Ahead of the Curve

Featured Designer(s) - January 2010

by Dallas Harris

At the end of 2009 we began running the Featured Designer piece. While there’s been a lot of very positive feedback from readers about the content and the people we’ve chosen, we are still looking to shine a spotlight on a standout designers in the Transportation segment of the Civil Engineering industry. So, if you think you have the right stuff (or know someone who does) to be the Featured Designer, drop me a quick email introducing yourself and you might just be our next Featured Designer.

To start 2010 off, we are looking inside Transoft Solutions at two in-house designers, Steven Chan, EIT and Billy Chan EIT (no relation). These guys are doing some great work and under Senior Engineer, Daniel Shihundu, P.Eng., MIHT. Their abilities and their work has helped create some of the recent innovations here at Transoft Solutions.

Read more

British Columbia to get more roundabouts?

Victoria's Times Colonist newspaper ran a series on roundabouts recently. In writer Steve Wallace's examination of the circular intersection, he reports that the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (a provincially owned corporation) likes the safety aspect of the roundabout so much that they are willing to front CAD$100,000 towards the conversion of existing intersections. This may mean more roundabouts for British Columbia roads.

You can read the story here and comment below

Editors Note: Just because Vancouver, BC is hosting the Olympics, I hope no engineer with a bad sense of humour designs a modified roundabout that looks like the Olympic rings. Come to think of it, I'd love to see that drawn in CAD.

Please give what you can in support of relief for Haiti

We’ve seen the images, heard the stories, and felt the tragedy that has fallen on the people Haiti in the wake of the January 12, 2010 earthquake. Although rescue personnel, aid organizations, and military assistance, have been arriving there is still much to be done in order to rebuild the communities and lives of the Haitian people.  

In the spirit of humanitarianism, the folks at Transoft Solutions have raised $2820 for the Haitian relief effort. We encourage you to give what you can and support a registered aid organization (we’ve listed a few below, but there are more).    

Thank you,
Your Friends at Transoft Solutions

Canada:
Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)
Canadian Red Cross
Care Canada
Oxfam Canada
World Vision Canada  

United States:
American Red Cross
clintonbushhaitifund.org
CARE
World Vision USA  

International: United Nations Foundation

Call for Comments: What are the Top Transportation Engineering Trends for 2010?

A new year and a new decade. As 2010 unfurls, the traffic engineering industry and the technology that surrounds it is inevitably going to see some changes. Although the economy was the most discussed, and inescapable, topic in 2009, it was a year in which there were many interesting trends. Susan Smith at AECcafe noted some of the top trends were BIM, cloud computing, social media, 3D modeling and visualization, in addition to multi-core workstations just to name a few. But, what about this year? Will it be a continuation of the a fore mentioned trends? Is it be the beginning of the age of roundabouts and diverging diamond interchanges? Is there going to be migration towards mobile workstations?

Leave us your comments about what you think the top trends in Transportation Engineering for 2010 will be.