In the September/October 2016 issue of Informed Infrastructure, I described showing up for my first day of work back in the early 1970s with my slide rule, mechanical pencil and scales. If I were to start working today, fresh out of college, I wouldn’t have…
A Scenic, Secure Thriller: Elk Falls Park Suspension Bridge Provides Sensitive Access to Canadian Treasure
By Angus W. Stocking, L.S. Elk Falls, beautifully cascading for 89 feet (27 meters), is the centerpiece of Elk Falls Provincial Park on Vancouver Island.…
From the Editor: Celebrating the Work We Do
Timing is everything, and I couldn’t have timed my joining Informed Infrastructure any better. The AEC industry continues to grow at a rapid rate, and…
BIM Breakthrough: Historic Grand Paris Express Employs BIM on Monumental Scale
When the original Paris Metro system was built more than a century ago, it connected all the most vital parts of the city. But Paris has changed a lot in 116 years. Now outlying neighborhoods are home to Europe’s largest business district, the world’s…
Engineer Spotlight: Differentiate Your Business to Achieve Success
As a brief personal background, I created RAM International back in 1998, which was one of the first companies to incorporate an entire building model into one dataset with a Windows interface, setting the stage for a lot of the AEC technology that exists…
Optimizing Time with VDC:Steel
By Josh Zimmerman Project teams are beginning to integrate services inhouse, including steel fabrication, to optimize overall cost and shorten timelines. In the past, the steel fabricator hired a detailing firm, who then created its own model and set of drawings.…
Structural Solutions: Proper Communication – Engineers Need It Just Like Everyone Else
I’m sure there are many readers of this column who can remember when the telephone was the only substitute for an in-person meeting—it wasn’t that long ago. Today, we have myriad ways to communicate through the internet: talking to multiple people at…
Change Leader Interview:Â Success with an Unconventional, Decentralized Engineering Business
The president of Atlas Civil Design, A.J. Whitaker is a registered civil engineer and land surveyor with more than 20 years of experience in large-scale single and multi-family residential, commercial, industrial, municipal, medical/healthcare, and mixed-use…
Keeping Ocean Shores Clean: Coastal Town Relies on Vacuum Sewers
By Steve Gibbs Some public works officials and civil engineers think twice when considering vacuum sewer technology as a viable alternative for municipal wastewater collection. Vacuum sewers provide several advantages, including significant upfront cost savings,…