Design engineers are expected to meet an accepted standard of care, which provides assurance that reasonable care and quality of service have been performed by the professional. Although this expectation exists for engineers in the design of urban stream restoration projects, no guidelines currently exist that provide the design engineer with a reasonable set of expectations. In this paper, a guideline for a standard of care appropriate to urban stream restoration projects is developed based on skills and knowledge needed by the design engineer that have been identified in prior studies. Communication between the design engineer and the funding and permitting agencies is critical to agree upon and acknowledge the standard of care expectations prior to a project start.

The ongoing climate of fiscal limitations coupled with increased infrastructure demand poses significant challenges for state DOTs. Most face continuing pressure to meet the increasing infrastructure demands of their state with limited resources. Professional services consultant procurement and contract administration are significant and important components of the infrastructure delivery process. How these professional services contracts are procured and managed can have a substantial impact on organizational resources, personnel efficiency and effectiveness, consultant performance, and infrastructure cost and quality. This paper investigates the current practice of the departments of transportation in seven states, interviews subject matter experts, evaluates scholarly work by industry and academic professionals, and examines previous studies to develop 12 best practices for the procurement and contract administration of professional services consultants. The study identified 12 best practices in the following areas: strategic planning; quality management; professional services management structure; standardization; operations manual, training and certification; automation; contract-specific procurement plans; indefinite delivery contracts; lump sum contracting; and performance metrics.

The development and widespread implementation of best practices in transportation engineering classrooms is important in attracting and retaining the next generation of transportation engineers. Engineering education professionals have uncovered many best practices in the field; however, the process of effectively disseminating and ultimately achieving the widespread adoption of these best practices by others is not yet well understood. Sixty participants, including faculty members, Ph.D. students, and public-sector employees, attended a transportation engineering education workshop convened in Seattle to promote the collaborative development and adoption of active learning and conceptual exercises in the introduction to transportation engineering class. Participant assessments were conducted in the form of presurvey, postsurvey, and follow-up survey. Results showed immediately positive shifts in participant beliefs about the importance of active learning and conceptual exercises, with declines during the follow-up period, an increased density and connectivity of curriculum-development networks, and extensive reports of valuable experiences and influences from the workshop.

There is anecdotal evidence that the adoption of building information modeling (BIM) is on the increase. However, the extent to which quantity surveyors (QS) (also referred to as cost consultants or cost engineers) are now using BIM features is not clear. The research reported in this paper was aimed at understanding the BIM experience of QS firms and cost consultants in Australia as well as to understand the progress they have made towards the use of BIM features. Data collection was a web-based survey of 180 QS firms with 40 responses and two in-depth interviews. Findings from the study show that BIM features are not readily used by QS firms owing to uncertainties concerning the integrity of three-dimensional (3D) models issued by designers, incomplete information in models, lack of knowledge concerning new business processes to drive the use of BIM use, lack of demand by clients, cost of implementing BIM features within the existing practice and learning time required to adopt BIM features. It appears that most of the firms have experience in computer aided take-off with two-dimensional (2D) drawing in the project’s front end tasks such as cost planning and bill of quantities. Most of them have little experience with automated extraction of quantities using 3D models. Only one experience the use of BIM features in contract administration duties. 3D computer-aided drawing (CAD) drawings are used only for visualization. In many BIM-based projects reported, cost consultants were not issued the 3D BIM developed by designers; instead, 2D drawings were issued to the QS for quantity take-off and cost estimation. In cases where automatic quantity extraction was performed using 3D models, there seems to be lack of clarity concerning the time savings achieved because the QS spent more time checking the accuracy of the 3D model prior to quantity extraction as well as sorting, and splitting take-off items. In the absence of trust in the integrity of 3D models, QS would prefer to use the manual on screen take-off using 2D drawings and 3D for visualization. Also, in the absence of industry-wide standard for classifying, and coding construction works, QS would have no incentive to switch to five-dimensional (5D) BIM estimating. Ways of increasing the use of BIM features by QS are highlighted.

Many attempts have been made to thoroughly understand the lean approach and its application in construction. Among these efforts, the Toyota way model is viewed as an appropriate approach that pinpoints various aspects of lean, covering long-term philosophy, process, people and partners, and problem solving. Adopting the Toyota way model, this paper investigates the impact of the implementation of Toyota way on the quality and productivity performance of large construction firms in China. Based on the fieldwork involving a questionnaire survey conducted in China, stepwise regression was used to determine which of the Toyota way–style practices lead to predictors of project quality and productivity. This paper provides insights for improving the implementation of the Toyota way in the construction industry. The results show that different practices may affect specific performance measures. Chinese construction firms should therefore prioritize resources and efforts to implement the critical principles identified to enhance performance. For example, if construction firms in China wish to focus on project quality achievement, the critical factors are as follows: be responsible for products, employees, and society (from the philosophy model); the project manager plans the work with input from other parties; reject defective materials, components, and equipment; the workplace follows 5S principles (from the process model); work with partners to improve project effectiveness; take part in partners’ production process (from the people and partner model); and conduct kaizen activities (from the problem-solving model).

The goal of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of a physical desktop learning module and associated activities and assessments (DLM&A) implemented in an undergraduate engineering class. Preassessments and postassessments designed as part of this study were implemented within a control group that participated in 11 interactive lecture sessions covering open channel flow, and an experimental group that participated in nine lectures and two 50-minute sessions with the DLM&A. Student responses on assessments provide strong evidence to suggest students’ conceptual understanding increased significantly when the DLM&A is implemented. The experimental group registered a gain of 0.57 out of 1.0 possible, with 70% of the students achieving minimum competency, compared to a respective 0.26 gain and 39% competency for the control group. The average effect size for the experimental group was $d=0.98$. Qualitative assessments show experimental group students were much more likely to correct their conceptual justifications on written responses than control group students.

Improving the performance of risk management has become necessary, and the concerns over the teaching of risk management are increasing. This research aims to explore the key contents of a risk management course and provide a method for course improvement. Whether or not the practitioners’ expectation matches reality was investigated via survey questionnaires. Data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, and a $t$-test and 31 items were identified as key contents. It is recommended that educators could improve the course by focusing on the practitioners’ expectations, reality, and/or the gap between them. An expectation-reality distribution map is provided as a guide to steer construction risk management course development, which could benefit other fields where risk management has been highlighted for improvement. The research findings presented in this paper can be used to optimize risk management course design, development, and delivery, and to improve risk management practice.

In 2001, the Hong Kong government implemented a concession policy allowing green and amenity features to be exempted from gross floor area (GFA) calculations in new residential properties. There have recently been community concerns that developers are using this policy to substantially increase the floor area of buildings. In the 2010–2011 policy address, the Hong Kong government decided to tighten the existing policy. This paper attempts to estimate the efficacy of the proposed GFA concession policy. Five case studies are selected to demonstrate the change in GFA concession. It is found that the proposed GFA concessionary has a positive effect in controlling the height and bulk of buildings, and a reduction of approximately 4.58% GFA concession can be achieved, compared to the existing policy. However, some negative effects are also created, including the increase of housing price (or the drop of land auction price) and the discouragement of green features.