2019 Road Construction Product Innovation Study

Reef Re-Creation for Shoreline Protection

  The Terrebonne Bay Shore Protection Demonstration Project points to one technique to help reduce shoreline erosion as well as promote oyster reef building. As climate change and subsidence begin to endanger America’s coastal communities, city and state governments are struggling to stand their ground as it literally sinks below them. Larger cities such as Miami and Atlantic City are constructing seawalls and water pumps to fight back against the rising waters, but community members fro...

Mobile 3D Scanning Technology Gaining Traction in Home-Renovation Market

A complete 3D point cloud of an entire property is viewed in CloudCompare. As residential real estate prices continue to climb in many parts of the United States, property owners are increasingly investing in renovations and additions to their existing homes. To meet the demand, architects seek digital as-built documentation of the structures so they can design the new construction. Many are asking for mobile 3D scanning by name as the technology they prefer to quickly capture the acc...

Interview with Greg Bentley, CEO, Bentley Systems: The Continuing Evolution of Engineering Software

In April 2019, Informed Infrastructure Editorial Director Todd Danielson went to Bentley Systems’ corporate headquarters in Exton, Pa., to interview its CEO, Greg Bentley.

Executive Corner: Want to Increase Value for Your Firm? Pull These Levers!

As advisors to design professionals, we’re often asked by owners and key executives, “How can I make my firm more valuable?” Although value is in the eye of the beholder, there are some things you can do to make your firm more valuable to whomever you eventually transition your firm, whether internal or external. At Rusk O’Brien Gido + Partners, we call these things “value levers” because the more focus and action you place on them (pressure), the more you drive up the value of your firm. Archi...

Making History by Preserving History: Casino Development in Springfield Based on Extraordinary Structural Preservation

  June 1, 2011, was a tragic day in Springfield, Mass. (settled since 1636, it’s Massachusetts’ third-largest city); seven devastating tornadoes touched down in and around the city, killing three people, injuring 300 and leaving more than 500 homeless. Several residential and commercial sections of Springfield were more or less wiped out entirely. Recovery has been difficult, but one important piece of the puzzle fell into place in 2018 when a major ($960 million) redevelopment of a 14.5-acr...

Digging Deep to Unlock the Waterfront: Massive New Tunnel Opens Below Downtown Seattle

  The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) needed to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct that carried a section of State Route 99 (SR 99) along the downtown waterfront. Originally opened in 1953, the Viaduct was aging and cut off access to the important waterfront area. In addition, Seattle is in a seismic zone, and engineers believed the elevated Viaduct could collapse in a significant earthquake. Some of its columns had already moved as much as 5 inches in a 6.8 magnitude earth...

Thoughts From Engineers: A First for the Great Lakes: Water Piped Out and Back In

The city of Waukesha, Wis., received permission in 2016 to divert 8.2 million gallons of Lake Michigan water per day as a new source of drinking water. Waukesha will use Milwaukee’s existing infrastructure to pump water out of Lake Michigan and 12.5 miles of additional pipeline to move the water out of the watershed. An additional 23 miles of pipeline will be built to bring treated wastewater back to Lake Michigan. Waukesha is a thriving Midwestern city located in the middle of one of the world...

A New New York Bridge

The iconic Governor Mario M. Cuomo Bridge is New York’s most ambitious infrastructure project of the 21st century. The Governor Mario M. Cuomo Bridge is about more than connecting one point to another. The iconic structure also is an important feature in the social and cultural fabric of the communities it serves, crossing the Hudson River between New York’s Westchester and Rockland counties. Located less than 20 miles north of New York City, the new 3.1-mile state-of-the-art, twin-span,...

Engineered Solutions: New NACE e-Course Provides for More than a Skilled Coatings Applicator Workforce

Sponsored by:     Protective coatings are the primary means and most widely used tool to protect assets against corrosion. Their importance has helped drive the evolution of the industry to a highly technical field that requires skilled personnel to perform quality surface preparation and protective coatings application. NACE International, the corrosion society, recently introduced a new electronically delivered training course that helps ensure coatings applicators can perform...