The Dirt on ESCS Lightweight Aggregate for Stormwater Management
A photo illustrates stormwater-management construction in progress, including the lightweight aggregate subbase, perforated pipe (bedded in lightweight aggregate), and placement of the geogrid capped with the vegetative filter media. (Expanded Shale, Clay and Slate Institute) Stormwater management is a large and ever-increasing priority in environmental and civil engineering, particularly as the United States continues to experience record-breaking precipitation events across the countr...
From the Editor: An Engineer’s Career Path Can Take Many Turns
I’ve had enough time by now to get used to writing 2023 wherever a date is required. I’ve also had enough time to stop thinking about what could have been better last year and how this year could be an improvement. I often try to look ahead and think about what the upcoming year may be remembered for, but events have already occurred in the last few weeks that make looking ahead a daunting task. We have record-breaking weather events, the return of COVID protocols, a radical change in the House...
Executive Corner: Five Takeaways on 2022 A/E M&A Activity
Looking back over the last twelve months, you have to give credit to industry leaders navigating increasingly stormy seas. Generational talent shortages and elevated backlogs (“more work than we can handle”) marked 2022 as substantial federal infrastructure programs (IIJA, IFR, CHIPS) took shape. With pandemic concerns receding, executives pivoted to confront persistent inflation, evolving workforce models and soaring interest rates while wondering if we’re in store for a rough recession or perh...
Thoughts From Engineers: Precipitation Estimates That Make Us or Break Us
On the eve of the New Year, in a one-two move suggestive of a “prepper” mentality, the U.S. Congress passed two laws that address the issues of national resilience and disaster preparedness. Sponsors of the legislation noted that the vulnerable state of the country’s infrastructure combined with the frequency of recent extreme storms constituted the principal drivers behind passage of these two significant federal laws. The sweeping 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) set aside f...
Transportation Troubleshooting: AASHTO Manual Will Create a One-Stop Shop for Transportation Operations
One of the things that keeps me excited about working in transportation is how rapidly the technological tools for moving people and goods are evolving. As I noted in my December 2022 column, “Mobility Marketplace Will Improve How We Use Transportation Systems,” smartphones have enabled an array of entirely new mobility services—from ride-hailing to real-time transit tracking and mobile fare payments—in just 15 years. Transportation operations technology also has changed dramatically in a relat...
Water Works: The Clean Water Act Turns 50: Where Do We Go From Here?
Oct. 18, 2022, marked 50 years since passage of the Clean Water Act (CWA) landmark legislation that established a goal of restoring and maintaining the chemical, physical and biological integrity of the nation’s waters. The CWA initially was focused on regulation of point sources, those discrete discharge points—mainly from industrial activities and wastewater treatment plants—that led to widespread water-quality issues by the late 1960s. Although we’re not done yet, we’ve made great progress re...
Code Update: Reapproval of ASTM C1776 Sets the Bar for Manufacture of Precast Concrete Modular Retaining Wall Units
In May 2022, the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) published the reapproved ASTM C1776: “Standard Specification for Wet-Cast Precast Modular Retaining Wall Units.” ASTM C1776 specification sets the minimum criteria for materials, inspection, testing and certification of wet-cast precast concrete modular retaining wall blocks. The specification is organized into 17 sections: • Scope • Reference Documents • Terminology • Ordering Information • Materials and Manufacturer • P...
Change Leader: Moving Asset Management in a Better Direction
Didem Cataloglu is the CEO of DIREXYON Technologies. Infrastructure is an organism; an ever-changing amalgam of past, present and future. For most, the task of developing, delivering and maintaining the built environment relies on logical inference rather than data-driven determinations drawn from the interconnected whole. Didem Cataloglu, CEO of DIREXYON Technologies, takes aim at that distinction as the company she leads dives into the challenge of asset management for large-scale infra...
Future Forward: New Tools Needed To Take Full Advantage of Big Data
This particular 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/3CVk7sl. Dr. Mike Flaxman is a geospatial expert and product manager at HEAVY.AI. It’s often assumed that cloud computing is the solution to properly using Big Data, the massive amount of information available on the internet. What can’t fit on a desktop computer or even much-larger company IT servers su...
Dueling Dinosaurs: Floor Reinforcement Needed for Monumental Exhibit
Buried side by side during the Late Cretaceous period on a subtropical coastal plain in what’s now Montana, the Dueling Dinosaurs are among the most complete skeletons ever discovered of two iconic dinosaurs. Montana’s Hell Creek Formation, a barren, rocky landscape of sandstone, shale and clay, is an unforgiving land, but the area has produced some of the most important dinosaur specimens ever discovered. One of its most famous discoveries is the “Dueling Dinosaurs,” a spectacularly pres...
Stormwater Interview with Robert Page, P.E., Vice President, HNTB
TriMet’s Banfield Type 1 Substation Replacement Project
February Issue 2026
