SAN DIEGO – RICK has changed cross-border commerce for the better.
For years, traffic congestion on La Media and Siempre Viva roads in Otay Mesa has been a headache for truckers who travel the route to and from the U.S.-Mexico border.
The staff at the engineering business studied the site, crunched the numbers and devised a way to add new lanes to La Media Road. While they were at it, they solved a flooding problem.
Later this month, company representatives will travel to the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim to accept a Commendation Award from the American Council of Engineering Companies, California when that organization meets.
It’s good to see the project in the rear-view mirror, said Kai Ramer, president and CEO of RICK, formally known as Rick Engineering. Like many projects that cross his desk, La Media Road faced delays due to the changing winds of the economy. At one point the road project was part of a bigger effort to redevelop the airport at Brown Field, but the improvements were subsequently split off to be a separate project.
Ramer is also proud of another recent project that took a while: improving the bridge that carries West Mission Bay Drive over the San Diego River. The company widened the bridge from two lanes going each way to three. Several businesses teamed up on the project, tackling tasks such as traffic analysis, hydraulic and scour analysis of the river and development of the storm water data report to satisfy water quality requirements.
“To see this come to fruition is awesome,” Ramer said.
Though the economy can sometimes be fickle and unpredictable, the business expects a good year in 2026, with an estimated 13% growth, the CEO said. The industry is growing at 7% to 8%, driven in part by higher education, traffic and flood control work.
An Architect’s Indispensable Partner
In popular opinion, civil engineering takes second fiddle to architecture, if it is noticed at all. Yet it is just as necessary as architecture for a successful project. The buildings of ancient Greece and Rome would never have endured without adequate attention to their sites.
Ramer describes the civil engineer’s field of endeavor this way: Imagine a 5-foot zone around a building. Everything inside that 5-foot zone is the responsibility of the architect.
Everything outside that zone, on the ground or underground, is the work of the engineering company: things such as grading, drainage and the layout of the parking lot.
RICK’s projects have literally changed the shape and contours of San Diego County.
Founded in 1955, the business drew master plans for entire communities such as Tierrasanta and Eastlake. Ramer worked on Sabre Springs at the start of his 40-year career with RICK.
The business has also worked on Civita, Sudberry Properties’ ongoing effort to turn a 230-acre site in Mission Valley into a housing, office and retail neighborhood with 16 acres of parkland. Longtime residents may remember it as a sand and gravel quarry.
“We’ve been civil engineer from its inception,” Ramer said. “It has been 15 years and it’s still not built out.”
Site design included the placement of roads, grading, drainage and parking areas. When it is finished, Civita will add approximately 4,800 homes to the region.
The Mission Valley project is typical of work in San Diego County, which is hemmed in by the Pacific Ocean to the west, the international border to the south, mountains to the east and the sprawling Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton to the north. San Diego spread out in the mid- to late 20th century when there was still raw land available, but the drive today is toward infill development, the executive said.
Ramer is a San Diego County native. He grew up in Escondido and graduated from San Pasqual High School. His father was a civil engineer with what was then called the state division of highways. Ramer got his degree in civil engineering and did early work as a traffic engineer.
One of RICK’s more recent projects was landscape design work on the New T1 project at San Diego International Airport.
Freedom Park is another company project – this one in a signature location on the Embarcadero.
Navy Pier is already the location of the USS Midway Museum. The Port of San Diego wants to turn the century-old pier and nearby land into a 10-acre park, incorporating a veterans’ memorial, lawns, event spaces and more. RICK took care of the civil engineering and landscape design of what will be the largest veterans park on the West Coast. Those who worked on the project had to be careful to preserve views of San Diego Bay and not add any elements that would prohibit authorities from using the site as a pier. The park is scheduled to open in 2028.
RICK is hiring. While there is plenty of work to do, Ramer said it is a challenge to find job candidates. The average age of a land surveyor is 55, the executive said, and there is a shortage of college graduates who want to be civil engineers or land surveyors.
It takes a certain type of person to do the work. “You’ve got to love it,” the executive said.
RICK
FOUNDED: 1955
PRESIDENT AND CEO: Kai Ramer
HEADQUARTERS: San Diego (Mission Valley)
BUSINESS: Engineering, planning and design firm, with offices in 10 cities
EMPLOYEES: More than 400
REVENUE: $90 million
WEBSITE: rickengineering.com
CONTACT: (619) 291-0707
NOTABLE: Rick Engineering refreshed its brand in 2024, opting to be known as RICK; the new name reflects non-engineering services such as landscape architecture
