Off Rope! Drones for Bridge Inspection Increase Safety, Decrease Costs
It requires a few things for a bridge engineer to become a rope-access technician and climb up and down the most-difficult and complicated bridges: • No strong fear of heights. The photos in this article show that to be obvious. • A lot of training. Any technician needs to become certified by the Society of Professional Rope Access Technicians (SPRAT). The highest level (Level Three) requires hundreds of hours of rope work as well as completing three training programs and exams. • An in...
AI Brings a New Era of Sustainability to Structural Engineering
Construction workers put together a truss frame designed through AI. Every year brings new technological innovation to the engineering sector. For example, the industry now is in an age in which 3D-printed structural parts and generative-design artificial intelligence (AI) work together to suggest bridge concepts. The pressure to balance resource-intensive machinery and tech tools with sustainability is more critical, especially as more people and businesses are aware of t...
World Logistics Center: Engineering Heavyweights Collaborate to Ease California’s Warehouse Space Demands
Artist’s renderings show the World Logistics Center, which is set to break ground in Moreno Valley, Calif., later in 2023. (Stantec/Highland Fairview) The quest for warehouse space is more challenging than ever. Vacancy rates are at an all-time low in metropolitan areas across the United States, according to Prologis, a real estate investment trust headquartered in San Francisco that invests in logistics facilities. The situation is particularly dire in California for several reasons, incl...
Ready to Roll: How 1,000 Pounds of Spinning Metal Overcame Onramp Runoff
To complete a Missouri ditch-liner project, Realm Construction poured 400-450 linear feet of concrete a day and finished the project more than one week ahead of schedule. Near the Kansas City International Airport lies a well-traveled but problematic onramp that connects NE Cookingham Drive to I-435. A field that runs parallel to the ramp often produces significant rainwater runoff that makes its way onto the onramp. Sedimentary dirt and debris would fill the south side of th...
Decrease Concrete’s Carbon: A Big Step in Leaving a Smaller Footprint
Portland-limestone cement provides designers the opportunity to reduce a project’s carbon footprint by up to 10 percent. Concrete is the second-most-used material (after water), which shouldn’t be surprising considering it’s the foundation of nearly all our infrastructure. Engineers and builders specify concrete for their projects because it’s durable, long-lasting, resilient and versatile. Imagine if we could get those characteristics along with an added benefit of being more sustain...
Safe Passage Across the Sea: Sensors Prevent Overloaded Vehicles Access to Philippines’ Iconic New Bridge
For the tallest and longest bridge in the Philippines, sensors provide for bridge protection based on accurate measurement of vehicle axle loads. (Kistler Group) The Philippines, a southeast Asian island state officially comprising 7,641 islands and home to more than 115 million people, is on the rise. Wealth is growing thanks to dynamic economic development in the vibrant Asia-Pacific region; tourism is booming, and increasing numbers of infrastructure projects aim to bridge the gap (lite...
Sustainable Stormwater Solutions: Embracing Low-Impact Development (LID) for Enhanced Stormwater Quantity and Quality Control
In 2017, heavy rains from Hurricane Harvey flooded the greater Houston area, prompting local officials to reassess their stormwater-management systems. In recent years, climate change has affected Earth’s weather patterns, which have turned unpredictable and often dangerous. Rising temperatures are accompanied by a higher risk of intensified flooding, as heat domes and cold fronts collide, creating more extreme rain events. As a result, stormwater runoff becomes more severe,...
Creating Certainty: Expanded Shale, Clay and Slate Aggregates Improve Seismic Design
Lightweight aggregate helps address seismic concerns on a highway project. (Acrosa Lightweight) The ground a structure is built on plays an important role in what’s possible for that project—soil’s stability and relative depth to the bedrock can determine a structure’s height, footprint and weight limitations. It also can help a building better-resist seismic activity. The soil around a structure can change seismic waves’ frequency content and amplitude; these soil-structure...
National Banking Headquarters Redefines Sustainable Office Standards in the United Kingdom
In addition to representing a new era of business for Santander, Unity Place pioneered a new standard for sustainably designed office buildings in the United Kingdom. WSP Uses Digital Innovations to Reduce Carbon Footprint of Santander U.K.’s New Milton Keynes Hub Located 50 miles north of London is Milton Keynes, a modern suburb instituted in the 1970s as an outlet to mitigate London’s overpopulation. Urban planners knitted together existing villages (e.g., Bletch...
The Beyond 77 Corridor Study: Atkins Helps Develop Project Planning with an Eye to Policy
The Beyond 77 Corridor Study, facilitated by the Charlotte Regional Transportation Planning Organization (CRTPO), started with a goal to find ways to reduce congestion and increase multimodal options along and around the 68-mile-long, 400-plus-square-mile study area. That early vision evolved considerably when the agency, at the recommendation of its study consultant, looked beyond just adding more lane miles or vehicular capacity, but through a more-comprehensive lens to consider policy an...
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June Issue 2026
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