From the Editor: We Need to Rapidly Replenish the Engineering Workforce
In 1971, the year I was starting my career, the job market for civil engineers wasn’t very strong. I received one job offer and many letters stating the employer would keep my resume on file in case anything should turn up. Most of my colleagues from that time had similar experiences. The interstate program was slowing down, and inflation was high. My fellow graduates and I accepted whatever offers we received. Some who could afford it went on to graduate school. I started my career with the In...
Thoughts From Engineers: Gearing Up for Resilience
The United States continues to move forward with plans to rebuild the country’s infrastructure with allocations from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill, Inflation Reduction Act and other sources. A critical shift also has been triggered to integrate resilient planning and design standards into key infrastructure, fortifying communities against extreme storms and climate-driven events. The federal government has launched more-urgent policy initiatives, and, at President Biden’s direction, federal...
Executive Corner: The Impact on Valuation of Section 174 Changes (R&D Expense Deductibility)
Although the research and development (R&D) tax credit has existed since the 1980s, it’s only been during the last decade or so that evolution in the tax code has expanded eligibility for this credit and popularized the tax strategy among architecture, engineering and environmental-consulting firms. Tax Liabilities Coming Due For years, many A/E firms developed systems for identifying and tracking eligible research and experimentation expenses and have benefited from the associated tax credits...
Transportation Troubleshooting: Coordinated and Adaptive Ramp Metering for Faster, Safer Highways
I doubt any driver likes being held back by a traffic signal while trying to enter a highway. But from a regional traffic-management perspective, there’s a lot to like about the potential to use ramp metering to improve traffic flow along congested highway corridors. What’s the CARM? With vastly more-powerful traffic sensors, computers and software than in the early years of ramp metering, transportation managers can holistically operate highway corridors and surrounding arterials to mitigate...
Infrastructure Outlook: Real-Time Continuous Condition Monitoring Drives Safety and Environmental Integrity
Companies that build, operate or service large infrastructure installations such as dams, mines and transportation facilities must monitor the conditions within—and surrounding—those installations to look for signs of possible structural degradation or environmental impact. In today’s world, where regulators and the public are paying closer attention to public safety and the environment, it’s becoming critical for organizations to automate the measurement of a growing range of parameters—in real...
Infrastructure Outlook: How (And Why) Transport and Logistics Companies Can Use Technology To Achieve Net-Zero Goals
Freight transportation is one of the most-important cogs in today’s global economy. When the container ship Ever Given got stuck in the Suez Canal in 2021, global trade was disrupted on a massive scale. The delayed shipments caused by the Ever Given led to supply chain disruptions and affected businesses’ ability to access necessary raw materials, components and finished goods. This, in turn, caused production delays, inventory shortages and increased costs for companies. On top of that, the in...
From the Editor: What Should We Do With Spaces Along Highways?
Environment California recently performed a study about using space along highways for solar-panel fields. California has been a leader in solar-energy production, and this report states that three counties could provide enough energy to power 270,000 homes annually. Try to balance this with the current grassy or weedy areas that need continual maintenance or the occasional pond that serves a purpose but perhaps not as important as creating energy. Since I was in the transportation design field...
Executive Corner: Two Keys to a Successful A/E Practice: Financial Discipline and Strong Ownership Culture
Through the last 25 years, I’ve had the pleasure of working with hundreds of A/E and environmental consulting firms of all sizes across the United States and abroad. Of the firms that have enjoyed sustained growth and consistent profitability through economic disruptions as well as multiple generations of leadership, I’ve observed two key characteristics or “success variables” that have been present in almost all cases: 1) disciplined financial management with timely reporting of key performance...
Transportation Troubleshooting: How States Are Approaching Electric Vehicles and Highway Maintenance Funding
The way roads and highways are funded must change. Motor fuel tax revenues are declining due to the increasing fuel efficiency of vehicles, and this trend will accelerate as plug-in hybrid and fully electric vehicles (EVs) command a greater share of personal transport. EVs use the same public roadways as drivers of internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles—and, due to the extra weight of batteries, EVs can cause more wear and tear per mile than ICE vehicles do. However, EV drivers don’t pay fue...
Thoughts From Engineers: Supreme Court Slices CWA’s Reach
I have never owned property disputed to contain wetlands or had my plans to develop a property blocked because of the presence of wetlands. No doubt, in such a situation I would have felt cheated of important rights, not unlike Michael and Chantell Sackett, plaintiffs in the recently decided Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) case of Sackett v. EPA (May 25, 2023, bit.ly/SackettEPA). The couple received notice of a Clean Water Act (CWA) violation due to the presence of wetlands as they b...
Stormwater Interview with Robert Page, P.E., Vice President, HNTB
Santa Barbara County North Branch Jail Expansion
February Issue 2026
