A new era both in philosophy and practice began this year, and it couldn’t have come at a more complicated time, as the energies of engineers and transportation professionals are focused already on reconciling the push of new technologies and social issues with the pull of engrained techniques built on historic foundations. Even as much-needed money for projects comes down the pike and firms jockey for position, all must remain cognizant of the political roadblocks and harsh economic realities that could materialize down the road. Rebuilding America’s Infrastructure (RAI) is here to help you at each mile marker, and in this our inaugural issue, we thought it best to take a step back and evaluate the state of this evolving industry in order to help you put your best foot forward.

To determine the state of the industry, we developed an independent, comprehensive online survey that subscribers to CE News and Structural Engineer were invited to take. From a total of 555 respondents, we culled the responses of 177 professionals working specifically with bridges and roads, and this group is represented here. Using a variety of question methods, we covered topics such as:

• the current economic conditions in the United States;
• prevalent feelings about the civil and structural engineering industries — including market activity, technology, sustainability, and responses to the Obama Administration’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA); and
• the effects of today’s markets on employers and individuals directly.

RAI had full control of the questions asked in the survey, owns the data, and conducted the analysis. From that analysis, we confirmed and uncovered trends, knowledge-gaps, and sentiments that will guide our editorial vision and put your viewpoints and professional needs into broader perspective.

Who responded?
The bulk of the respondents had more than 20 years experience (71 percent) as a transportation professional. Respondents’ titles ranged considerably, but the most common were president/CEO/owner (16 percent), project manager (15 percent), senior design manager (13 percent), project engineer (13 percent), and senior project manager (12 percent).

Likewise, the types of employers ranged dramatically: full-service consultant (including many disciplines, such as architecture, engineering, planning, and land surveying) (22 percent); civil engineering, structural engineering and land surveying (12 percent); full-service engineering (including only engineering disciplines such as civil, structural, mechanical, and electrical) (11 percent); civil engineering and land surveying (9 percent); DOT (9 percent); and municipal or county government (9 percent).

Finally, the size of respondents’ firms/organizations reflected the industry in general, ranging from two to five employees (16 percent) to more than 10,000 employees (11 percent).

Economy & nation
Asked about the U.S. economy, the responses of engineers and transportation professionals were in line with the nation as a whole, as compared with recent results from the Gallup Poll. From our survey, 29 percent of respondents think economic conditions in this country are getting better. According to Gallup Poll results from March 16-18, a similar portion of people (26 percent) share that optimism. Interestingly, the Gallup Poll number has almost doubled since mid-February, when only 15 percent of the nation thought the economy was improving.

Increased positivity is also evident in the Gallup Poll’s Consumer Mood Index, which takes the net of current economic conditions and economic outlook measures. As of March 16, the Consumer Mood Index had reached its best level since September 2008. Likewise, 75 percent of respondents to our survey are feeling hopeful about the future.

Unfortunately, this buoyancy does not translate to satisfaction with how things are going in the United States all together. Only 15 percent of respondents to this survey are satisfied with how things are going in the U.S., compared with 22 percent of respondents to the Gallup Poll.

Federal funding & policy
When it comes to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), only a small percentage (16 percent) of respondents agreed that they understood completely how the ARRA would affect their business. Not surprisingly, a majority of respondents expressed interest in learning more about how funds from the stimulus package will be allocated, particularly at state and local levels.

Asked if the stimulus package will positively impact the industry during the next few years, transportation professionals were not unified in their responses. Though most respondents thought the ARRA would positively impact their jobs (46 percent) and create more work by 2010 (48 percent), a considerable percentage didn’t agree. Twenty-nine percent felt the ARRA would not positively impact their jobs and 26 percent thought it wouldn’t create more work by 2010. Roughly a quarter of respondents truthfully answered, “I don’t know” when asked about the possible effects of the stimulus package.

This segmentation is attributable to the amount of work the respondents’ firms have done in public versus private sectors since 2006, and how those distributions are expected to shift going forward. During the next three years, though the number of firms doing 100 percent of their work in the public sector is expected to drop slightly, a shift from private-only work to a combination of public-private work is expected to be the dominant trend, with the majority of work being done in the public sector.

But whichever sector draws the most work in the future, respondents’ most pressing concern is weathering the remainder of 2009.

Firms & organizations
During the last six months: almost 90 percent of respondents’ firms experienced projects going on hold; more than 30 percent had layoffs or downsizing events; and more than 15 percent of respondents’ firms acquired another firm. Further, more than half of respondents agreed that the greatest challenges their firm or organization face in 2009 are keeping a backlog of work, followed by maintaining staff (15 percent).

But while most respondents (49 percent) expect their firm or organization’s income to decrease in 2009, most respondents (44 percent) also expect their personal salaries to stay the same. That said, 64 percent of respondents said they have incurred an increase in medical coverage costs — co-payments, deductibles, or portions paid for coverage — during the last 12 months.

When it comes to job security and workload, survey-takers were somewhat split. Most respondents (68 percent) felt more secure than not about their job without the threat of a downsizing event in the coming year, and a similar percentage (68 percent) agreed that they had enough work to do, or even more than enough.

Of this work, respondents’ firms are pursuing projects in roadways, stormwater, highways, and bridges, which are considered to be the markets with the greatest potential. As for green or sustainable projects, most respondents (42 percent) agreed that the downturn has affected clients’ interest in such projects.

Emerging technologies
While more than 90 percent of respondents are familiar with building information modeling (BIM), only 30 percent of respondents’ firms or organizations have used BIM on projects. When asked what percentage of employer’s projects use BIM, most (44 percent) answered none. That said, the pervasion of the process during the next few decades is believed inevitable, with the majority of survey takers (78 percent) thinking it will take 15 years at most before 50 percent of the AEC industry uses BIM on a regular basis.

Though not quite as well understood or employed, integrated project delivery (IPD) is also expected to spread throughout the industry during the next two decades at a similar pace.

Overall, most respondents (32 percent) thought 3D modeling would have the biggest impact on the industry during the next five to 10 years, followed by GIS/CAD interchange (24 percent).

Wouldn’t have it any other way
For a group whose opinions differ on numerous areas of significance, from the economy to the effectiveness of the new administration’s policies toward infrastructure, one question in particular led to an encouragingly near-unanimous response: When asked whether they were still glad to be engineers, more than 90 percent said yes.

For more information, consult the Funding & Policy section of the website, which provides answers to your ARRA and SAFETEA-LU questions.