ASCE members participated in a third survey this spring to assess pandemic-related effects on the civil engineering industry.
The COVID-19 Impact and Implementation Survey, compiled by Industry Insights for ASCE, collected feedback from 836 Society members between May 26 and 28.
The results paint an interesting picture – one where the initial shock of the pandemic has faded into a realization that the effects on the...
Uncertainty is the dominant theme right now in the construction industry.
The COVID-19 pandemic this spring has fundamentally changed the way the business works – from supply chains to project schedules.
“Construction’s always interesting. There’s always a problem to solve,” said Joseph Hellenbrand, P.E., M.ASCE, engineer at Capital Project Management Inc., based near Philadelphia.
“This is like a next-level problem to solve, dealing with all these different...
Joe DiPompeo starts work these days with a new morning routine.
“I walk into the office every single morning with a disinfectant wipe in my hand,” said DiPompeo, P.E., F.SEI, F.ASCE, president-elect of ASCE's Structural Engineering Institute, and founder and president of Structural Workshop LLC, a structural engineering and building firm in Mountain Lakes, New Jersey.
“I wipe the doorknob and then work my way through...
ARCHITECTURE, ENGINEERING, and construction (AEC) forecasters are struggling to comprehend the economic hardship that is likely to arise from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and resulting market influences. Although signs of a mild slowdown were prevalent before the pandemic, previous forecasts can be “thrown out the window,” says Richard Branch, the chief economist at Dodge Data & Analytics, of Bedford, Massachusetts.
Several recent surveys of industry...
KEEPING CONSTRUCTION personnel safe on-site during the COVID-19 pandemic is serious business. From safety guidelines to make transmission of the virus less likely to technology that enables heightened remote monitoring and site review, companies are working to ensure that construction sites remain safe as work continues or shuts down.
On March 25, the Construction Industry Safety Coalition (CISC) published guidance documents for construction employers and...
Every day in April, ASCE Plot Points is calling a different civil engineer from around the world to find out how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting their life, their community, their work and the civil engineering profession.
Thirty days. Thirty phone calls.
Community Call 25 closes our mini-series talking with young civil engineers working in Los Angeles. Mario Martinez is a field engineer for the LINX...
DURING WHAT MIGHT turn out to have been the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic, several engineering firms told Civil Engineering magazine that all, or nearly all, of their employees were working from home, relying on computer screens, internet connections, and other technology to stay in touch with one another and keep servicing their clients.
Added to that anecdotal data are the results of a survey...
ON APRIL 1, Governor Larry Hogan of Maryland announced that despite the COVID-19 outbreak, a portion of the William Preston Lane Jr. Memorial Bridge’s current rehabilitation project finished ahead of schedule. The dual-span bridge, which crosses the Chesapeake Bay and connects Maryland’s Eastern Shore to the western part of the state, is commonly referred to as the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. Like many construction projects...
THE FULL IMPACT of the COVID-19 global pandemic on the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry will not be known for many years. Yet it is already clear that many construction projects are experiencing partial delays or full stoppages as the pandemic spreads across the globe. In North America, associations and companies have organized surveys and created tools to help the AEC industry better...
A NONPROFIT COALITION of architects, engineers, doctors, and other experts has launched a method for turning freight shipping containers into intensive care units (ICUs) to treat patients with COVID-19.
Called CURAs (connected units for respiratory ailments), the pods are as easy to set up as medical tents but provide the added protection of negative air pressure, according to a March press release issued by Carlo...
