A+ Infrastructure Begins Below the Surface

During summer 2008, the Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT) funded construction of a seven-mile segment of the northbound lanes of Interstate 25, extending from the Colorado state line to Cheyenne in southeast Wyoming. The soft, aged soils beneath the road segment on this project were stabilized with geogrid, providing a construction platform so strong that the WYDOT eliminated the requirement for a spreader to be used on the concrete surface, which saved time and money. The resulting p...

Engineered Solutions: New Tool Enables Asset Protection and Reduced Cost Through Corrosion Management

Corrosion is a naturally occurring phenomenon commonly defined as the deterioration of a substance (usually a metal) or its properties because of a reaction with the environment. Like other natural hazards such as earthquakes or severe weather disturbances, corrosion can cause dangerous and expensive damage to the world’s infrastructure, including bridges, highways, buildings, pipelines, tanks, and water and wastewater systems. Unlike weather-related disasters, however, corrosion can be controll...

Executive Corner: Five Takeaways on 2017 A/E M&A Activity

With the country in transition, settling into the dynamics and drama of a new administration, the underlying positive momentum of the U.S. economy and A/E industry has certainly been significant. At a macro level, we’ve seen this unfold with a soaring stock market, back-to-back quarters of 3-percent-plus GDP growth and a plunging unemployment rate. And although unleashing a major U.S. infrastructure package wasn’t in the political cards this year, A/E executives seemed not to notice. Backlogs a...

Strategic Sustainability: Fostering Environmental Awareness, Recycling and Compliance at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune

By Elizabeth Krousel and Alicia Filzen How do you motivate an entire base of U.S. Marines, civilian staff, their families and others on the base to seriously embrace environmental stewardship, sustainability and recycling—and therefore comply with long-standing executive orders—when their minds are focused largely on combat readiness? You engage their children. Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, N.C., already had instituted a Strategic Sustainability Performance Plan and a Qualifi...

2018 Leading the Future of Design: Connecting Design and Construction

Full Paper: Exploring New Concrete Connection Developments

Product approvals in the United States typically are decided by local authorities as no national authority exists. This paper discusses the history of authorizing concrete connections in buildings along various means for approving proprietary and unique connection methods not previously authorized in building codes and ordinances. Building codes tend to be brief and succinct in the stated provisions, which is somewhat unfortunate when one wishes to understand the intent and history of certai...

Change Leader Full Interview: Vectorworks CEO Discusses BIM, New Releases

These profiles are based on interviews, and the opinions and statements are those of the subject and are not necessarily shared or endorsed by this publication. Dr. Biplab Sarkar is the CEO of Vectorworks, which is part of the Nemetschek Group, with 25-plus years of experience developing CAD software. As CEO, he provides strategic leadership to the company by establishing and meeting company sales, growth and market-share objectives. Sarkar earned a Ph.D. in CAD and an M.S. in mechanical engi...

Future Forward Full Interview: Using Climate Models to Better Engineer Future Pavement Surfaces

This page profiles innovative and impactful applied research in civil and structural engineering to spur continuing thought and dialog to create a better industry. These profiles are based on interviews, and the opinions and statements are those of the subject and are not necessarily shared or endorsed by this publication. Shane Underwood is an associate professor of Civil Engineering in the North Carolina State University Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering Department. His expe...

Hot-in-Place Asphalt Recycling Yields Benefits for Road Rehabilitation

Rehabilitating asphalt-paved roads has been growing in popularity thanks to the availability of more cost-effective solutions. One industry-leading method is hot-in-place recycling (HIR), an onsite method for deteriorated blacktop pavement rehabilitation. According to the Asphalt Recycling & Reclaiming Association, the three most-common HIR processes are surface recycling, surface repaving and surface remixing. 1. Surface recycling starts with recycling 1 to 2 inches of the asphalt, in ½-inch i...

Buildings: What Does “Sustainable Buildings” Really Mean?

Building professionals and the general public are talking about how we need “sustainable” and “healthy” buildings, but what does that really mean? And how do we verify that a building is really sustainable and healthy? There are available rating systems, but do they really give us the big picture of sustainability? Is there a method to measure sustainable and healthy buildings to a single result or a carbon emission number? Many states and cities now are taking the lead on ways to lower carbon...