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...
2026 Stormwater Market Outlook
1. What’s the biggest opportunity for innovation in stormwater management in the next 12 months? Our Engineering and Technology Center will be the engine driving this transformation. Through research and development, materials science and automation, we plan to: • Accelerate product innovation. Using full-scale hydraulic testing, sensor technology and modeling software, we’ll validate how our stormwater systems perform under real-world conditions, continuing to test and create products that can...
Breaking Boundaries: When Expertise Meets Innovation in the Field
Amanda Jones In an industry where precision is measured in fractions of an inch and safety is nonnegotiable, Amanda Jones isn't just following the rules—she’s rewriting the workflow. As a licensed land surveyor and founder of AJ Surveying Inc., Jones has spent more than two decades navigating the high-stakes world of California’s infrastructure. Her recent pivot toward AI-powered innovation has positioned her as a trailblazer in a field often tied to tradition. Based in San Diego, her woman-owne...
Why 2026 is Crucial for Telcos to Rethink Their Geospatial and Network Stacks
Telecommunications operators are entering into one of the most consequential periods of transformation the industry has seen in decades. Across global markets, telcos are expanding 5G, accelerating fibre rollout, retiring copper networks, and modernizing the operational systems that underpin service delivery. These programs are complex, and strategically essential and they all depend on one capability that has historically been overlooked: a clear, accurate, and operationally usable understandin...
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
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June Issue 2026
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