Tired of trying to get a curb ramp built that meets the ADA? Instead of photos of your kids are you carrying around pictures of a compliant curb ramp to show the contractor? Join the club – ever since the curb ramp section of the ADA was finalized, sidewalk design and construction have never been…
Category: Public Works
Plowing Au Gratin
Just when we were getting used to the idea of using beet juice for “salting” roads, someone has reached into the fridge and pulled out another food item as an alternative deicing chemical – CHEESE! Crews in Washington have determined that the salt water left over as a byproduct of the cheese production process can…
The Personal Rapid Transit Revolution
As the world searches for an answer to reducing the use of fossil fuels, cities are starting to look to the personal rapid transit (PRT) system as a potential solution. Lately, MISTER, a Polish-based company, has gained increasing notice for their innovative PRT system. MISTER is an acronym for Metropolitan Individual System of Transportation on…
Conferences, World of Warcraft, and Professional Achievement
Lately my mind has been preoccupied with thoughts of conferences (going to GreenBuild 2008), public works and engineering, World of Warcraft (WoW), family, and social media applications. With all that jumbled up inside there, it was inevitable that these subjects would start bumping into each other. One of these collisions involved this idea: “Blizzard wants…
Bumping into the DOT
As a civil engineer, the federal agencies I visit online are usually the DOT, EPA, and FHWA with an occasional click over to the USGS. Upon my entry into Second Life, I searched for these agencies within that virtual world and found nothing. The only federal agencies that had made it into the virtual realm…
Free Highway Design Software!
Hey all you designers of two-lane highways! Get your free download of the 2008 Interactive Highway Safety Design Model (IHSDM). Brought to you by your friendly Federal Highway Administration. The site does require you to register for approval. Information required for registration includes your name, title organizational affiliation, mailing address, e-mail address, telephone number, and…
Be2Camp Video/Slides Online
The Be2Camp held in London on Fri., Oct. 10, attracted about 50 people to the live event and almost 300 more to the Webcast and Second Life stream of the event. For anyone who missed it, the video stream and slides can now be viewed at the Be2Camp Website.
Reaching Out in 140 Characters or Less
People are information hounds. They always want to know what is going on, particularly with their friends and neighbors. The need to gossip can sometimes be so strong that some people will even create stories just to have something to talk about. If you work in government you have probably already experienced this aspect of…
Beautiful Bridges
Everyone in public works appreciates a beautiful bridge so I am passing on a link to the “16 Incredibly Colorful Bridges” post at the Color + Design Blog. This site is offering up inspiring photos/images of beautiful bridges from around the world and includes a color palette lifted from each image. Thanks to @bashley over…
Do Contractors Text?
Poor Jack, he could never get hold of me on the phone. Little surprise. We both work in construction and spend most of our day lining up work and crews, securing materials, overseeing projects out in the field, and dealing with the general problems that arise each day on a construction site. With all that,…