Click Here to view the full article written by Marty Malone, MBA, PC, Client Services Director, P. JOSEPH LEHMAN, Inc., Consulting Engineers

Public agencies nationwide are utilizing Public Private Partnerships (P3s) to allocate project risk and capital to build and repair critical transportation, water, airport, energy, military, and social infrastructure.  At the recently held P3 Federal Conference in Washington, D.C., infrastructure owners, consultants, contractors, and developers examined the financial, technical, and legal considerations that go into evaluating P3 as a project delivery option.  Infrastructure owners such as the cities of Chicago, Washington,

               Funding is a constant challenge for municipalities, especially when considering undertaking a large commitment like a transportation project.  To aide in these endeavors, a municipality may apply to the governments for cost reimbursement programs to alleviate a significant portion of the financial burden.  If your municipality meets certain criteria, it may be eligible to have as much as 95% of the total project costs funded.  Liquid fuels monies may also be used for local projects. 

PennDOT has finalized the details of the 2018 Transportation Alternatives Set-Aside funding and intends to allocate $55 million during this statewide funding round.  Eligible applicants may apply starting July 10th, all applications must be completed online on the webpage https://spportal.dot.pa.gov/planning/appreg/TAP/pages/default.aspx and must be submitted by September 22nd, with project selections being made in late January 2018.  Eligible applicants/sponsor include: local governments, regional transportation authorities, transit agencies, natural resource or public land agencies,

 By David Butterbaugh, Jr., P.L.S.

           A flood elevation certificate is an official document distributed by FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) that requires various measurements to determine elevations concerning your structure or property.  The elevations are to be compared with FEMA data devised from flood studies or assessed data in unstudied areas.  Many people, who own property in a floodplain or an area close to a river, stream or body of water, need a flood elevation certificate. 

          With spring, birds return for the summer, baseball practices begin, and we begin to once again see what some have dubbed the state flower of Pennsylvania along our roadways, the orange construction barrel.  As workers head out to maintain our over 250,000 miles of state-owned highways across the Commonwealth, safety measures are implemented by engineering designs, by contractors themselves, and by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.  Unfortunately, current safety measures have not prevented all deaths in work zones. 

               As we continue our series on Municipal Transportation Projects, we look at the planning and programming phase.  The importance of proper planning cannot be overlooked in any endeavor, more particularly one utilizing public funding.  We will begin by looking at the various organizations and lists utilized by both the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the Federal government. 

               Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPO) and Rural Planning Organizations (RPO) function as PennDOT planning partners on a local level,

Part I – Introduction

Municipalities in Pennsylvania that are responsible for bridges and roads are often faced with the challenge of extensive repairs or complete replacement of these facilities in order to maintain safety for the travelling public.   The process can be overwhelming to municipal leaders, especially those experiencing these types of projects for the first time. This includes all local governments, as well as local government agencies. The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation has developed a very complete process for municipal leaders to follow to complete local bridge or road projects.

P. Joseph Lehman, Inc., Consulting Engineers strongly believes in workplace diversity and creating opportunities for women and minorities. Elizabeth Heggi is a Professional Engineer employed by Lehman Engineers since 2010. In the following interview, Elizabeth sheds some light on overcoming challenges she faced as a woman in an industry often dominated by men.

QUESTION: “As a high-achieving student, you could have chosen any field of study in college. Why did you choose Civil Engineering versus other areas?

January.  Gym.  Diet. Organization.  Relationships.  Bad Habits.  These are areas in my life that I look to set goals around in the beginning of each year.  I join gyms, start eating more sensibly, start out getting myself organized, even quit smoking….but for some reason, I often don’t keep up with my good intentions.  I have done it a hundred times. “This is the year I am going to organized.” Or “This is the year I am going to lose weight.”