Don’t Believe in Magic: Berne, Switzerland, Demonstrates 20 Years of Public Works Coordination
Smart City, Building Information Modeling (BIM) and Asset Lifecycle Management are today’s buzzwords to put a magic spell on many an infrastructure manager. How nice would it be to control unwieldy roads, bridges and tunnels, distribution networks or even an entire city by myriad light pulses in a fiber optics fabric and wirelessly through the air? How beautifully safe and sustainable would our cities be if maintenance and restoration could be budgeted and scheduled according to continuo...
Clearing a Hurdle for the Potomac Yard Metro Station
Innovative financing played an important role in getting a long-anticipated Metrorail station on track for a 2021 opening. The addition of a Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) rail station at Potomac Yard is a central feature to successfully redeveloping a 300-acre former rail yard in Alexandria, Va., into an accessible and walkable mixed-use development, poised to give the area an economic boost. In September 2018, WMATA and the city of Alexandria a...
Storm on the Horizon: Sewage Overflow Is a Problem for Today, Not Tomorrow
Climate change often is depicted as a far-off threat; something for future generations to worry about. However, while politicians continue to debate how to solve this critical issue, the effects of global warming and changing weather patterns are already being felt close to home. Across France, for example, heavy rainfall, flooding and other extreme weather events are becoming increasingly commonplace, putting further strain on already overworked infrastructure, including wastewater s...
Cell Tower Inspection and Maintenance: UAV Reality Capture and Digital Twin Pilot Project Suggest Major Efficiency Gains
Telstra’s complex cell-tower arrays typically are mounted at the top of 25-meter, non-climbable steel monopoles. Determining the precise number of cell towers in the world is a difficult task, complicated by the lack of coordinated international reporting and the difficulty of distinguishing between base stations (which may or may not be sited on a tower-like structure) and actual towers (which may host several base stations). But reasonable estimates for the global number of cell tower...
Panel Discussion: How Can We Improve U.S. Transportation Infrastructure?
Introduction The title question for this feature has been discussed and debated countless times by countless people and organizations in many formats. But a letter Informed Infrastructure received and published in its July/August 2018 issue sparked our own questions about how we can better discuss and analyze this problem as well as come up with some real, actionable solutions. The letter was from Mike Lawrence, the CEO of Tensar Corp., which produces geosynthetic technologies for infrastr...
Fairfield Glade: Pressure Sewer System Perfect Fit for Tennessee Retirement Locale
In the early 1970s, a flashy promotional campaign launched Fairfield Glade, a private retirement enclave atop East Tennessee’s Cumberland Plateau. It was the first step of a marathon project that developers likely knew would take generations to complete, but the momentum of its expansion and allure has never wavered. Today, the 12,000-acre enterprise (population about 8,200; average age 68) is consistently lauded as one of the best retirement spots in Tennessee, and reviewers reg...
Constructible Models: Lead to Time and Cost Efficiencies in Building a Particleboard Plant
The main concrete structure can be seen in this overall model view. From its blank canvas in Grayling, Mich., a year ago, the site of ARAUCO’s new particleboard operation has transformed into a vibrant construction project. A leader in sustainable-forest product solutions and market innovation, ARAUCO is building the most-modern facility of its type in North America: a state-of-the-art manufacturing plant that will produce world-class decorative wood-panel products used in home...
Engineered Solutions: Transcending Time - Hot-Dip Galvanized Steel Provides Solution to Combat Corrosion on Bridges Old and New
Sponsored by: The world is a very different place today than it was in 1966—a time of space exploration, computers the size of an entire room, and color TVs being a new phenomenon. In addition to these scientific and technological advancements, there was an important infrastructure innovation in the United States: the first hot-dip galvanized bridge was built. The 420-foot Stearns Bayou Bridge in Grand Haven, Mich., opened on Aug. 31, 1966, replacing the old, one-lane wooden struct...
New Tricks Result in Treat for I-95 Commuters: Collaboration Key to Early Project Completion
On Halloween, Oct. 31, 2017, commuters who use the heavily congested I-95/395 highway in Virginia received a special treat: a new 2-mile-long reversible express lane that would significantly ease congestion on the heavily travelled interstate. Although they surely appreciated reduced slowdowns, more-navigable merges and lane changes, and ultimately a shorter commute, most were unaware of the coordinated teamwork that took place behind the scenes to make the treat a reality. Project Genes...
Infrastructure Digitization: Two Industry Analysts Discuss Recent Tech Efforts from Autodesk and Bentley
Three Trends Defining Industrialized Construction By Drew Buechley On the main stage of Autodesk University 2017 in Las Vegas, Jim Lynch, vice president of the Autodesk Building Products Group, highlighted Autodesk’s increased focus on the industrialization of construction. It was clear that a convergence of manufacturing and construction processes was happening. In the next few years, this convergence will radically change the way we design buildings, build co...
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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