معلومــة

HDR Principal Economist Chris Behr completed a multiyear research initiative to determine how economic analysis can contribute to equity assessments of infrastructure projects. Funded through HDR’s  Fellowship Program , the work culminated in an economic method, called  Social Equity Value Analysis , which better accounts for the value of projects to disadvantaged communities and people with lower incomes. The SEVA method was reviewed and endorsed by an advisory panel of leading subject matter experts including academics and federal, state and local agency economists and engineers. “SEVA reveals a more complete measure of the value of projects in ways that a benefit-cost analysis cannot, especially for people with lower incomes,” Behr said. “The results add important new perspectives on projects for infrastructure owners and state and federal funding agencies, which aim to account for equity in implementation decisions.” SEVA is a benefit-cost analysis weighted by the incom...

St. Louis, MO – American architect, writer and educator Frank Lloyd Wright famously said, “Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature, it will never fail you.” Incorporating natural elements and designing around natural landscapes became the inspiration behind many of Wright’s iconic home designs of the early to mid-1900s. Today, biophilic design – the practice of reconnecting people and nature within the built environment – is alive and well in higher education spaces, and for good reason. “Wright was right. Nature never fails to inspire us. People have a natural instinct to want to connect with nature. In a modern world where students spend much of their time indoors in manufactured environments, incorporating elements of nature within the spaces they frequent can have a positive impact on their overall physical and mental well-being,” said Paul Wuennenberg, KWK Architects Principal and higher education design expert.  Incorporating vegetation in a design can be one of ...

WASHINGTON, DC  – Ryan Sherman, Ph.D., P.E., assistant professor in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology, presented the 2023 Robert J. Dexter Memorial Award Lecture to members of the Steel Bridge Task Force on September 21, 2023, in Denver, Colorado. His lecture topic was “Evaluation of Steel Additive Manufacturing Experimental Results.” Dr. Sherman was selected as the recipient of the 2023 Robert J. Dexter Memorial Award Lecture by the Steel Bridge Task Force of the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI), the National Steel Bridge Alliance (NSBA), and the American Association of State and Highway Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Steel and Metals Technical Committee. The program was instituted in 2005 in memory of Robert J. Dexter, an associate professor of civil engineering at the University of Minnesota, who was an internationally recognized expert on steel fracture and fatigue problems in bridges. The Robert J. Dexter...

The Clark County Public Transit Benefit Area Authority has officially opened The Vine on Mill Plain, a bus rapid transit line in the Vancouver, Washington, area that was designed by an HDR-led team. In a Sept. 30 grand opening event sponsored in part by HDR, the community celebrated the opening of its second BRT line. Service began Oct. 1. The Mill Plain BRT Project is a $50 million project that runs approximately 10 miles along Mill Plain Boulevard between historic downtown Vancouver and the growing Columbia Tech Center in East Vancouver. HDR has been with C-TRAN every step of the way, from planning through final design, helping C-TRAN to secure Federal Transit Administration Capital Investment Grant funding, and continuing into construction and implementation support. “It is gratifying to see this project come to life,” said Tom Shook, HDR’s Oregon business development leader, who also led HDR’s design services on the project. “Through our design, we worked to ensure that the pro...

WALNUT CREEK, Calif. — Brown and Caldwell proudly announce the Water Environment Federation (WEF) has awarded vice president and industrial water expert Houston Flippin the prestigious W. Wesley Eckenfelder Industrial Water Quality Lifetime Achievement Award. The award recognizes and honors an individual who has made substantial and measurable engineering, scientific, and/or operations contributions to managing or treating industrial wastes to improve water quality. A renowned pioneer of industrial wastewater management, WEF created the award in 2007 to honor the late W. Wesley Eckenfelder Jr. Eckenfelder was a prolific writer, influencing countless engineers through his many textbooks, hundreds of journal articles, and courses. One such engineer is Flippin, who achieved a master’s degree in environmental and water resource engineering and a bachelor’s in civil and environmental engineering from Vanderbilt University under the tutelage of Eckenfelder. The impact Eckenfelder has ...

IRVING, Texas – The Plastics Pipe Institute, Inc. (PPI) has released a new technical document that reports on the association’s findings about the compatibility of plastic piping materials with chlorine dioxide (CIO 2 ) when used in hot- and cold-water plumbing distribution systems. Prepared by PPI’s Building & Construction Division, PPI TN-67 Chlorine Dioxide and Plastic Hot- And Cold- Water Plumbing Distribution Pipes focuses on the application of chlorine dioxide within buildings and its potential effects on plastic hot- and cold-water plumbing distribution pipe materials. While chlorine dioxide is rarely used as a secondary (i.e., residual) water disinfectant in public potable water systems, in certain types of large facilities such as hospitals, nursing homes, hotels, apartment buildings, and large office buildings, it is sometimes added to plumbing distribution systems to treat or control outbreaks of harmful bacteria such as Legionella which can occur in these systems. I...

Tarzana, CA ―  Providence Cedars-Sinai Tarzana Medical Center  has opened its new patient tower, the centerpiece of an extensive and ongoing hospital expansion and modernization plan.     Named for the Donald Friese family in recognition of their $50 million donation to the building’s construction, the five-story 200,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art Friese Family Tower welcomed its first patients on Sunday, Oct. 1, 2023.  “The Friese Family Tower marks the beginning of a new era of health care in the San Fernando Valley,” said Nick Lymberopoulos, chief executive at Providence Cedars-Sinai Tarzana Medical Center. “When we began construction on this building six years ago, we said we wanted to create a modern, full-service health care campus that could offer Valley residents incredible care incredibly close to home. Today, this vision has become a reality. We are grateful to the team at Cedars-Sinai, our physicians, caregivers, donors, partners, and the ...