Nevada County assistant engineer describes day-to-day project work and bike-path complexities

Assistant Engineer Elijah Larimer of Nevada County Public Works described the technical, seasonal and coordination work that goes into county infrastructure projects, using a bike-path project as an example.

Larimer said he has worked for the county for three and a half years and trained in both carpentry and civil engineering. "My name is Elijah Larimer. I'm an assistant engineer with Minota County Public Works. I've been working with the county for 3 and a half years, and I've been an assistant engineer the whole time," he said. He also said he attended technical school before "go[ing] to the University of Nevada, Reno and get[ting] my engineering degree."

Larimer said his office's workload varies by season. "A typical day in the summer like this is going to be out at project sites, doing inspections, making sure safety is in place, assuring that everything that the taxpayers are paying for is being installed and being installed correctly so it lasts a long time," he said. He said winter work focuses on design and planning: "In the winter there's a lot of design, preparation, we'll go out get measurements and quantities and then plan for the projects that are coming up the following summer."

Using the county's bike-path work as an example, Larimer emphasized that installing a path involves more than paving. "When you say we're putting in a bike path like we're doing here, it's a lot more than just going out and putting in a bike path," he said, noting the need to evaluate drainage, excavation and restoring sites when work is finished. "We have to make sure that the drainage is proper, that we leave everything in a good condition when we're done. We have to do a lot of excavation. So there's a lot of pieces that you have to really think through and analyze to get 1 of these projects to be successful."

Larimer framed the work as both maintenance and improvement of existing infrastructure: "We're replacing and maintaining all the infrastructure that's already existing and just making it a better experience for everybody that's here. So I like that part of it where I get to fix what we have and make things even better."