HLS 25RS-784 ORIGINAL
2025 Regular Session
HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 39
BY REPRESENTATIVE ILLG
COMMENDAT IONS: Commends Volkert, Inc., on the one hundredth anniversary of its
founding
1 A RESOLUTION
2To commend Volkert, Inc., on the one hundredth anniversary of its charter.
3 WHEREAS, Volkert was founded as a family-run engineering firm named Doullut
4& Ewin in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1925, and was chartered "to act as civil engineers in
5all capacities"; the firm's corporate headquarters was established in 1946 in Mobile,
6Alabama, and the company operated as Ewin Engineering throughout the 1950s; the firm
7was purchased by David Volkert, an engineer and test pilot during World War II, in 1954
8and renamed Volkert, Inc., in 1963; and
9 WHEREAS, Volkert has contributed to some of the most significant American
10infrastructure projects of the twentieth century; the company was selected to develop the
11bridges of the Mobile Bay Causeway and played an integral role in the execution of the
12Mississippi River and Tributaries Project following the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927; it
13expanded the Alabama State Docks during World War II and developed dry docks for
14Liberty Ships to support the country's supply and logistics for the war effort; and
15 WHEREAS, the firm partnered with Waterman Steamship Company to expand the
16Port of Mobile, and it played an integral role in the early development of the National
17Interstate Highway System; after rebranding as Volkert, Inc., the company designed the
18world's longest bridge over water, the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway in Louisiana, which
19opened in 1969; and
20 WHEREAS, Volkert designed the I-10 Twin Span Bridge and the Mobile Bayway,
21which opened in 1978; the firm designed Interstate 565, connecting the city of Huntsville,
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HR NO. 39
1Alabama, to the National Interstate Highway System upon its opening in 1991; the firm led
2the development of the Cochrane Africatown Bridge in Mobile, Alabama, which opened in
31992 and is the only cable-stay bridge in the state; and
4 WHEREAS, Volkert has contributed to a number of restoration projects, such as
5working to preserve the USS Alabama and the USS Drum and designing the restoration of
6Alabama's coast at Bayou La Batre following Hurricane Katrina; the firm designed the
7interchange of Interstate 22 and Interstate 65 and the renewal of Interstate 59 and
8Interstate 20 in Birmingham, which are two of the largest transportation projects in the
9history of the state; and
10 WHEREAS, Volkert has been inducted into the Alabama Engineering Hall of Fame
11along with three of its leaders and eight of its projects; and
12 WHEREAS, Volkert is made up of more than one thousand five hundred employees
13who are located in sixty offices across twenty-five states; the firm established an employee
14stock ownership plan, making it 100% employee-owned; and
15 WHEREAS, Volkert, Inc., celebrated the one-hundredth anniversary of its founding
16on February 4, 2025, and its employee-owners are most deserving of the highest recognition
17for this momentous achievement.
18 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the House of Representatives of the
19Legislature of Louisiana does hereby commend Volkert, Inc., on the one hundredth
20anniversary of its founding; does hereby recognize Volkert, Inc., as a pivotal force in the
21history of American civil engineering; and does hereby extend sincerest wishes that the firm
22and its employee-owners continue to prosper in all of their endeavors for many more years
23to come.
DIGEST
The digest printed below was prepared by House Legislative Services. It constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument. The keyword, one-liner, abstract, and digest do not constitute
part of the law or proof or indicia of legislative intent. [R.S. 1:13(B) and 24:177(E)]
HR 39 Original 2025 Regular Session Illg
Commends Volkert, Inc., on the 100th anniversary of its founding.
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