Transportation Troubleshooting: Meet Paula Hammond: 40 Years of Engineering Experience to Share
Paula Hammond will write a recurring column for Informed Infrastructure, beginning with the August 2022 issue. This introductory column is based on an interview by Todd Danielson, the editorial director of Informed Infrastructure. You can view a video of the full interview above or by visiting bit.ly/37ARKn3. Paula Hammond’s career is going strong after more than 40 years, and she’s long been committed to sharing her experience with fellow engineers and decision makers. For 34 years she w...
Leap Forward: Digitizing Construction Will Transform the Safety and Efficiency of Project Delivery
Digital technologies are transforming all aspects of daily life, helping to keep communities healthy, safe, connected and more sustainable. In the construction sector, continued efforts to increase site safety, coupled with rising expectations for speed of delivery, are driving a transformation. Add to this an intense focus on eliminating waste across projects—prompted by soaring energy prices, labor shortages, supply chain disruption and a significant global increase in infrastructure investmen...
Threading the Needle: Rebuilding 100-Year-Old Transit Infrastructure Above the Streets of Chicago
The city of Chicago features an undeniable legacy of design innovation. Based on a long history of pushing the limits of possibility through experimentation, Chicago has been something of a smart-city laboratory ever since the Great Chicago Fire left huge swaths of property ripe for redevelopment in 1871. Home to more than a few 20th century design giants, including famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright and the father of skyscrapers Louis Sullivan, among others, Chicago has long been regarded as on...
Change Leader: Water Infrastructure Needs New Policies To Match New Technology
This particular webcam interview was recorded by Todd Danielson, the editorial director of Informed Infrastructure. You can view a video of the full interview above or by visiting bit.ly/3sDfez4 Colby Manwaring is a vice president at Autodesk and the former CEO of Innovyze. After more than a decade focused on the water industry with Innovyze and now Autodesk, Colby Manwaring has seen a variety of projects and implementations—some very successful and others not at all. To better help...
Future Forward: Use Technology to Achieve a ‘Digital Transformation’
This particular webcam interview was recorded by Todd Danielson, the editorial director of Informed Infrastructure. You can view a video of the full interview above or by visiting bit.ly/3Ngn7m0. Brad Barth is the chief products officer at InEight. Brad Barth grew up in a family centered around heavy civil construction, where he acquired a passion for the process and particularly the technology. That interest persists today, where he tries to help owner/operators and contract...
Redeveloping Underutilized Spaces: Growth of the Life Science and Consumer Goods Market Sectors Offers Real Estate Development and Repositioning Opportunities
Increased capacity plumbing and ventilation systems were specified by Montroy Andersen DeMarco in the laboratory section of the Secaucus, N.J., research and office facility of The Martin Bauer Group, a global manufacturer and provider of quality tea and botanicals. (Peter Dressel/Wilk Marketing Communications) Commercial and industrial real estate markets are undergoing a transformation. Many employees have been seeking a remote work environment for several years, and COVID-19 shutdowns acc...
The Purple Pioneers: Irvine Ranch Water District Continues To Innovate
IRWD’s Michelson Water Recycling Plant repurposes water for multiple uses. The Irvine Ranch Water District (IRWD) has always set itself apart as a proactive and pioneering organization in mitigating environmental challenges. In the early 1980s, for example, IRWD pioneered what’s now known as “purple pipe” used to convey recycled water for other uses. Purple pipe now is the universal symbol for pipes conveying recycled water, with purple used to distinguish such conveyance from potable water...
ReEngineering the Engineer: The Needle in the Haystack
Every now and then, I find myself reminiscing about how we designed buildings back in the “dark ages” when I was a young engineer. Our engineering tools were much less sophisticated, unless you consider a slide rule sophisticated. When you think about some of the innovative buildings that were designed back when high-rise construction started, the engineering effort required to pull off some of those signature buildings is remarkable. In those days, all designs were recorded on sheets of mylar,...
Smart Project Delivery: How Water Utilities Can Be More Resilient During Supply Chain Disruptions
The U.S. water system is in danger. Communities across the country are being affected by aging and inadequate water infrastructures, with some of the nation’s oldest water and wastewater pipes dating as far back as the 19th century. With many pipes approaching the end of their 50- to 75-year lifespan, breaks are becoming more frequent. New challenges are complicating matters, including water scarcity outpacing population growth, climate-change effects, unsafe potable water containing lead and ot...
Smart Design: How 3D CAD Platforms Resolve Design Issues
Designers know more than anyone how 3D CAD platforms help reduce tradeoffs and compromises that have to be made before a design can be finalized. Whether a product concept will ever find expression is determined by three parameters: viability, feasibility and sustainability. 3D CAD platforms make it easy for designers to solve complex issues related to these questions and devise solutions on which businesses can be built. CAD software has undergone transformation from a tool for digital 2D draw...
Stormwater Interview with Robert Page, P.E., Vice President, HNTB
TriMet’s Banfield Type 1 Substation Replacement Project
February Issue 2026
