Infrastructure Outlook: How (And Why) Transport and Logistics Companies Can Use Technology To Achieve Net-Zero Goals
Freight transportation is one of the most-important cogs in today’s global economy. When the container ship Ever Given got stuck in the Suez Canal in 2021, global trade was disrupted on a massive scale. The delayed shipments caused by the Ever Given led to supply chain disruptions and affected businesses’ ability to access necessary raw materials, components and finished goods. This, in turn, caused production delays, inventory shortages and increased costs for companies. On top of that, the...
From the Editor: What Should We Do With Spaces Along Highways?
Environment California recently performed a study about using space along highways for solar-panel fields. California has been a leader in solar-energy production, and this report states that three counties could provide enough energy to power 270,000 homes annually. Try to balance this with the current grassy or weedy areas that need continual maintenance or the occasional pond that serves a purpose but perhaps not as important as creating energy. Since I was in the transportation design fie...
Executive Corner: Two Keys to a Successful A/E Practice: Financial Discipline and Strong Ownership Culture
Through the last 25 years, I’ve had the pleasure of working with hundreds of A/E and environmental consulting firms of all sizes across the United States and abroad. Of the firms that have enjoyed sustained growth and consistent profitability through economic disruptions as well as multiple generations of leadership, I’ve observed two key characteristics or “success variables” that have been present in almost all cases: 1) disciplined financial management with timely reporting of key performance...
Transportation Troubleshooting: How States Are Approaching Electric Vehicles and Highway Maintenance Funding
The way roads and highways are funded must change. Motor fuel tax revenues are declining due to the increasing fuel efficiency of vehicles, and this trend will accelerate as plug-in hybrid and fully electric vehicles (EVs) command a greater share of personal transport. EVs use the same public roadways as drivers of internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles—and, due to the extra weight of batteries, EVs can cause more wear and tear per mile than ICE vehicles do. However, EV drivers don’t pay f...
Change Leader: Sustainability Needs to Be Part of Any Infrastructure Project
This interview was recorded by Todd Danielson, the editorial director of Informed Infrastructure. You can watch a video of the full interview above or by visiting bit.ly/461fcmx. Rodrigo Fernandes is the Director of ES(D)G - Empowering Sustainable Development Goals for Bentley Systems. It may be paraphrasing a bit, but Rodrigo Fernandes hopes he’s out of a job within five years. “The ultimate outcome for a chief sustainability officer would be to disappear in a coupl...
Future Forward: Prepare for the Future in the Beginning Design Phase
This particular interview was recorded by Todd Danielson, the editorial director of Informed Infrastructure. You can watch a video of the full interview above or by visiting bit.ly/44LLRLl. Ari Raivetz is the founder and CEO of Transcend. According to Ari Raivetz, many of the problems in our current infrastructure stem from poor designs that had to be made quickly, under deadline, without considering all the uncertainty and change that will inevitably happen. “We’re...
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Thoughts From Engineers: Supreme Court Slices CWA’s Reach
I have never owned property disputed to contain wetlands or had my plans to develop a property blocked because of the presence of wetlands. No doubt, in such a situation I would have felt cheated of important rights, not unlike Michael and Chantell Sackett, plaintiffs in the recently decided Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) case of Sackett v. EPA (May 25, 2023, bit.ly/SackettEPA). The couple received notice of a Clean Water Act (CWA) violation due to the presence of wetlands as they b...