Civilly the best In today's volatile economy, firms can be hard-pressed to find the right balance between budget constraints and employee and client satisfaction. Formulating the ideal recipe for these best practices is unique to each organization, its mission, and its workforce. CE News honors the civil engineering firms that meet and even exceed this often strenuous challenge.
BUSINESS Q & A | David Wahby Keeping people How can civil engineering firms improve employee retention? A fundamental key is having a well-organized and well-managed firm offering plenty of support and opportunities for people to achieve their maximum potential as professionals and as individuals. BEYOND WORDS | Darline L. Hoffins New era of opportunity Recently, it seems that everything we hear is bad news about the economy and the challenges companies are facing. But, despite the current economic situation, successful companies will weather the storm, begin to look to the future, and prepare for a new era of opportunity. PERSPECTIVE | Alfred R. Pagan, P.E. Interesting infrastructure Alfred R. Pagan, P.E.,this month shares photos of some interesting infrastructure that caught his civil engineer's eye. More CENews.com columns
Water for the world Water is fundamental to survival. But clean, safe drinking water is not available to more than 1.7 billion people (28 percent of the world's population). And more than twice that number lack access to adequate sanitation, which is part of the problem. About 6,000 children—the equivalent of 18 fully loaded jumbo jets—die each day because of contaminated water. In less time than it takes to read this article, 20 children will die because of unsafe water. Developing mechanistic-empirical design methods Since 2003, researchers at the University of Illinois' Advanced Transportation Research and Engineering Laboratory (ATREL) have focused on developing a mechanistic-empirical (M-E) design procedure for geogrid-reinforced flexible pavements for low- to moderate-volume roads. Their ultimate goal is to provide project owners and designers with more advanced ways of designing and analyzing pavement structures. What does BIM mean for civil engineers? A few weeks ago, I was on the phone with a civil engineer who needed help with a question he was asked by an architecture firm: "Are you BIM ready?" The civil engineer had a good understanding of the benefits of building information modeling (BIM) for building design, and had ideas about how those benefits might extend to civil engineers. But he wasn't sure how to answer the question. Did BIM even apply to civil engineers? And if it did, would he have to use new software to be "BIM ready?" What if he wasn't working on projects that involved buildings? Could he still do BIM? Environmental and engineering excellence In 2004, work began on what is currently the largest highway project in New Zealand—Auckland's Northern Motorway Extension. The US$270 million roadway stretches for 7.5 kilometers across rugged and environmentally sensitive terrain that is home to endangered and protected flora and fauna, and is particularly susceptible to runoff. Safe crossing In Boise, Idaho, the Idaho Northern Pacific Railroad's track intersects Milwaukee Street to create a 110-foot-wide crossing. An average of two trains and 35,000 cars use the crossing each day, according to Joe Peagler, Idaho Transportation Department (ITD) rail-highway safety coordinator. "It's a very busy intersection," he said, "and the trains slow down to 5 miles per hour because people stop on the tracks." Restoring sustainabilityWeb Exclusive Western Washington University (WWU), Bellingham, Wash., selected David Evans and Associates, Inc. (DEA) as the design lead for its new transit center project, which included restoration and enhancement of nearby Lincoln Creek. DEA and WWU's primary goal was to design a project that would improve the creek's stormwater capacity and water quality while simultaneously creating a living stream with habitat values that sustain wildlife. The project also strived to create a connection from the transit center to nearby neighborhoods, exemplify elements of sustainable design, and incorporate student participation. More CENews.com feature articles
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