CMA Vice President Jose L. Acosta, Vice President Jason McClair and Senior Engineer Gregory Mendez attended the Birdies for Birch Golf Tournament on April 26 at the Fort Lauderdale Country Club. CMA served as a Corporate Foursome sponsor. Proceeds benefitted Friends of Birch State Park. For more information, please visit https://birchstatepark.org/
April 17, 2021
Peter Moore, P.E., F.ASCE, ENV SP, LEED AP
President, Chen Moore and Associates
Last week: To obtain my civil engineering degrees, I was only required to take two classes about traffic and transportation practices. It may not seem like a lot, but it’s two more than everyone on the Florida House Commerce Committee has taken, and yet, they seemed to think that passing House Bill 1113 last week was a good idea. This bill requires the removal of yellow flashing lights at crosswalks, in favor of changing them to red lights. Federal standards do not allow red lights, so the flashing lights will be removed. Why throw out years of practice for political posturing?
Looking ahead: I’m preparing to get my second COVID-19 Pfizer shot, like many of my colleagues and clients. I’ve noticed, though, that CDC guidelines have barely moved even when including those who are vaccinated. How is a business supposed to “get back to normal” when the CDC guidelines don’t factor in those who voluntarily vaccinated? We strongly believe in personal choice and freedoms, but as things get back to “normal,” quarantining after a flight or international travel is going to become onerous, particularly if those employees are vaccinated. The “new normal” needs to have at least a little normal in it.
April 9, 2021
Peter Moore, P.E., F.ASCE, ENV SP, LEED AP
President, Chen Moore and Associates
Last week: I was very disappointed in the House State Affairs Committee this past week. In a 12-8 vote, they moved HB 1131 through the committee. The sole purpose of the bill is to remove the requirements for the State University System to follow FS 287.055 – the Consultant’s Competitive Negotiation Act. This state law requires public agencies to hire architects and engineers on qualifications first and price second. Do you want your high-rise building or bridge designed by the lowest bidder? This is required for federal funding and is overall bad policy – why start the slippery slope?
Looking ahead: Next week, we’ll continue to see the state House and Senate get together on budget appropriations. With water in the forefront of everyone’s policy, right now only about 12 of the hundreds of budget requests are in the draft funding list in both chambers. While this isn’t a death sentence for these projects, it is a step in the wrong direction. The appropriation requests were already reduced with the impacts from COVID unknown at the end of 2020. The time for our Legislature to get together and make water a priority is now.
CMA Project Landscape Architect Stefan Bortak, RLA, ASIC, CID will participate as a guest speaker in the STEMpossible Speaker Series sponsored by Valencia College on April 8 at 7 p.m. The online event will feature a panel of six guests representing the diversity of careers in engineering fields including: mechanical, electrical, civil engineering, landscape architecture, computer software and systems engineering. The event is geared towards current students as an opportunity to interact with and gain insights from experts in engineering and computer technology fields.
Stefan has over 16 years of project experience that includes parks, sports facilities, university campuses, urban streetscapes, transportation projects, and community master planning. He worked full-time while attending UCF, where he completed a BS in Interdisciplinary Studies, fusing his passions for engineering and the arts, and earning a minor in Business Administration. Details available at: http://tinyurl.com/stemengine21
April 2, 2021
Peter Moore, P.E., F.ASCE, ENV SP, LEED AP
President, Chen Moore and Associates
Last week: As the “infrastructure guy” in the SF100, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the $2 Trillion Infrastructure Plan unveiled by the president this week. The problem with the figure is that, of that money, half is allocated toward elderly/disabled programs and research, development and job training. While I certainly find value in the latter, they are not capital investments in infrastructure. This result in the program only achieving about 40% of what the ASCE Report Card on America’s Infrastructure unveiled just a couple weeks ago. It’s a start, but I worry that it will be too little too late.
Looking ahead: Sticking with the topic of infrastructure, but this time putting the emphasis on the political will to make the necessary investments. In less than 20 years, not properly funding infrastructure will cost America $10 trillion, over 3 million jobs and nearly $3.4 trillion in exports. It’s a frustrating world as an engineer when we know how to fix these problems, and we hear our politicians saying they want to give the general public the best, but they are unwilling to make those tough choices. It’s not a matter of if, but when, we need to act.
CMA President Peter Moore, P.E., F.ASCE, ENV SP, LEED AP had a busy Tuesday! He guest lectured for a University of Florida Senior level Civil Engineering Cost Estimating class on Risk Management, Overhead and Contingency, then spoke at the 2021 NASTT Conference about the NSF-61 Liners installed as part of the Hillsboro Beach Water Main Replacement Project. https://pheedloop.com/nodigshow/site/home/ http://www.ufl.edu/
CMA President and CEO Peter Moore, P.E., F.ASCE, ENV SP, LEED AP, Vice President Jose L. Acosta, P.E., F.ASCE and Associate Engineer Carlos Tijerino served as judges for the ASCE Southeast Student Conference Concrete Canoe Competition on March 25-26. Nancy Lehr, P.E. of Moffat and Nicol in Virginia and Dave Livingston, P.E. of Brasfield and Gorrie in Tennessee also served as judges. The virtual event was hosted by Vanderbilt School of Engineering and students from over 14 schools participated in the competition. The goal of the event is to provide civil engineering students with an opportunity to gain hands-on, practical experience and leadership skills by working with concrete mix designs and project management. https://engineering.vanderbilt.edu/cee/se-asce2021/events/national/concreteCanoe.php
March 26, 2021
Peter Moore, P.E., F.ASCE, ENV SP, LEED AP
President, Chen Moore and Associates
Last week: This past Tuesday, it was a little breezy in South Florida, but in Egypt, there were sandstorms hitting with 50 mph gusts. Why is that important? Because that day, the Ever Given, one of the world’s largest ships, lost power and became grounded at an angle, effectively blocking the Suez Canal. A very important trade route, this blockage impacts nearly 100 ships a day. This may have impacts to oil pricing in Europe and may delay semiconductor delivery in the United States. Next time someone brings up infrastructure, please don’t forget just how interconnected this world is.
Looking ahead: As the details of President Biden’s Build Back Better infrastructure stimulus come to light, it appears that an infrastructure package would include roughly $1 trillion for roads, bridges, rail lines, electrical vehicle charging stations and the cellular network, among other items. The goal would be to facilitate the shift to cleaner energy while improving economic competitiveness. I’m a pretty fiscally conservative person, but I know that the design and construction of infrastructure improvements like these has a significant return on investment that extends well past those in the hard hats. Let’s embrace infrastructure as our future.
