Infrastructure Showcase: America’s Top 12 Transportation Projects
Twelve projects from 10 state departments of transportation are finalists for the 2016 America’s Transportation Awards competition, selected by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), AAA and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Online voting for the People’s Choice Award will continue through Oct. 31, 2016, at AmericasTransportationAwards.org. A panel of experts will select the Grand Prize winner. Both awards will earn a $10,000 donation from AASHTO on behal...
Engineered Solutions: Topographic LiDAR Data Employed to Map, Preserve U.S. History
By Michael Meiser and Daniel Ngoroi In August 2015, the National Park Service (NPS) contracted Woolpert for the Little Bighorn National Monument Mapping Project to record the locations of thousands of headstone markers at the Custer National Cemetery as well as hundreds of battlefield markers at the Little Bighorn National Monument site, which covers approximately 5.5 square miles. Woolpert used high-density, airborne topographic light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data acquired...
Safety Still First! BIM Takes Rule No. 1 to the Next Level
By John Turner As the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry evolves, with new technologies leap-frogging our capabilities forward and shifting our approach to managing projects, there’s no aspect of the jobsite left untouched—and that includes safety. Innovative consultants are greatly impacting construction by leveraging new technologies to accomplish more. They’re reducing costs, streamlining schedules and improving safety—not just on the jobsite, but for...
Better BIM: Laser Scanning Improves Accuracy and Speed in Onsite Data Acquisition
By Chew Beow Kwan Building information modeling (BIM) first came about in the 1970s, but its methods have been refined considerably since then. Widely used by city planners, architects and civil engineers today, BIM enables stakeholders to better make high-impact decisions by providing timely, relevant information. 3D drawings can be created with line-fitting and building-specific tools found in the PointSense Building software. Laser-scanning solutions have shaped the way t...
GRAVITY: It Just Works—Massive Concrete Blocks Resolve Detention-Basin Challenges
By Angus W. Stocking, L.S. Houston’s Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone No. 17 is clumsily named, but its mission is admirably clear: per the organization’s website, TIRZ 17 is a “local government corporation created to aid, assist and act on behalf of the City of Houston in promoting the common good and general welfare in the Memorial City area of Houston.” Also known as the Memorial City Redevelopment Authority, the agency is focused on developing, maintaining and rehabilitati...
Sponsored Content: One Forest, Multiple Perspectives
By Mary Jo Wagner With nearly 60 percent of the country––23 million hectares (56.8 million acres)––covered in trees, forestry in Sweden is big business. The world’s second-largest exporter of paper, pulp and sawn-wood products, Sweden’s forest industry is valued at around 90 billion euros ($100.4 million)––about one-fifth of Sweden’s GDP––and employs about 200,000 people. Managing Sweden’s forests also is serious business. Ensuring the sustainability and health of this wealthy as...
Engineered Solutions: Tricky Feedmill Site Requires Stormwater Conveyance System
By Bart Hartsfeld and Chris M. Ross, P.E. After acquiring Durbin Farms, Mar-Jac Poultry Alabama LLC planned a major expansion to build a new $25 million feedmill in Franklin County, Ala., that would efficiently provide feed to poultry growers in the region. Unfortunately, potential project sites with rail access and acreage for a substantial rail loop accommodating up to 100 rail cars were not readily available. Following much study and careful consideration, CDG Engineers selected the Sp...
Engineer Spotlight: The Unhappy State of U.S. Bridges and Highways
An interesting article ran in the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Journal of Leadership and Management in Engineering in 2008: “A Tale of Two Bridges: Dangerous and Still Standing.” Robert W. Clark, P.E., authored the piece about two well-used bridges in Stuyvesant, N.Y. One of the bridges had passed safety inspections by the state DOT every year. The other bridge, owned by CSX Railroad, also had cleared corporate safety standards. Clark inspected the bridges and determined that they...
InfraWorks 360 Is Growing Up: From Conceptual Tool to Detailed Design, InfraWorks Adds Engineering-Grade Features
Since its initial release a few years ago, Autodesk InfraWorks 360 (IW360) has been received as an interesting software-development exercise in what a BIM application for infrastructure could look like, with some promising but limited functionality. Some robust features such as Model Builder, which enables users to quickly and easily compile data on existing site conditions, are powerful and were ready for “prime time” right from the start. A project surface (top) was obtained from the I...
Proceed with Caution: Concrete Cloth GCCM Provides Erosion Protection at Nuclear Power Plant
A nuclear power-plant site in the southeastern United States faced an erosion problem on a steep, 2:1 slope near dry-cast storage containers of spent nuclear fuel. The shotcrete finish covering the slope was intended to serve as a protective layer that would prevent the backfill material from eroding. However, the design of the erosion protection left it susceptible to shrinkage and temperature cracking, as no control joints were constructed. As a result, escape paths for the backfill material t...
Video: Crashes Drop Measurably After Rural Road Safety Improvement Project on US 521 in Lancaster County
AdventHealth Weaverville Hospital
June Issue 2026
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