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...
From the Editor: Finally, No More ‘Kicking the Infrastructure Can’ to Future Generations
I was about halfway through reading the April 2022 issue of Informed Infrastructure when I realized that, besides the obvious choices of “the” and “and,” one of the most-used words was “infrastructure.” It’s even on the cover—twice. (This is not an official count. It’s just my reaction to the number of times writers are covering this topic.) The word often was followed by the words act or bill or law, and sometimes preceded by crumbling or poor or outdated. In the Text The first mention was a...
ReEngineering the Engineer: Seeking ‘Five Reasons’ for Problems
One of our integrated project delivery (IPD) projects finished at the end of 2021. It survived a COVID-19 shutdown, reduced productivity due to restrictions of personnel onsite, cost increases and material-procurement challenges. Everyone was looking forward to getting this one over the finish line. The project included some health-care-related components and required some final inspections by a governing authority. Through several months, the owner had planned grand-opening activities right on...
Executive Corner: A Peek Inside the Latest Data-Valuation Trends
The latest valuation statistics from the recently released “A/E Business Valuation and M&A Transactions Study” reveals some interesting trends, including significantly higher valuation multiples for larger firms and higher equity values across the board due to improved profitability and stronger balance sheets. Table 1 illustrates overall enterprise values as a multiple of earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) in 2021. The “minority interest valuation multiples...
Thoughts From Engineers: On Shaky Ground: The Effect of Human Activity on Drinking Water
The results of a study examining the relationship between land use and perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoralkyl substances (PFAS) contamination were published in the Journal of Environmental Science and Technology in February 2022 (bit.ly/PFAS2022). The expansive study, based mostly in the Eastern United States, showed a strong relationship among certain hydrologic metrics, specific types of human activity such as landfills and fire-fighting test sites, and the presence of PFAS compounds. PFAS compound...
Labor Outlook: ACEC Research Institute: Industry Has Rebounded; Tight Labor Market, Lack of Qualified Workers Remain Barriers to Growth
The Engineering and Design Services industry is showing encouraging signs according to new reports recently released by the ACEC Research Institute. The reports provide an economic assessment of the Engineering and Design Services industry in 2021 as well as an engineering business sentiment report for the first quarter of 2022. Notably, data show the industry has rebounded from project postponements due to COVID-19, although firms identify a tight labor market and lack of qualified workers as...
Infrastructure Outlook: Bipartisan Infrastructure Spending Bill Presents Opportunities and Challenges for AEC Firms
On Nov. 11, 2021, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the bipartisan $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (“Infrastructure Act”), which the White House touts as a historic federal investment in infrastructure for transportation and public transit, the national energy grid, broadband internet, and drinking and wastewater. The prospect of hundreds of billions of dollars in federal infrastructure spending merits the attention of construction contractors. Funding Breakdown The...
Future Infrastructure: Heavy Construction: Six Trends Being Observed in 2022
Although digitalization and automation have brought significant change to the construction industry in the last decade, some companies still are hesitant to embrace a fully fledged digital strategy. With increasingly scarce resources, there’s an increased necessity to create more with less, while government and stakeholder pressure means the construction industry will need to operate sustainably. The following technology trends are driving the heavy construction industry in 2022, showing the ben...
From the Editor: The Future (of Engineering At Least) Seems To Be In Good Hands
If you’ve read this column before, you know I teach senior civil engineering college students in their Senior Project Design class. These students are only months away from graduation and the start of their careers, so while they’re relieved to be close to completing their studies, they also realize they’re about to start a whole new phase of life. We’ve talked about this in class, both seriously and in humorous ways. Some Concerns Relatively Constant One day my students were complaining about...
Stormwater Interview with Robert Page, P.E., Vice President, HNTB
Santa Barbara County North Branch Jail Expansion
February Issue 2026
