On the Front Lines of Standardizing Digital Delivery for Bridge Design
An illustration shows how a specific bridge entity (in this case a steel girder) is categorized and which properties are identified by following the information delivery manual. In June 2022, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) took a significant step toward a future in which infrastructure is designed and constructed entirely from digital models. AASHTO’s Committee on Bridges and Structures unanimously adopted the “Information Delivery Manual:...
Drones Becoming Integral for Infrastructure Projects
Trevor Byrd, LSIT, Anderson Engineering survey party chief, uses a drone to inspect a bridge over the Spring River in Carthage, Mo. (American Public Works Association) Ed Bartels, P.E., L.S., assistant county engineer for Johnson County, Iowa, calls himself a “drone evangelist,” employing them in a powerful toolkit that includes AutoCAD and GIS. “We’ve always tried to leverage technology here at the county,” he says. “Like everybody, we don’t have enough money for all the work we would l...
Association Update: Steel Tube Institute Hires New Director
On Oct. 14, 2022, Informed Infrastructure Editorial Director Todd Danielson interviewed Holly Schaubert, P.E., Institute Director: HSS for the Steel Tube Institute (STI). The Steel Tube Institute was formed in 1930 when a group of manufacturers joined forces to advance the steel industry. Today it is the leading technical resource in North America for steel tube products. STI is dedicated to advancing the growth and competitiveness of North America’s steel tubular products. Its strength is brin...
Can BIM Enable Successful Green Retrofits of Existing Buildings?
A graphic shows the “digital glue” toward net-zero. By Shivani S. Soni and Geoffrey A. Tears BIM! Sustainability! Net-zero! Lifecycle Carbon! Green Retrofit! All previously thought to just be buzzwords, these terms are gaining more traction in the AECO industry as it starts to update older buildings and build more-efficient ones. In 2008, the UK passed “The Climate Change Act” establishing emission-reduction goals that now are law. The UK is the first nation to set a binding mitigatio...
Change Leader: Better Designs Improve Inspections; Better Inspections Improve Designs
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/3N77jmG. Nagesh Goel is the president and co-founder of Atlas Evaluation & Inspection Services (AEIS). It’s commonly understood that infrastructure elements are regularly inspected by experts—failed inspections lead to unwanted costs and notoriety. Less understood is who performs such inspections a...
Infrastructure Outlook: Mind the Gap, Your Drinking Water Depends on It
Fifty years after the Clean Water Act passed, the U.S. government has invested more than $1 trillion to try and combat water pollution. Now, nearly one year after passing the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, improvements in U.S. water systems are as needed as ever. Approximately 95 million people still aren’t connected to a centralized treatment system, and 2.2 million people live without running water and indoor plumbing in their homes. These homes typically are clustered in rural or disadvantag...
Transportation Troubleshooting: Mobility Marketplace Will Improve How We Use Transportation Systems
Transportation technology is changing so fast that it’s easy to forget how our choices have multiplied in the last 15 years. As recently as the mid-2000s, many of the services we take for granted today did not exist. These include ride-hailing services; city bike-share programs; dockless e-scooters; and smartphone apps to book, pay for and obtain real-time status updates for buses and light rail. In that time frame, advanced technology in passenger vehicles has evolved from primitive GPS naviga...
Thoughts From Engineers: Where the Water Will Go
The local waterfront pub you’ve been in the habit of visiting for burgers and fries on Friday night is very likely to be flooded several times a year by the year 2050. Moreover, if past development patterns are anything to go by, this historic eatery probably will be in the same risky spot 10 years from now, albeit flood-weary and on shaky financial ground. Part of a long-lived and much-loved community—complete with housing, school and commercial districts—it has hung on for years despite a floo...
Executive Corner: Where Are A/E Values Heading?
With so much turmoil in the economy and stock market, many A/E business owners are probably wondering what this may mean for their own firm’s value. Interestingly, while the stock and debt markets are going through turmoil, many firms in the A/E industry—both publicly traded and privately held—continue making acquisitions, demonstrating revenue and backlog growth, and seeking to hire more employees. Furthermore, the future pipeline of projects from federal, state and local government agencies f...
ReEngineering the Engineer: At Some Point, You Could Be the One Asking For Forgiveness
Every now and then, I run across a project that seems “snake-bit.” No matter how complete our drawings were or how well we understood existing conditions, there seems to be this never-ending parade of issues for the life of the structural work. Some are unknown conditions that become known, some are contractor inflicted, and sometimes they’re design-team inflicted. It can make for a long construction admin phase. This fall, a three-story tilt-up school has been my problem project. The trouble s...
Stormwater Interview with Robert Page, P.E., Vice President, HNTB
TriMet’s Banfield Type 1 Substation Replacement Project
February Issue 2026
