Executive Corner: Major Updates to the DBE Program: What Firms Need to Know
In the 2025 Sustainable Engineering annual issue of Informed Infrastructure, we examined how ongoing litigation and policy developments were creating uncertainty around the future of Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) and Minority/Women-Owned Business Enterprise (M/WBE) programs. Months later, more uncertainty has been introduced through federal rulemaking. On Oct. 3, 2025, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) published an “Interim Final Rule” in the Federal Register that revises th...
Code Update: Designing and Specifying Fabricated Metal Access Hatches with ASTM C1802
Fabricated metal access hatches are essential yet easily overlooked components in modern construction. Designed to remain unobtrusive, they provide secure access to utilities, mechanical systems and maintenance areas while blending seamlessly into floors, sidewalks, roadways or other surfaces. Their primary function is practical, allowing personnel to access otherwise hidden systems, but they also enhance safety, durability and the aesthetic integration of infrastructure. Although these hatches...
Water Works: Passive Stormwater Control Measure (SCM) Effectiveness: Have We Reached Our Limits?
It’s easy to understand why we have predominantly relied on passive stormwater management infrastructure to date. Such stormwater control measures (SCMs) generally are small-scale, highly dispersed practices, installed on a wide variety of sites without convenient electrical connections, let alone the budget or qualified personnel that would be required to monitor and maintain more-advanced systems. I’m of the opinion that we should be striving to solve our collective infrastructure challenges...
Change Leader: How Utilities Can Improve GIS Migration by Rethinking Design Data Management
As utilities modernize their GIS platforms, one question continues to challenge even the most experienced teams: how should network design data be managed during platform migration? Traditionally, utility infrastructure design has been managed directly within GIS platforms. While GIS and design are closely linked, design was never intended to cohabitate within GIS. With many utilities now considering a move to Esri’s ArcGIS Utility Network, now is the time to rethink legacy design workflows a...
Future Forward (Powered by ACEC): ACEC Research Institute Study Reveals Economic Impact of Engineering Industry
Powered by: In an era marked by volatility—economic, institutional and cultural—the engineering industry continues to be a quiet yet common thread of our communities and an essential force of cohesion for our economy. The work of engineers is the scaffolding of civilization—the structures, systems and processes that make modern existence possible. The roads that connect our communities; the water systems that sustain life; and the structures where we live, learn and heal all are t...
Engineering The Future: The Only Constant Is Change
I remember hearing “the only constant is change” when I was in college, and it caused me to think about how I could make myself ready for evolving change. I couldn’t have imagined in the 1980s just how quickly the world would change in my lifetime—and how important being able to be flexible and pivot would be in my professional life. In the 1990s, I served on a school district committee that was charged with taking the recently adopted district vision statement and create educational goals: We...
From the Editor: Never Forget That ‘Every Little Bit Counts’
At the end of this turbulent year, I want to highlight some positive things. The state of my country offers little to be excited about in a positive way, in my opinion, so I will rely on some more personal experiences and reflections. Please bear with me. Although the passing of Jane Goodall isn’t particularly positive, looking back on her life and the effects she had on our planet certainly is something to celebrate. Most everyone knows about her work with primates, revealing their relationshi...
Future Forward (Powered by ACEC): Work Together to Build a Golden Age of Infrastructure
In May 2025, the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) established a new Advisory Board to create a strategic framework for modernizing and improving our nation’s transportation infrastructure. Two months later, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy led the inaugural meeting of this newly formed 12-member panel, composed of leaders in infrastructure, aviation, law, finance and innovation. I’m honored to have been selected to serve as one of those 12 panelists. In advance of our July meeting,...
Getting Geotechnical: Lightening the Environmental Load of Aggregate Use
Globally, approximately 75 percent of aggregates are used for cement, roads and railway ballast, while about 25 percent supports drainage, void fills, pipe insulation and protection, hard surfaces, water filtration, and sewage-treatment processes. Aggregates are an important component across large swathes of infrastructure development and maintenance. However, the environmental cost of quarrying aggregates can be high and irreversible. As such, in addition to prioritizing structural resilience...
Executive Corner: A Tale of Two ESOP Companies
Employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) continue to be a popular ownership strategy for firms in the architecture, engineering and environmental consulting industry. In fact, A/E firms are over-represented among the largest ESOP-owned companies in the United States. More than 20 of the firms on the National Center for Employee Ownership’s (nceo.org) latest published list of the country’s largest ESOP companies were A/E firms. A/E firms are natural candidates for ESOP ownership for several reason...
Stormwater Interview with Robert Page, P.E., Vice President, HNTB
Santa Barbara County North Branch Jail Expansion
February Issue 2026
