Our History
1950s
- 1954: Founded as Jacobs Associates by J. Donovan Jacobs (Don Jacobs)
- 1956: Incorporated as a California corporation
- 1956: Construction engineering and temporary works design for the Tooma–Tumut Tunnel on Australia’s Snowy Mountains Scheme
- 1957: Design of a conveyor for 20 million tons of earth materials for Trinity Dam in California
- 1959: Don Jacobs patents the Jacobs Sliding Floor
1960s
- 1960: Design of drill jumbo and hydraulic booms for Oroville Tunnels in California
- 1963: John Nichols and Don Jacobs develop pioneering software for construction cost estimating
- 1963: First construction claims project on the Saigon International Airport in Vietnam
- 1964: Design of collapsible tunnel lining forms, which are implemented with simultaneous excavation of the Manapouri Tailrace Tunnel in New Zealand
- 1964–1970: Planning, temporary works design, and disputes resolution for the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system; prefab excavation bracing revolutionizes cut-and-cover tunneling
- 1967 and 1975: Design of drill jumbo for construction of Eisenhower and Johnson Memorial Tunnels in Colorado
1970s
- 1970: Design of headframe and hoist for City Water Tunnel No. 3 in New York
- 1971–1987: Temporary works design for 24 underground contracts for DC’s Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) system
- 1972: BART opens for public service in the San Francisco Bay Area
- 1972: Development of the Rock Structure Rating tunnel support classification system by Henry Tiedemann and George Wickham
- 1974: Jim Wilton becomes second company president
- 1976: WMATA opens for public service in Washington, DC
- 1976: Design of falsework for the California State Capitol Building
- 1979: Publication of “Cut-and-Cover Tunneling” by FHWA, a three-volume guideline for design and construction produced by four principals and associates, widely used in the industry for more than two decades
1980s
- 1980: Construction of North Outfall Consolidation N-2 Tunnel, the first use of an earth pressure balance machine in the United States
- 1980: Don Jacobs receives Golden Beaver Award
- 1981–1985: Progressive opening for public use of the MURLA City Loop in Melbourne; construction management led by Allen Neyland and A.M. “Pete” Petrofsky
- 1985: John Nichols becomes third company president
- 1987: Jim Wilton receives Golden Beaver Award
1990s
- 1992: Norbert Tracy becomes fourth company president
- 1993: Allen Neyland posthumously receives the prestigious Tunnelling Achievement Award from the Australian Tunnelling Society, now renamed the Allen Neyland Tunnelling Achievement Award
- 1993: LA Metro Red Line MOS-1 opens for public service in Los Angeles
- 1996: Islais Creek Contract E Transport Storage Tunnels commissioned in San Francisco
- 1998: A.M. “Pete” Petrofsky receives Golden Beaver Award
- 1999: Bill Edgerton becomes fifth company president
2000s
- 2000: City Link Tunnels open to traffic in Melbourne
- 2001: M5 East Motorway Tunnels opened for traffic in Sydney with first widespread use of permanent rock bolts in Australian tunnels
- 2002: John Stolz develops the company’s proprietary construction cost estimating software
- 2002: Hollywood Water Quality Improvement Project commissioned in Los Angeles
- 2003: MetroWest Water Supply Tunnel commissioned, which included design of 18 miles of high-pressure tunnels
- 2003: Early use of pilot tube microtunneling to construct a seawater barrier in Los Angeles
- 2004: Tren Urbano opened for public service Puerto Rico
- 2004: Chattahoochee Sewer Tunnel commissioned in Atlanta
- 2004: Northeast Interceptor Sewer commissioned in Los Angeles
- 2004: Upper Diamond Fork Tunnel commissioned in Utah
- 2006: Willamette River CSO Program West Side CSO Tunnel is commissioned in Portland, utilizing the first large-diameter slurry TBM in the United States
- 2007: Acquisition of Milbor Pita, specialists in geotechnical and rail tunnel engineering
- 2007: Claremont Tunnel Seismic Upgrade commissioned, crossing the active Hayward Fault with a unique base-isolated tunnel
- 2008: Recommended Contract Practices for Underground Construction published (Editor: Bill Edgerton)
- 2008: Narragansett Bay Commission CSO Project Phase 1 commissioned in Providence, Rhode Island
- 2009: Inland Feeder Arrowhead Tunnels, designed to accommodate severe fault rupture and high hydrostatic head, commissioned in Southern California
- 2009: Canada Line opened for public service in Vancouver, British Columbia, ahead of the Winter Olympic Games
- 2009: Longest 84-inch-diameter microtunnel at the time completed for the Willamette River CSO Program in Portland, Oregon
2010s
- 2010: Willamette River CSO Program East Side CSO Tunnel is commissioned in Portland, with Swan Island Pump Station designed as one of the largest permanent diaphragm wall shafts ever constructed in soil
- 2011: New Crystal Springs Bypass Tunnel commissioned in San Mateo, California
- 2011: First use of the cutter soil mixing method in the United States for microtunneling shafts, on Old River Crossing in California and Balch Consolidation Conduit in Oregon
- 2011: Dan Adams becomes sixth company president
- 2011: Brightwater Conveyance System commissioned in Seattle
- 2011: Northern Sewerage Project Stages 1 and 2 commissioned in Melbourne
- 2011: Acquisition of GeoEngineers branch office in Walnut Creek, California
- 2011: Longest microtunneling length of steel casing without intermediate jacking stations on Portsmouth Force Main in Portland
- 2012: Bill Edgerton receives Golden Beaver Award
- 2012: Isabelle Lamb becomes firm’s first female principal
- 2012: San Vicente Tunnel commissioned in San Diego
- 2012: Airport Link opens in Brisbane
- 2013: Largest one-pass microtunnel using fiberglass jacking pipe on the Brightwater Marine Outfall Connector
- 2014: Bay Tunnel under San Francisco Bay is commissioned
- 2015: Merger with McMillen LLC
- 2015: New Irvington Tunnel commissioned in Hayward, California
- 2015: Blue Plains Tunnel completed as part of the DC Water Clean Rivers Project
- 2016: University Link Extension opens for public service in Seattle
- 2016: Evergreen Extension opens for public service in Vancouver, British Columbia
- 2017: Anacostia River Tunnel completed as part of the DC Water Clean Rivers Project
- 2017: Waterview Tunnel opens for traffic in Tāmaki Makaurau/Auckland, New Zealand
- 2017: Port Mann Water Supply Tunnel commissioned in Vancouver, British Columbia
- 2018: Design of first-of-its-kind post-tensioned segmental lining ring for Los Angeles Ocean Outfall
- 2019: Grant Finn and Sean Peterfreund patent a Tieback Anchor Alignment and Access Device, which makes building tieback de-tensioning easier
- 2019: M4 East Tunnel opens for traffic, with an original triple cell ventilation shaft construction
- 2019: Confederation Line opens for public service in Ottawa
- 2019: Watercare’s Army Bay Ocean Outfall Replacement in Tāmaki Makaurau/Auckland breaks records as the longest pipeline drive ever installed by the Herrenknecht Direct Pipe system
- 2019: Second Edition of Recommended Contract Practices for Underground Construction published (Editor: Sarah Wilson)
2020s
- 2020: Victor Romero becomes seventh company president
- 2020: Dan Adams receives Golden Beaver Award
- 2021: The Northgate Link Extension is opened for public service in Seattle
- 2021: Doan Valley Storage Tunnel completed in Cleveland
- 2021: Snells Algies Outfall breaks the previous record for longest Direct Pipe in Tāmaki Makaurau/Auckland, New Zealand
- 2022: Bill Edgerton receives Lifetime Achievement Award from the Underground Construction Association of SME
- 2022: Split-off of Water Resources Division
- 2022: The Central Subway opens for public service in San Francisco
- 2023: North America’s largest diameter and curved microtunnel drive completed in Calgary