What I've come to realize over the course of my career is that there are some male contractors who will accuse engineers/inspectors who are women of using the F-word in an effort to discredit them or get them into trouble. And I think the recent reaction to the use of this word by a U.S. diplomat…
Category: Construction
Mobile App for ADA Requirements in the Right of Way
Over the last week, we worked on setting up a basic mobile app to display the requirements from the 1991 ADA Law that relate to facilities in the right of way. For the content, we used the requirements and some of the graphics from Chapter 6 of the ADA Toolkit for Local Government. When it was…
3D ADA Toolkit for Local Government in Unity 3D
A couple years ago I put together an unofficial 3D version of the ADA Toolkit for Local Government. It was based in an immersive environment anyone could visit and experience as an avatar or digital representation of themselves. Normally the ADA Toolkit is only available as an online, primarily text-based document. So I figured the ability…
Fixing the Illinois Pension System by Investing in Local Economies
Today we read an article, INTERVIEW: When a State Doesn’t Realize Its Best, City-Level Assets, in which Pennsylvania Treasurer Rob McCord talked about the impact that the transfer of funding of education from a state to local responsibility would have on his state's economy. While we might not have totally agreed with his hesitation to transfer at least…
“We are engineers; we are not gamers”
Over the past several years, most people I knew in the industry chose to ignore what was going on with 3D immersive technology. At one point they might have taken a quick look, realized gaming engines like Second Life were not easily compatible with the CAD products we used, and moved on. Until more recently this…
Infographic of the Month – June 2013
This month's infographic, Improving Healthcare Buildings with BIM, is brought to you by one of my very favorite companies, Autodesk. Just like infographics, BIM makes use of visualization techniques to convey a message in a more interesing way that makes ideas easier to understand. If you have an interesting infographic related to public works or any other topic…
Asphalt Infographic
The next infographic up for your viewing pleasure comes from the National Asphalt Pavement Association – definitely a site you'll want to check out for everything asphalt. Thanks to T. Carter Ross, vice president for communications, for sharing their infographic "7 Keys to Highly Successful Parking Lots." This infographic is based upon an informative and helpful brochure: "Seven…
The Virtual Real Estate Market
Many people might be surprised to find out there is a virtual real estate market and have had a hard time understanding how someone could pay money for something that you can't physically touch like virtual land. Before visiting virtual worlds myself, I would not have believed people would pay money for something like that….
ISPE Updating Standard Specifications for Water and Sewer Construction in Illinois
Below is a press release from the Illinois Society of Professional Engineers regarding an update to the Standard Specifications for Water and Sewer Construction in Illinois: Recommendations Sought for Illinois Water & Sewer Construction Guide Comment Period Open through April 16 (Springfield, Ill.) The Illinois Society of Professional Engineers along with partner organizations seek recommended…
Managing CCDD Material in Illinois
Well now that the dust has settled on the CCDD regulations, many of us are figuring out how we are going to manage the material in order to comply with the law. Basically, the process for many of us will be some modification of the following: Determine if the excavation is near a Potentially Impacted…