Thoughts From Engineers: Hidden, But Not Harmless: The Unsettling Impacts of Land Subsidence on Urban Centers
The core assumptions that have shaped for decades how we plan, build, develop our cities and even live from day-to-day are losing ground. For example, most engineers and scientists would agree we’re now in an era of climate non-stationarity even though we presumed the opposite—climate stationarity—for years. Another assumption relates to the use and extraction of natural resources such as groundwater. We now know there are limits to how much we can safely withdraw to meet a variety of needs, fro...
Transportation Troubleshooting: Gaining Traction: National Tolling Interoperability Advances
This fall, motorists travelling on Puget Sound’s recently completed State Route 509 Expressway will gain another opportunity to seamlessly pay tolls using the Good to Go! Pass—Washington state’s electronic toll collection system implemented in 2008. Since its introduction, there have been a growing number of successful implementations of all-electronic toll systems across the United States. However, my home state is one of several states and regions that remains geographically limited. While Wa...
From the Editor: Readying for the Road; Observations to Come
I’m preparing to leave for a three-week visit to the Iberian Peninsula. While it’s exciting to plan and pack, it takes a huge effort—at least it does for me. Where exactly to go? What sites to see? How long at each place? How much do I take along? I’m sure it will all work out. After all, engineers plan for everything, don’t we? It has always been my curious brain to pay attention to engineering features wherever I go. So perhaps I will be able to report on “interesting engineer stuff” when I r...
Engineering The Future: Does Civil Engineering Have the Courage to Change (Redux)?
We’re being bombarded daily with AI bots and news. Everyone in the profession sees it as a blessing and a curse. I see it as similar to the revolution we saw in the 1980s and 1990s when an engineering office went from large drafting rooms to computer-aided drafting (CAD) first and then computer-aided design and drafting (CADD). Drafters wore visors and had a large fluorescent light over their large wooden or aluminum drafting table. Drawings were ink on mylar with letters that used a rapidiogra...
From the Editor: Hoping Engineers Can Help Right the Ship
The (now 5th) annual Informed Infrastructure Sustainable Engineering Issue includes various articles and columns that highlight sustainable engineering through projects and commentary. As engineers, we continue to explore, conceptualize, develop and implement sustainability into standards, procedures and policies as well as our projects. Leading Universities A recent headline caught my attention: “Purdue University launches School of Sustainability Engineering and Environmental Engineering to...
Transportation Troubleshooting: Optimizing Infrastructure Value Using Modern Asset-Management Tools
During my tenure as Washington State Department of Transportation (DOT) Secretary, we lacked advanced tools to maintain a precise inventory of our vast and diverse assets. It was a labor-intensive struggle to accurately account for assets we owned and managed—as well as their condition—right down to our guardrails, sign structures and culverts. We were not alone, as most DOTs experienced this pain in their daily operations. Fortunately, modern asset-management approaches are revolutionizing th...
Thoughts From Engineers: Global Work Group Takes Aim at Flood Science
The disastrous flood events in several world regions within the last several weeks, from the Hill Country of Texas to northern China, underline the particularly damaging and deadly flood events we now encounter routinely. Communities worldwide are working to get ahead, fortify and redesign infrastructure, and adapt. From cities such as Copenhagen, Denmark, that have redesigned urban areas to accommodate flooding to countries such as Japan enabling vast IoT-enabled flood data reporting networks f...
Executive Corner: Strategizing for Potential Changes to DBE/MBE Programs
Recent legal challenges have placed Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) and Minority-owned Business Enterprise (MBE) programs under intense scrutiny. On May 28, 2025, the U.S. Department of Transportation filed a motion in the Mid-America Milling Company v. DOT case asking a judge to block race- and sex-based presumptions in its DBE program—a move that has made the future of set-aside contracting suddenly uncertain. While the legal process unfolds, owners and executives across the architectu...
Water Works: Modern Stormwater Management Requires Looking at All Tools
Green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) is increasingly recognized as a more-sustainable approach to stormwater management vs. traditional or even newer flow-through treatment practices. Definitions vary, but GSI practices often include vegetation and soil designed to infiltrate stormwater runoff onsite, preventing it from running off into receiving waters. Innovative practices—such as proprietary manufactured treatment devices (MTDs)—can be an effective alternative where space is constrained, bu...
Future Forward (Powered by ACEC): Building Resilience: Climate Catastrophes Call for Engineered Solutions
If you live in or have traveled to certain parts of the country during the first half of 2025, you may have noticed something unusual: urgent and insistent buzzing from your cellphone, signaling a flash-flood warning in your immediate area. And if you’re thinking those warnings are coming with remarkable frequency, you’d be correct. Data recently compiled by Iowa State University noted that between Jan. 1, 2025, and July 15, 2025, the National Weather Service issued 3,040 alerts warning resident...
Stormwater Interview with Robert Page, P.E., Vice President, HNTB
Santa Barbara County North Branch Jail Expansion
February Issue 2026
