Project Details

As part of a design build team, WFT Engineering provided electrical design, security integration, and construction administration for the fast track installation of the perimeter security fence project around the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Bethesda Campus. The perimeter security project enclosed the 400 acre medical research campus providing layers of physical security, surveillance, access control and emergency call systems for both pedestrians and vehicles while allowing for the design of a lighted community bike path along the nonsecure side of the perimeter fence line. The physical security included a nine-foot-high high anti climb iron fence backed up by a vehicle anti ram cable barrier system with a 250-foot set back from any campus building to minimize the effects of a potential blast. The project also included eight roadway reconfigurations designed to safely and securely manage vehicular traffic on and off campus through the use of vehicle portals, cantilevered sliding gates, long range proximity card readers, surveillance cameras, digital video recorders, rising road barriers, lift gate arms, site lighting, bollards, bullet proof guard booths, and emergency communication towers. All of the security systems where interconnected back to the NIH Emergency Command Center. Fourteen perimeter campus wide dedicated power and communication collection points were designed. Each of the collection points were designed with a manual transfer switch and a portable generator connection point in the event of a power failure. The security equipment has battery back up capacity to allow for critical transfer time.