We designed a ten-acre emergency vehicle staging area for the Florida Public Safety Institute (FPSI) to replace uneven, inadequate storage conditions for firetrucks, ambulances, patrol cars and armored units. Our goal was to deliver a fully paved facility with safe traffic circulation and a code-compliant stormwater system.
We began with a thorough site analysis covering ground elevations, soil types and drainage patterns, then verified compliance with the Florida Administrative Code for stormwater management and Florida Department of Transportation geometric standards. The facility needed to accommodate more than 300 emergency vehicles of varying sizes, so we designed two large, paved areas connected by wide roadways that allowed heavy vehicles to maneuver without conflict.
Stormwater management was our primary technical challenge. The site required retention of approximately 3.5 acre-feet of runoff. We sited a retention pond in the remaining open space after laying out the paved areas, sizing it to meet the volume requirement and satisfy regional regulations, thereby reducing on-site and adjacent flood risk.
A portion of the site also required a grade raise of approximately 20 feet. To support the resulting 3.5-acre elevated paved surface, we designed three retaining walls engineered to resist a combined soil and concrete load of roughly 11,400 tons, with additional capacity to maintain long-term stability.
Our final design improves vehicle storage, traffic flow and stormwater drainage, providing FPSI with infrastructure suited to support current operations and future growth.