Underground Contracts for the 21st Century
Noting that support for the guidelines for underground construction put forth by ASCE's Underground Technology Council has been eroding, the author addresses current issues...
Project Quality
Quality means that you must listen to the client. You are not the last word, especially when it comes to the budget, the design fee, and the parameters of the project on which you are...
Managing Projects for Profit
The section on Project Quality described the necessary steps that must be taken to ensure quality. Namely, ensuring that the project be completed within budget, on time, and that it meet...
Cross Section 90's?A Profile of User Fee Funded Stormwater Utility Practices in the U.S.
The task of securing adequate tax funding to support a stormwater drainage system regarding operating and capital needs is discussed. An innovative and practical solution was arrived at;...
Marketing Strategies for Engineers
Engineers face the constant challenge of informing the public and their potential users of their capabilities and the benefits that may be achieved from their services.
Recent Developments in Innovative Finance
A major challenge facing state and local transportation officials is the shortfall in financial resources to respond to increasing needs. It is becoming increasingly difficult for traditional...
Conquering China: The Canadian Combination
Canadian architectural/engineering firms are doing hundreds of millions of dollars of consulting business in the People's Republic of China. Their advantages include well-connected...
The Use of Road Impact Fees in the United States
The roads of American cities have been subjected to ever increasing traffic while maintenance and improvement programs have lagged. The result have been deterioration of roads and brisges,...
Traffic Impact Fees in Schaumburg, Illinois
Schaumburg, Illinois, a suburban employment center northwest of Chicago, developed a traffic impact fee program 13 years ago. The program has met with little resistance from developers....
The Traffic Impact Study and Traffic Impact Fees
The Traffic Impact Study (TIS) identifies roadway improvements, and roadway improvement costs, which are required to adequately serve total traffic volumes after completion of a particular...
The Application and Use of Impact Fees: Legal Issues
Local governments in the United States are empowered, in varying degrees to regulate land use and to provide adequate public facilities to serve new growth. To meet the substantial costs...
Stormwater Management by Utility Approach
Traditional methods of financing municipal stormwater operations and improvements through general city fund revenues has passed. A utility approach providing a continuous, uniform flow...
Alternatives to Fee Simple Acquisition of Property for Estuarine Reserves
The purpose of the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 (CZMA), was to encourage and assist state management of coastal areas consistent with federal guidelines. Section 315 of the CZMA...
Impact Fees: Florida's Link Between Growth, Road Improvements, and Financing
Impact fees are one mechanism by which local governments can obtain additional revenue needed to construct major roads demanded by the consequences of new development. In Florida, the...
UNIX: Its Promise and Its Problems
AT&T's computer operating system, UNIX, has long been considered the answer to the transportability, training, and non-uniformity problems of modern computer operating...
Street Fares
An argument is made for imposing user fees to amass funds for repair and maintenance of local roads and streets. These infrastructure services have to compete for local general property...
Funding Streets as a Public Utility
A group of public works professionals in Washington State met in 1982 to explore using the public utility approach to street and transportation system funding. Since that time several...
Application of User Charges
Local government administrators across the country are increasingly interested in improving the application of user-based charges by documenting the costs of service provided to internal...
Rehab: More Art than Science
A survey of structural/civil engineers revealed that low fees are the major problem in structural rehabilitation work. Other concerns are unforseen conditions, inadequate investigation,...
Financing Civil Works with User Fees
User fees for civil works projects insure that the primary beneficiaries of facilities pay for them. These fees are a way of imposing financial discipline on capital projects. The author...
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