On January 6, 2025, a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) was posted for FEMA’s BRIC and FMA FY24 Hazard Mitigation Assistance Grants. Both grants have a submission deadline of April 18, 2025, at 3:00 PM ET. Below is more information about each grant: Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) – the estimated total program funding…
Category: Public Works
How to Quantify Benefits of Trees
It seems obvious that trees impact our communities in a beneficial way by providing shade and lowering temperature, absorbing carbon dioxide, and intercepting and absorbing rainfall. But quantifying these benefits can be challenging. Fortunately the USDA Forest Service “provides urban and rural forestry analysis and benefits assessment tools” that can help us. The USDA developed…
Can AI Be Used to Check Stop Control Warrants?
For some time I have been thinking about how AI could be used to assist civil engineers and the public works industry. While I have several ideas, one obvious application I’ve thought about is using it to check all-way stop control signal warrants as defined by the Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD). Since…
Using AI to Generate Images for Public Works – Post 2
In the first post on this topic I introduced the Midjourney AI tool which can be used to generate images. In this post, I’ll talk about a few more image generating tools I have tried. The first is Canva. This tool is fairly easy to use; however, you will need to make a free account…
Can AI Help Fix a Water Main Break?
Maybe you’ve heard about AI, and maybe you haven’t, but odds are you most likely will. There are many types of AI tools being developed. One example is ChatGPT, a text-based tool providing answers to questions in a conversational manner. Since ChatGPT launched late last year, it seems everyone is discussing Artificial Intelligence (AI) and…
April is National Safe Digging Month
Yes construction can and does take place all year long. But in the Midwest where frost can get down to about three to five feet, activity tends to drop off as winter sets in. We typically use this time indoors to plan for next year’s projects, and as the robins show up and warmer breezes…
Free and Online Access to Building Codes
Did you know anyone with access to the internet can check out current building codes at the International Code Council (ICC) website? It’s true! I am really excited about this because when I first started in the industry, I only had access to the physical books, and I always thought how much easier things would…
Building Safety Month Kick-off
Well it’s here! Building Safety Month – a month to promote pretty much what it says: BUILDING SAFETY. And because all of us need to spend time in buildings or some sort of shelter, Building Safety Month is really for everyone. This year, the International Code Council (ICC) which sponsors the campaign has established four…
A Short Story of Catastrophic Land Subsidence and Jonas’ Lake
The other day a colleague told me about a bean field in Polk county, Minn., which catastrophically dropped 25 feet. After watching the video I noticed the land was located near a river, and the video points out that the land also seems to be pushing into the river. It made me wonder if some…
The Hinckley Firestorm of 1894
For Building Safety Month, which was in May, I looked for some books I could read to help me better understand disasters and resiliency. After compiling a list of about four or five books, I started this month on my reading. The first book I read was Under a Flaming Sky, The Great Hinckley Firestorm…