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APWA develops Certified Stormwater Manager program
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September 30, 2008
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KANSAS CITY, MO.—The American Public Works Association (APWA) developed a new certification program for stormwater managers. The purpose of the program is to promote excellence in the profession by advancing knowledge and practices in stormwater management. According to APWA, a Certified Stormwater Manager will have understanding and experience in the administration of a stormwater program, use of best practices, hydrology, maintenance, and other related areas....
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AE management association changes name
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September 30, 2008
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LAFAYETTE, CALIF.—The Professional Services Management Association (PSMA), a national organization that supports leadership growth and best practices within the architectural and engineering (AE) services community, will now be known as the Association of AE Business Leaders (AEBL). In addition, David Sprenkle, P.E., AEBL board president, announced the appointment of Kathryn Sprankle as executive director....
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Firms on the move
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September 30, 2008
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The following civil engineering firms recently announced office and service expansions, mergers, and acquisitions. ...
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Best Civil Engineering Firms To Work For 2008 announced
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September 19, 2008
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Zweig White, publisher of CE News, is pleased to announce the 2008 Best Civil Engineering Firms To Work For list. Distinguished firms were honored during an awards celebration last week during the 2008 Best Firms Summit in San Francisco. Conference attendees representing civil and structural engineering, architectural, and environmental service firms enjoyed the award-filled evening honoring 61 civil engineering firms—the Top 50 and 11 Honorable Mentions....
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Top 50 & Honorable Mention
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September 19, 2008
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The 2008 Best Civil Engineering Firms To Work For list is as follows:...
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Homebuilders face more distress
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September 15, 2008
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More distress is expected in the next six months for the $700 billion U.S. homebuilding industry, which has been hit hard by economic issues, according to experts at Grant Thornton Corporate Advisory and Restructuring Services. Particularly at risk are small- to medium-sized builders. National builders will continue to acquire sizeable local and regional builders, and the latter will consolidate among themselves to make them more attractive acquisition targets....
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EPA prohibits Corps flood-control project
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September 15, 2008
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In late August, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) signed the Final Determination prohibiting discharge of dredged or fill material into wetlands and other waters of the United States in connection with construction of the proposed Yazoo Backwater Area Pumps Project. The federally funded project was designed to address flooding concerns in a 630,000-acre area between the Mississippi and Yazoo Rivers in west-central Mississippi. This is only the eleventh time the EPA has used its authority to prohibit such actions....
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Advances in wetlands treatment systems
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September 15, 2008
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Advances in planning, design, and performance of wetland treatment systems for water pollution control and wastewater treatment are featured in Treatment Wetlands: Second Edition just released by CRC Press. The 1,016-page volume offers the latest performance-based designs, as well as implementation, monitoring, operation, and maintenance of wetland treatment systems, including discussions on economics, operational modifications, biosolids wetlands, and wetlands for non-municipal wastewater treatment....
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Intelligent transportation breakthroughs
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September 15, 2008
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Transpo2008, Sept. 22-25, 2008, in Orlando, Fla., is one of the nation’s largest Intelligent Transportation Systems conferences. It will bring together experts from around the nation to share technology breakthroughs that are improving transportation in Florida and nationwide....
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ASCE focuses on the workforce of the future
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September 15, 2008
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If the United States is to address the challenges of an aging infrastructure, shrinking energy and water resources, and globalization, action must be taken now to attract, educate, and train talented young civil engineers to compete in a rapidly changing and technology-driven world. That is the focus of the American Society of Civil Engineer’s 138th Annual Civil Engineering Conference titled, Engineering: The Workforce of the Future....
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Marketing and business development taking a backseat at A/E firms
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September 15, 2008
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According to a recent survey, A/E firm leaders are having trouble getting employees to fulfill their marketing and business development responsibilities. In fact, 25 percent of the A/E firm leaders who took part in ZweigWhite’s 2008 Marketing Survey of Architecture, Engineering, Planning & Environmental Consulting Firms say their greatest challenge when it comes to marketing and business development is getting staff to actively participate in the marketing and sales effort....
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Firms on the move
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September 2, 2008
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Although construction markets in the United States remain challenging, the last two weeks of August proved unusually active for civil engineering firms announcing office and service expansions, mergers, and acquisitions....
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Study ranks states on road conditions
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September 2, 2008
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North Dakota does the best job maintaining its roads and bridges and New Jersey has the worst-performing, least cost-effective highway system in the nation, according to an annual Reason Foundation study that measures each state’s road conditions and expenditures. The Reason Foundation’s 17th Annual Report on the Performance of State Highway Systems measures the condition of all state-owned roads and highways from 1984 to 2006. The study calculates the effectiveness and performance of each state in 12 categories, including pavement condition, bridge condition, traffic fatalities, congestion, highway maintenance costs, and administrative costs....
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Documentary highlights water infrastructure crisis
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September 2, 2008
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Penn State Public Broadcasting is set to premiere a public television event on the looming water infrastructure crisis in the United States and how communities are trying to meet the challenge. "Liquid Assets: The Story of Our Water Infrastructure," tells of America’s distressed essential infrastructure systems—drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater. A four-minute trailer is available online at http://liquidassets.psu.edu....
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DFI seeks soil nail wall performance data
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September 2, 2008
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The Deep Foundations Institute’s Tieback and Soil Nailing Committee recently concluded that a shortage of current and complete soil nail wall performance data exists to guide engineers, specialty geotechnical contractors, and owners. Furthermore, it was recognized that the state-of-practice in analysis and design is based on domestic and foreign case studies that are more than 10 years old. As a result, the committee is undertaking a new, national effort to collect, categorize, and begin analysis of soil nail wall performance data....
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ASCE seeks award nominations
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September 2, 2008
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The American Society of Civil Engineers is seeking nominations for its 2009 national achievement awards, including the Outstanding Projects and Leaders Awards, Henry L. Michel Award for Industry Advancement of Research, the Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement Award, and the Charles Pankow Award for Innovation....
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Request for 3-D imaging presentations
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September 2, 2008
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Spar Point Research extended a call for papers for its SPAR 2009 conference to be held March 30-April 1, 2009, in Denver. Abstracts are sought from process and power, civil infrastructure and transportation, and discrete manufacturing facility owners and contractors on their use of laser scanning and other dimensional control technologies to capture and document existing-conditions data for design, construction, and operations....
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Nitsch Engineering wins award for stormwater management plan
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August 31, 2008
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BOSTON—Nitsch Engineering won an Excellence in Landscape Architecture Merit Award from the Society for College and University Planning (SCUP) for the firm’s work on the University of Virginia’s (UVA’s) Meadow Creek Regional Stormwater Management Master Plan. Nitsch Engineering was the only engineering firm to win an award in SCUP’s annual award competition....
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Researchers seek to reclaim energy from roads
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August 31, 2008
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WORCESTER, MASS.—A research team at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) is developing a solar collector that could use the heat generated by asphalt roads and parking lots as an alternative energy source for electricity and hot water. The project was undertaken at the request of Michael Hulen, president of Novotech, Inc., in Acton, Mass, which holds a patent on the concept of using the heat absorbed by pavements. Research is being directed by Rajib Mallick, WPI associate professor of civil and environmental engineering....
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Green notes
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August 31, 2008
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A summary of recent green initiatives by civil engineering firms...
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Boston airport tests warm-mix asphalt
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August 31, 2008
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BOSTON—Logan International Airport will be the first airport in the nation to use warm-mix asphalt on a runway repaving project, following a vote in July by the Massachusetts Port Authority Board to spend $6.3 million on the work. Warm-mix’ asphalt is heated to between 250° F and 275° F, about 75° to 50° F less than traditional hot-mix asphalt. According to the Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport), which operates the airport, using warm mix on this project will result in the reduction of nearly 2,000 tons of carbon dioxide, savings of about 200,000 gallons of diesel fuel, and produce an energy savings of about 26.4 billion Btus. Another environmental benefit is as much as 20 percent of the new asphalt will be made from recycled asphalt....
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Engineering firms name new CEOs
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August 31, 2008
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Three engineering consulting firms recently announced CEO appointments....
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Firms on the move
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August 19, 2008
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Civil engineering firms announced the following mergers and acquisitions during the last few months.
URS Corporation acquired LopezGarcia Group Inc. Headquartered in Dallas, LopezGarcia has a staff of 200 professionals in five Texas offices and is focused primarily on the state and local infrastructure market. URS said the acquisition will better enable it to serve state and local government clients on projects throughout Texas and expands URS’ resources by adding LopezGarcia’s significant presence in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area, which will complement URS’ operations in Houston, Austin, and San Antonio....
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Administration proposes new approach to transportation
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August 19, 2008
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A clean and historic break with the past is needed to encourage the future vitality of our country’s transportation network, according to U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary E. Peters. She unveiled the Bush Administration’s new plan to refocus, reform, and renew the national approach to highway and transit systems in America. The plan lays out the Administration’s framework for completely overhauling the way U.S. transportation decisions and investments are made, Peters said, and is intended to spur local, state, and federal debate about how best to incorporate the new reforms into surface transportation legislation slated to be considered by Congress in 2009....
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Stormwater management guide
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August 19, 2008
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The Center for Watershed Protection developed a new manual called Managing Stormwater in Your Community: A Guide for Building an Effective Post-Construction Program. This manual was developed to assist Phase II communities in developing and building effective post-construction stormwater programs....
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ROI
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August 19, 2008
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We commonly use a particular phrase when formally weighing a decision to expend funds for a particular purchase or capital expenditure. "Return on Investment" (ROI) is often invoked to compare the perceived benefit to the expense of achieving it, usually considered to be cash. We may even be able to come up with a tangible dollar value of the benefit, but then what to do with it?...
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PCA downgrades construction forecast
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August 19, 2008
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Although not technically in a recession, the Portland Cement Association (PCA) predicts that an increasing unemployment rate, higher inflation, and low consumer sentiment will combine to have lingering negative effects on the U.S. economy and, hence, on cement consumption and the construction industry. The latest PCA forecast of cement, concrete, and construction predicts a 12-percent decline in cement consumption in 2008, followed by another 6 percent drop in 2009....
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Demand for outplacement services increases
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August 19, 2008
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During the last six months, ZweigWhite, a provider of management consulting services and business information to the architecture, engineering, and environmental consulting industries and publisher of Civil Connection, has observed a significant increase in inquires for outplacement services....
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PPI retracts cautionary advisory
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August 19, 2008
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In a one-sentence statement, the Plastics Pipe Institute (PPI) retracted the content of its June 11 news release in which the group issued a cautionary advisory regarding the integrity of fusible polyvinyl chloride (fusible PVC) pipe (see original story here). PPI had said that fusible PVC pipe is susceptible to rapid crack propagation and that this characteristic has led to a number of water pipeline failures. A manufacturer of fusible PVC pipe and the Uni-Bell PVC Pipe Association disputed the claim. PPI did not explain its retraction....
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Leveraging Liquid Assets
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July 31, 2008
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Levees break, pipes burst, and bridges collapse. Infrastructure is on the public’s mind like never before, but will water be left behind? Unlike roads and bridges, much of the United States’ water and wastewater infrastructure is buried and out of sight, going largely unnoticed until a rupture brings the issue to the surface....
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