ENROLLED
2025 Regular Session
HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 39
BY REPRESENTATIVE ILLG
A RESOLUTION
To commend Volkert, Inc., on the one hundredth anniversary of its charter.
WHEREAS, Volkert was founded as a family-run engineering firm named Doullut
& Ewin in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1925, and was chartered "to act as civil engineers in
all capacities"; the firm's corporate headquarters was established in 1946 in Mobile,
Alabama, and the company operated as Ewin Engineering throughout the 1950s; the firm
was purchased by David Volkert, an engineer and test pilot during World War II, in 1954
and renamed Volkert, Inc., in 1963; and
WHEREAS, Volkert has contributed to some of the most significant American
infrastructure projects of the twentieth century; the company was selected to develop the
bridges of the Mobile Bay Causeway and played an integral role in the execution of the
Mississippi River and Tributaries Project following the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927; it
expanded the Alabama State Docks during World War II and developed dry docks for
Liberty Ships to support the country's supply and logistics for the war effort; and
WHEREAS, the firm partnered with Waterman Steamship Company to expand the
Port of Mobile, and it played an integral role in the early development of the National
Interstate Highway System; after rebranding as Volkert, Inc., the company designed the
world's longest bridge over water, the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway in Louisiana, which
opened in 1969; and
WHEREAS, Volkert designed the I-10 Twin Span Bridge and the Mobile Bayway,
which opened in 1978; the firm designed Interstate 565, connecting the city of Huntsville,
Alabama, to the National Interstate Highway System upon its opening in 1991; the firm led
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the development of the Cochrane Africatown Bridge in Mobile, Alabama, which opened in
1992 and is the only cable-stay bridge in the state; and
WHEREAS, Volkert has contributed to a number of restoration projects, such as
working to preserve the USS Alabama and the USS Drum and designing the restoration of
Alabama's coast at Bayou La Batre following Hurricane Katrina; the firm designed the
interchange of Interstate 22 and Interstate 65 and the renewal of Interstate 59 and
Interstate 20 in Birmingham, which are two of the largest transportation projects in the
history of the state; and
WHEREAS, Volkert has been inducted into the Alabama Engineering Hall of Fame
along with three of its leaders and eight of its projects; and
WHEREAS, Volkert is made up of more than one thousand five hundred employees
who are located in sixty offices across twenty-five states; the firm established an employee
stock ownership plan, making it 100% employee-owned; and
WHEREAS, Volkert, Inc., celebrated the one-hundredth anniversary of its founding
on February 4, 2025, and its employee-owners are most deserving of the highest recognition
for this momentous achievement.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the House of Representatives of the
Legislature of Louisiana does hereby commend Volkert, Inc., on the one hundredth
anniversary of its founding; does hereby recognize Volkert, Inc., as a pivotal force in the
history of American civil engineering; and does hereby extend sincerest wishes that the firm
and its employee-owners continue to prosper in all of their endeavors for many more years
to come.
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
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