From the Editor: We Need to Rapidly Replenish the Engineering Workforce
In 1971, the year I was starting my career, the job market for civil engineers wasn’t very strong. I received one job offer and many letters stating the employer would keep my resume on file in case anything should turn up. Most of my colleagues from that time had similar experiences. The interstate program was slowing down, and inflation was high. My fellow graduates and I accepted whatever offers we received. Some who could afford it went on to graduate school. I started my career with the In...
Thoughts From Engineers: Gearing Up for Resilience
The United States continues to move forward with plans to rebuild the country’s infrastructure with allocations from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill, Inflation Reduction Act and other sources. A critical shift also has been triggered to integrate resilient planning and design standards into key infrastructure, fortifying communities against extreme storms and climate-driven events. The federal government has launched more-urgent policy initiatives, and, at President Biden’s direction, federal...
Executive Corner: The Impact on Valuation of Section 174 Changes (R&D Expense Deductibility)
Although the research and development (R&D) tax credit has existed since the 1980s, it’s only been during the last decade or so that evolution in the tax code has expanded eligibility for this credit and popularized the tax strategy among architecture, engineering and environmental-consulting firms. Tax Liabilities Coming Due For years, many A/E firms developed systems for identifying and tracking eligible research and experimentation expenses and have benefited from the associated tax credits...
Transportation Troubleshooting: Coordinated and Adaptive Ramp Metering for Faster, Safer Highways
I doubt any driver likes being held back by a traffic signal while trying to enter a highway. But from a regional traffic-management perspective, there’s a lot to like about the potential to use ramp metering to improve traffic flow along congested highway corridors. What’s the CARM? With vastly more-powerful traffic sensors, computers and software than in the early years of ramp metering, transportation managers can holistically operate highway corridors and surrounding arterials to mitigate...
Change Leader: Do More Than ‘Check a Box’ to Meet Disability Requirements
This interview was recorded by Todd Danielson, the editorial director of Informed Infrastructure. You can watch a video of the full interview above or by visiting bit.ly/3QLUz8F. Mark Raymond Jr. is a disability advocate as well as founder and CEO of Split Second Foundation. Mark Raymond Jr. has spent most of his life advocating for a more-equitable world. He started by raising awareness of systemic racism he saw firsthand and in the communities around him in New Orleans....
Future Forward: An Ancient Concrete Technique Could Help Save the Future
This interview was recorded by Todd Danielson, the editorial director of Informed Infrastructure. You can watch a video of the full interview above or by visiting bit.ly/40AC7mK. John Ward is chairman of the American Coal Ash Association’s Government Relations Committee and executive director of the National Coal Transportation Association. If you watch the video associated with this profile, you’ll see that John Ward knows a lot about coal fly ash, a waste product from burni...
Mode Shift: High-Speed Rail Readies for Arrival Across California’s Central Valley
Stretching back to 2008 when Californians voted to invest in electrified high-speed rail, the plan for CA HSR is to connect each of the state’s major population centers faster, safer and smarter than ever before. Along the way, from Merced to Bakersfield, California’s grapevine communities will benefit from an infusion of place-based purpose and forthcoming pride. Fundamentally, the aim of infrastructure is to make life easier; in an ideal world, equitably for all. Be it a bridge...
Needing Every Last Drop: Western States Are Recycling Wastewater in a Variety of Ways
A rendering shows the interior view of the membrane treatment area at the Advanced Water Purification Facility being developed in El Paso, Texas. As water scarcity continues to be a concern—particularly in the western United States and as growing populations place more demand on water-delivery systems—communities are engineering ways to mitigate the challenge through recycled water projects. Texas-Sized Water Recycling In El Paso, Texas, El Paso Water (EPWater) is designin...
Effects of the EPA WOTUS SCOTUS Decision on Engineering
The recent U.S. Supreme Court decision limiting the Clean Water Act (CWA) jurisdiction over “adjacent wetlands” to those having a continuous surface connection to bodies that are “waters of the United States” (WOTUS) with no clear demarcation between the “waters” and wetlands has been hailed by some and criticized by others. EPA’s New WOTUS Rule to Conform with Sackett On Aug. 29, 2023, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced a final rule a...
Off Rope! Drones for Bridge Inspection Increase Safety, Decrease Costs
It requires a few things for a bridge engineer to become a rope-access technician and climb up and down the most-difficult and complicated bridges: • No strong fear of heights. The photos in this article show that to be obvious. • A lot of training. Any technician needs to become certified by the Society of Professional Rope Access Technicians (SPRAT). The highest level (Level Three) requires hundreds of hours of rope work as well as completing three training programs and exams. • An interest...
Stormwater Interview with Robert Page, P.E., Vice President, HNTB
Santa Barbara County North Branch Jail Expansion
February Issue 2026
