Infrastructure Outlook: Rethinking Infrastructure for Long-Term Performance
Infrastructure is at a turning point. Governments, cities and private developers are dealing with increasing pressure on aging systems, making them rethink how success is defined. Speed and cost control during construction still matter, but they can no longer be the only measures guiding infrastructure decisions. Instead, the industry is putting more emphasis on durability, long-term performance and overall resilience so construction projects can serve communities well into the future. Two big t...
Executive Corner: The A/E Private-Equity Phenomenon: Where It Stands, and What’s Next?
Back in 2021, I authored a column titled “How Private Equity Is Quietly Transforming the A/E Industry.” My goal back then was to describe and justify the factors driving outside investor interest in our sector and why so many design leaders initially seemed receptive to it. The marriages seemed a bit unconventional. Cerebral, creative and technical architects and engineers joining forces with financiers and dealmakers. And while other executives viewed this with a mix of curiosity and skepticism...
Thoughts From Engineers: A New Era of ‘Big Data’
For decades, engineers have relied on a patchwork of data—field surveys, orthophotos and other sources—to piece together baseline topographic information for infrastructure design and related work. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has long recognized that consistent 3D elevation data for the entire United States would bring major economic and practical value to local, state and federal initiatives. Now, in 2026, after roughly eight years of targeted collection through state and local partnershi...
Transportation Troubleshooting: Engineering the World’s First Floating-Bridge Light-Rail System
Some transportation challenges are measured not in miles, but in constraints. Crossing Lake Washington meant working with a structure that responds to its environment rather than resisting it. When the Link 2 Line opened on March 28, 2026, riders experienced something no transit system had ever delivered before: light-rail vehicles traveling across a floating bridge. For passengers, the trip feels routine. For those of us who worked on the project, it represents years of careful engineering, tes...
Engineering The Future: Building Water Resilience Will Demand Solutions as Diverse as the Risks Themselves
Water is life. And today, there seems to be either too much or not enough of it, depending on where you are and sometimes even both within a short period of time. On March 24, 2026, “World Water Day,” United for Infrastructure hosted an incredible event called “State of The Water Sector 2026: A Dialogue on Emerging Trends in U.S. Water Policy” at the Reservoir Center in Washington, D.C. I was honored to give the opening remarks for a daylong forum on where we are and where we’re going. Some of M...
From the Editor: Contrasting ‘Smart’ with ‘Not-So-Smart’ Engineering
Informed Infrastructure has been publishing a “Smart Engineering” issue in May for several years. There have been columns and articles about a wide variety of projects, procedures and policies about smart engineering. Each year, I struggle a bit with this column—not because I don’t think it’s important, but because I’m not confident in my knowledge of the subject. I can still remember in my early career when we started designing “smart” traffic signals with sensors in the pavement and cameras de...
Michigan County Tackles Toxic Challenge: Genesee County Shifts Sludge Disposal Practices with New Digestion and Dewatering Facility
Genesee County in Michigan recently opened a Digestion and Dewatering Facility. The three-year, $9.5-million project included the installation of two dewatering centrifuges. (Photo credit: Freddy Ray Dugard) In the 2025 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) identified several solutions the country needs to take to improve the grade of the nation’s wastewater management systems. One of the solutions proposed by the ASCE, which gave the country a...
Northwestern University’s Ryan Field: The NCAA’s Newest and Most Technically Advanced Football Stadium
Northwestern University and the Ryan family didn’t simply tear down and rebuild Ryan Field for their beloved Wildcats; they sought to create one of the best stadium experiences anywhere in the country. Built on the previous stadium’s footprint, it has 320,000 more square feet but 12,500 fewer seats, an intentional choice to make the fan experience more intimate and memorable. The design and engineering of this technically advanced steel structure was accomplished by Thornton Tomasetti, the multi...
LID Stormwater Engineering Transforms Mid-Century Indianapolis Neighborhood
The Norwaldo neighborhood on the northeast side of Indianapolis was primarily developed in the early to middle 20th century as the city developed along early streetcar and automobile routes. There was very limited stormwater infrastructure installed as it wasn’t needed at the time; most water was able to get to the surrounding streams and rivers naturally. But as impermeable development increased and storms became more frequent and released more water, water began to pond in low points on the st...
Future Forward (Powered by ACEC): Latest Economic Study Shows Continued Optimism, But Concerns Persist
The ACEC Research Institute recently released its “Engineering Business Sentiment” study for the first quarter of 2026. More than 600 executive-level ACEC member-firm leaders from firms of all sizes around the country were asked to weigh in on the current state of the industry and its direction. The survey uses a “net rating” methodology, which is calculated by subtracting the negative ratings from the positive ones. Therefore, a positive net rating indicates overall sentiment is optimistic, whi...
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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