Public engineering firm profile
Helena, MT
Public profile details are available below.
Coldwater Engineering is a Helena, Montana-based civil engineering practice specializing in hydrology and hydraulics, railroad engineering, environmental permitting, and survey. Founded around railroad infrastructure, it has completed nearly a thousand Class I railroad projects across 23 states, with long-term master services agreements with Union Pacific Railroad and Kansas City Southern. Core capabilities include bridge opening analysis, scour analysis and countermeasure design, floodplain permitting, streambank stabilization, and wetland delineation.
Bridge opening analysis, hydrologic studies, HEC-RAS hydraulic modeling, scour analysis and countermeasure design, floodplain analysis, and CLOMR/LOMR submittals. Emergency and fast-track H&H design available with 24-hour professional engineer dispatch.
Full range of water resources, environmental permitting, survey, and emergency response services for Class I, Class II, and short-line railroad clients. Long-term MSA relationships with major railroads.
Federal, state, and local permitting including Army Corps of Engineers Section 404/401, Nationwide Permits, floodplain development permits, SWPPP and erosion control plans, and state-specific permits across 15+ states.
Topographic, hydraulic, structural, and environmental surveys using conventional methods, RTK GPS, GNSS, and scanning total station. Wetland delineations and biological assessments performed by engineering and scientific staff.
Milwaukee Subdivision, WI | Union Pacific Railroad | Rail
Emergency bridge replacement involving hydrologic and hydraulic analysis, site survey, and floodplain permitting after concrete pipe culvert joint separation and embankment failure. Fast-track design completed from survey to submittal.
Waco Subdivision, TX | Union Pacific Railroad | Rail
Partial and full replacement of two railroad bridges involving H&H design with LiDAR, Atlas 14, and complex floodplain analysis including coincidental occurrence intervals, scour vulnerability, and upstream storage reservoirs.
Montana | Montana Fish Wildlife & Parks | Water Resources
Stabilization of an eroding streambank using bioengineering techniques. Coldwater Engineering provided survey, H&H analysis, contracting documents, and construction oversight for the design team.
Eastern Montana | Montana Department of Transportation | Highways & Roads
Hydraulic engineering support for landslide mitigation along a segment of highway in eastern Montana. Stormwater modeling addressed retention, detention, culvert systems, and open channel flow for a complex hydraulic system.
President & CEO
P.E.
Terry Cowan has 22 years of engineering experience as a designer, project manager, team leader, and program manager serving private, municipal, state, and federal clients. He specializes in H&H within the railroad industry and has worked for Union Pacific Railroad and BNSF Railway, completing work across 23 states totaling nearly a thousand projects.
Project Manager / Permitting Lead
P.E.
Alexandra McDonald has over nine years of engineering experience spanning field work, construction oversight, project design, permitting, and project management. Her H&H work is focused on bridge replacement studies for Class I railroad clients, and she serves as environmental permitting lead covering no fewer than 18 states across 150+ projects.
Project Manager
P.E.
Tom Askin has over twelve years of experience in water resources including pumping systems, water treatment plant operations, H&H, environmental permitting, survey, and construction oversight. He manages H&H and surveying projects for UPRR, Montana Rail Link, Kansas City Southern, and BNSF Railway.
Project Manager
P.E.
Tyler Phelps has over ten years of engineering experience in water resource engineering, construction management, and remedial action projects. He specializes in H&H design, remedial action construction representation, and engineering survey, with experience on railroad and highway bridge replacement projects and multiple superfund sites.