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New Drone Bill Legislation in Illinois

Interesting development in the Illinois Senate as a proposed bill is making its way through the review process. Senate Bill SB2849 proposes to allow Illinois municipalities to write local legislation to “…adopt reasonable rules…” related […]

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Tracking Open Job Issues (Version 2.0)

For the past several months, I’ve been working on a municipal improvement project. The project is located in a residential subdivision in a southwestern Chicago suburb and has required me to keep dozens of plates […]

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Tracking Open Job Issues (Version 2.0)

One of the key attributes of a good construction engineer is the ability to keep track of what is going on. Open loops. Tasks needing attention. What problems need solving. Who is solving them. I’ve […]

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Keep Paying It Forward

If you’ve been around the surveying world for the past few decades, you can appreciate how far and how fast the industry’s adoption of technology has changed the way we work. The instruments, the data […]

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Am I On the Right Path(s)?

You need to be doing fewer things for more effect instead of doing more things with side effects. Gary Keller, from “The One Thing” Mike Pertz captured this book excerpt from “The One Thing” by […]

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Rigging in Construction

I always enjoy reading articles that are just a bit outside of my day-to-day duties. I thought this article on rigging fit the bill. It’s good to hit the Refresh button occasionally, even if it’s […]

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Weekly Debrief – November 11, 2023

As I was debriefing this past week (and really, much of this past month…), it occurred to me that I ought to consider sharing my personal “Lessons Learned” with the crew, thinking & hoping that […]

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October, 2023 Book Stack

If you’ve been paying attention to my book stacks (and OF COURSE you are….), you might have been able to detect a pattern in how I assemble what I’m choosing to read. I try to […]

Honoring Firefighters

FROM THE ARCHIVES

  • ARCHIVES

    Asking the Simple Question – The Solution

    In my previous article (CLICK HERE to read it), I described the maturation of a piling bearing capacity issue that we had on a recent railroad bridge project. Let’s dive into getting the issues resolved. [...]
  • ARCHIVES

    Asking the Simple Questions – The Problem

    “Ego clouds and disrupts everything: the planning process, the ability to take good advice, and the ability to accept constructive criticism. It can even stifle someone’s sense of self-preservation. Often, the most difficult ego to [...]
  • ARCHIVES

    When Slopes Fail – Part 2

    In this, Part 2 of my series on slope stability & erosion control failures, I want to dissect another jobsite failure that one of our projects suffered through a couple of years ago. The conditions, [...]
  • ARCHIVES

    When Slopes Fail – Part 1

    There are some people I know, when talking about their “college days,” who can recite chapters & verses of classes they took. They can remember class numbers, people in the class, problems they solved, the [...]
  • ARCHIVES

    It’s More than a Line

    I wanted to write a post discussing a design issue that we encountered out here on our site. MicroStation, AutoCADD and the like are the daily tools of choice for almost all designers, and no [...]
  • ARCHIVES

    The Risk of Traffic – Final Chapter

    So as I’ve developed in the last 2 posts, traffic control on a construction project exposes just about everyone involved in the process to RISK. A motorcycle accident in 2008 sent me through the legal [...]
  • ARCHIVES

    The Risk of Traffic – Part 2

    As I developed in my last post, engineers in construction are often-times thrust into situations of RISK that, in many instances, are completely beyond their direct control. I’m going to take you on a tour [...]

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