May 11, 2012 at 10:52 AM by Envista
America's infrastructure is crumbling with potentially deadly consequences. CNBC reveals how our nation's bridges, road and pipelines are in desperate need of repair and searches for solutions to the crisis.
About the Show
Infrastructure is defined as “the underlying foundation or basic framework of a system or organization.” In the United States, those systems, the backbones of our highways, bridges, levees, power grids and pipelines are crumbling. The American Society of Civil Engineers has given our nation’s infrastructure a near failing grade of “D” overall. Trillions may be needed to rebuild critical public infrastructure. If not, more catastrophic failures similar to the Minneapolis I-35W Bridge Collapse in 2007 and the San Bruno, Calif., gas transmission line explosion in September of 2010 could occur.
In the CNBC Original Production “Race To Rebuild: America’s Infrastructure,” Michelle Caruso-Cabrera takes viewers inside the infrastructure problem and asks the experts and policy makers what’s being done to put the nation back on track. Should the private sector be enlisted to help rebuild failing infrastructure? Will President Obama’s proposed $50 billion in funding for fixing roads, bridges, rail lines and airports be enough? “Race to Rebuild: America’s Infrastructure” searches for innovative answers to a national crisis.
We invite your comments.
Watch the Full Episode Here
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April 11, 2012 at 1:08 PM by envista
As seen in Smart Shift/Executive/Financial Post
ISSUE: Canadian cities need to replace their aging infrastructure to accommodate new weather patterns, shifting demographics and social trends
SHIFT: Collaborative planning that transcends municipal departments and develops a holistic approach to emerging challenges is putting a new spin on infrastructure development
The Baby Boom did more than create an aging and overabundant population. It generated the birth of often hastily established municipal infrastructure that has long been showing its age.
Today’s infrastructure is no longer up to the task of handling population growth, urban intensification and climate change. For the most part, experts say, it is outdated, overburdened and too “heavy” for the 21st century world.
“The infrastructure model was developed from ideas that date back to the 19th century, were pioneered in the 1920s and didn’t come into use until the 1950s,” says Luigi Ferrara, director of the Centre for Arts & Design at George Brown College in Toronto.
At the time it was all about spreading out neighbourhoods and creating zones for industry and commercial activities, with a few parks thrown into the mix, he says. “What we are building is simply too heavy for this society to bear and not allowing us to go forward.”
Even the economics are at a standstill, according to Dr. Robert MacDermid, associate professor of political science at York University in Toronto. “Now that we’ve built out, there is no more money to be made from development charges. And the sewers and water systems put in place 50 years ago did not anticipate the growth we’ve experienced in urban areas. Everything is destined to be extremely costly.”
The suburbs are as problematic as urban centres, says Larry Beasley, founding principal of Beasley and Associates in Vancouver and former director of planning for Vancouver. “Standards are outdated and infrastructure has not been targeted for sustainable performance in terms of energy, water and waste management. It’s a combination of the wrong capacity, the wrong technologies and the wrong performance objectives. On top of that, municipalities are facing burgeoning infrastructure costs and no way to pay for it.”
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March 1, 2012 at 2:33 PM by envista
Read about AWWA's Feb. 28 testimony before Congress on innovative financing for water infrastructure.
Infrastructure: Buried No Longer
The massive investment needed for buried drinking water infrastructure in the United States totals more than $1 trillion between now and 2035.
The need will double from roughly $13 billion a year today to almost $30 billion (in 2010 dollars) annually by the 2040s, and the cost will be met primarily through higher water bills and local fees, according to a new AWWA report.
"Buried No Longer: Confronting America's Water Infrastructure Challenge" is a call to action for utilities, consumers and policy makers and recognizes that the need to replace pipe in the ground "puts a growing stress on communities that will continue to increase for decades to come."
The new report includes more than 35 tables and graphs detailing information by region and utility size.
Key findings in "Buried No Longer" include:
- The needs are large. The cost of replacing pipes at the end of their useful lives will total more than $1 trillion nationwide between 2011 and 2035 and exceed $1.7 trillion by 2050.
- Household water bills will go up. Although water bills will vary by community size and geographic region, for some communities the infrastructure costs alone could triple the size of a typical family's bill.
- There are important regional differences. The growing national needs affects different regions in different ways, with growth concerns greater in the South and West and replacement concerns greater in the Northeast and Midwest.
- There are important differences based on system size. As with many other costs, small communities with fewer people to share in the costs face the biggest challenge.
- The costs keep coming. Infrastructure renewal investments are likely to be incurred each year over several decades. For that reason, many utilities may choose to finance infrastructure replacement on a "pay-as-you-go" basis rather than through debt financing.
- Postponing investment only makes the problem worse. Postponing infrastructure investment in the near-term would raise the overall cost and increase the likelihood of water main breaks and other infrastructure failures.
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February 15, 2012 at 2:11 PM by envista
Published in Knowledge@Wharton
In the U.S., infrastructure is usually silent and forgotten
-- until the power goes off, the ATM stops working or a neighborhood is consumed
by fire. In September, for reasons still unknown, a
54-year-old gas pipeline blew up in San Bruno, Calif.,
killing eight people and damaging or destroying more than 50 homes. Seven weeks
earlier, a 41-year-old oil pipeline ruptured in Michigan and
spilled more than a million gallons of crude into a
tributary of the Kalamazoo River. After a catastrophe, questions fly: How could
this happen? Why wasn't the equipment upgraded? What if things keep falling apart?
Tragedies such as the ones in California and Michigan also
raise a broader question, says Erwann Michel-Kerjan, managing director of
Wharton's Risk Management and Decision Processes Center. "Is America ready
for the 21st century?" he asks. "The answer is no."
Most experts agree that America's infrastructure needs an
upgrade. Some say it needs a complete re-think.
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February 1, 2012 at 3:10 PM by envista
Excerpt of article on governing.com
Another significant reason for so much crumbling infrastructure is our fractured political economy, where lines of authority are unclear. City hall may be nominally in charge of city streets, but on a day-to-day basis, private utility companies for phone, gas, electric, cable and Internet service are the ones tearing up the streets. Not being in the road business, their repair jobs aren’t always the best. Sometimes such companies will tear up a street immediately after it has been resurfaced, because coordination between private and public departments is difficult.
Read the full story
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December 27, 2011 at 9:17 AM by envista
With the recession, the budget cuts at both the Federal and State level and the rising costs of everything, today's municipality is hard pressed to come up with ways of saving money! Here are seven things that, if enacted, will definitely save your municipality money:
1. Shared Services
Sharing the burden of similar services with other departments or even with other municipalities is a big potential money saver. School systems, trash pick-up, and animal control are just a few of the possible areas where better co-operation can lead to painless spending reductions.
2. Attrition
Public employees are always quitting, retiring or dying, and you don't have to replace every one of them. Attrition is an easy way of shrinking payroll because no one gets fired and there are no unemployment payments. Of course some people simply have to be replaced, but you may find they are fewer than you think.
3. Go Green
Nothing is more popular today than environmentalism and energy efficiency saves you money! Just replacing the light bulbs in municipal buildings to higher efficiency ones can make noticeable improvements on your bottom line.
4. Software Utilization
Computers offer a fountainhead of efficiencies, with lots of great software out there for management, productivity, coordinating the public right of way among others. Don't overlook this hidden gold mine of savings. While there may be some upfront investment, the long term ROI with savings is tremendous.
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December 12, 2011 at 12:32 PM by envista
When utilities were tired of circulating and marking up documents for public works approvals, the city went for an answer in the cloud
For businesses, dealing with city hall can be a bit like stumbling through a maze. That can be compounded on physical infrastructure projects, which not only need municipal approval but also a green light from electric, telephone, cable and other utilities. So the city of Ottawa is turning to a cloud solution for managing what is broadly called “right-of-way” public works projects to straighten things out.
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November 28, 2011 at 3:35 PM by envista
American Society of Civil Engineers Releases U.S. Economy, Family Budgets Report
The nation’s deteriorating surface transportation infrastructure will cost the American economy more than 876,000 jobs, and suppress the growth of the country’s gross domestic product by $897 billion by 2020, according to a new report released by the American Society of Civil Engineers. The report, conducted by the Economic Development Research Group of Boston, showed that in 2010, deficiencies in America’s roads, bridges, and transit systems cost American households and businesses roughly $130 billion, including approximately $97 billion in vehicle operating costs, $32 billion in delays in travel time, $1.2 billion in safety costs, and $590 million in environmental costs."
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November 23, 2011 at 10:17 AM by envista
Les Guest, Director of NUAG (NRS) Ltd, said, “Since the original formation of NUAG in 2005, we have worked extensively with all stakeholders in the industry to understand and define the requirements for an exchange of asset records service. Achieving a common understanding amongst the various utilities and highways engaged in works where the pipes, cables and other equipment are buried is essential not only to ensure the safety of workers, but also the general public. Through a rigorous process we selected Envista as the most suitable Technology partner capable of meeting our technical criteria for this critical information service. Our partnership with Envista allows us to leverage their industry proven cloud-based Enterprise Platform to provide the NRS service. The NRS service will enable all who need to work in the street to plan their work more efficiently, resulting in less disruption and inconvenience to road users and the community.”
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November 15, 2011 at 1:22 PM by envista
According to the latest America THINKS survey from HNTB Corporation, of Kansas City, Missouri, slightly more than one in two (54 percent) Americans experience problems with “poor road conditions” and half (50 percent) say their highways have “too much congestion.” HNTB’s America THINKS national Corridors of the Future survey polled a random sample of 1,000 Americans nationwide between May 24 and 31, and respondents could choose any responses that applied to them from among nine “general problems.” The survey was conducted via email and online, and the margin for error was +/- 3.1 percent. The results were recently published in HNTB’s publication THINK.
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November 14, 2011 at 3:22 PM by envista
A Web-based program clues public and private utilities in on each other's plans.
Margaret Martin, PE, thought she'd hit the jackpot when her Baltimore Gas & Electric (BG&E) contact called to tell her about a tool that might help them better coordinate street cuts and repairs.
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November 9, 2011 at 12:41 PM by envista
Baltimore Uses Envista to Coordinate Right-of-Way Activities and Reduce Impacts
Faced with a growing list of proposed infrastructure improvement projects owned by various stakeholder groups across the city, Baltimore, Maryland's engineering staff recognized a need to better coordinate activities that affect the public right-of-way (ROW) in order to reduce impacts to drivers. To implement better coordination and communication, the City of Baltimore implemented a software-based project coordination system to track all capital and maintenance activities.
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October 26, 2011 at 12:38 PM by envista
Were you unable to attend the Webinar? You don't want to miss out on how Smarter Streets - Right-Of-Way Permitting/Municipal Consent Goes Paperless!
Marc Fagan, Co-Founder and EVP of Envista explains two case studies including the City of Baltimore and Ottawa. Marc explains how Envista is improving their permit/municipal consent systems. Special guest Xavier Lopez, Director of Oracle's Spatial Semantic and technologies group also presented his insights on industry trends and opportunities around this application.
View the Webinar now at www.envista.com/webinars
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October 14, 2011 at 1:31 PM by envista
Complimentary Webinar, Thursday, October 20th 2:00 - 3:00 PM EDT
Smarter Streets - Right-of-Way Permitting Goes Paperless - How Forward Looking cities Realize the Benefits of Cloud-Based Permitting
Register NOW at
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/891734578
If you're considering going to a paperless right-of-way permitting/municipal consent capability, you don't want to miss out on this chance to hear about how two cities, Baltimore and Ottawa, streamlined thier permitting process and lessons learned from their case studies.
Join industry pioneer Marc Fagan for a behind-the-scenes look and special guest Xavier Lopez, Director of Oracle's Spatial and Semantic technologies group, who will present his insights on the industry trends and opportunities around this application. You will discover how this cloud-based, digital technology:
- Gives cities the ability to coordinate, map, and respond to permits
- Streamlines the permit process and ensures compliance
- Expedites time to review and approve event permits
- Identifies potential conflicts
- Supports multiple file format attachments providing a paperless environment
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October 12, 2011 at 12:21 PM by envista
Envista held its Annual User’s Meeting after APWA in Denver, CO this year. We are again pleased to announce that it was a great success!
We also invited prospective customers so they could learn how Envista was being used worldwide by various Municipalities, Utilities, and State and Federal Agencies. Attendees heard how Envista’s Enterprise Suite Platform allows users to Coordinate Projects, manage Incidents and Events, grant permits through Permit Workflow and Management, allow the public to access select information through Citizen’s View and manage documents using Attachment Management [which allows all users to share documentation and move towards a paperless environment].
“The User Conference was one of the best sessions I have attended in a long time. Networking with other Envista users will aid me in achieving even more efficiencies within the Northern Kentucky ecosystem. The innovation and ideas that flowed were great. Knowing that I was contributing to the direction that Envista is going made me feel part of something GREAT!” – Trisha Brush, Deputy Director GIS, NKAPC.
Come and be a part of our User’s Conference next year. Meet our current customers; find out how they use the system, their “tips and tricks” and how Envista can help you to coordinate your infrastructure. You’ll be amazed at the amount of money and time it will save while reducing environmental impact!
Contact an Envista sales representative now to join us next year or set up a Demo at sales@envista.com.
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September 29, 2011 at 2:59 PM by envista
Rhode Island DOT Chooses Envista to Automate Coordination of Construction Projects with Utilities and Municipalities
Dynamic, visually rich cloud solution streamlines communications and workflow for more efficient, cost-effective public works
Envista Corporation, the world’s leading provider of enterprise right-of-way (ROW) coordination solutions via the web, today announced that the Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) has selected the Envista Enterprise ROW Coordination Platform to manage construction projects in concert with area utility companies and Rhode Island municipalities. RIDOT is responsible for a diverse intermodal transportation system of more than 1,100 miles of roads and approximately 800 bridges across Rhode Island, all managed and maintained by a dedicated staff of 780 professionals.
The automated software-as-a-service from Envista will replace the manual process of sending letters as a means of project notification. Instead, electronic notifications will allow for more frequent and timely project status updates and schedule changes among all stakeholders. Envista’s web-based coordination platform enables RIDOT staff to view and manage their projects in a dynamic, highly visual online environment where they can instantly flag conflicts and trigger real-time communication with any affected entities. Future plans include permit workflow management for street openings and closures, providing a common platform for planned construction, permitting and inspections.
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September 22, 2011 at 12:13 PM by Envista
Urban planning is inherently spatial. It involves both location and time – as well as policy. Geo-technologies for planning-design, data creation, data management, analysis and visualisation are all used to support the dynamic, fluid and ever-changing nature of urban areas. And, they often tend to arise within integrated circumstances. These technologies and geodata allow urban planners and citizens to understand urban environments better, resulting in far superior decision-making.
-Jeff Thurston, editor Europe, Middle East and Africa
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September 14, 2011 at 5:01 PM by envista
Envista will be at the APWA Congress in Denver - September 18th through 21st
Booth #1260
And
Envista will be at the International City/County Management Association’s (ICMA) 97th Annual Conference in Milwaukee Sept. 19th through 20th - Booth #142
We look forward to meeting with you to help you proactively manage your Right-Of-Way through our dynamic map-based coordination for smarter, safer streets!
Read what our Customers have to say about Envista’s cost and time saving solutions by clicking here!
Find out More about Envista!
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August 29, 2011 at 2:13 PM by envista
Envista is pleased to share with you that the City of Austin is now using Envista's Citizen's View Application for their Bond Web Site. The public site can be viewed at http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/bonds/2010/
Citizen's View is a public website controlled by your department and allows the public to view any planned or unplanned events such as Construction, Emergency Incidents and Impacts, Permits or Street Events.
With the latest incident of Hurricane Irene, wouldn't it be great if your City, County, Town or Utility posted all of the road closures, flooding, electrical or gas outages on one public view site to help manage your right-of-way. With Envista's Citizen's View you can do this!
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August 22, 2011 at 1:40 PM by envista
by Monte Mercer
Shared services, many of which are public-private partnerships (PPPs), refer to the operational philosophy that involves centralizing functions once performed by individual organizations. In day-to-day operations, problems and opportunities arise that are ideal for collaboration. This abundance of possible shared services and partnership opportunities can be overwhelming though, and it can lead to difficulty identifying which projects to try. The best determining factor for success is for the customer to be the driving force behind any collaborative effort.
The North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG) serves 240 member governments—or customers—of which 170 are cities. It has had the opportunity to spearhead a large number of shared services and PPP initiatives in recent years, and in this article I want to share what we’ve learned.
In fact, shared services fulfill NCTCOG’s mission to strengthen the individual and collective power of local governments and to help them recognize regional opportunities, resolve regional problems, and make joint decisions. These initiatives are primarily designed to solve common needs of NCTCOG’s member governments, but they often reach a statewide audience as well.
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August 17, 2011 at 11:03 AM by envista
Reuters Analysis
By Jason Lange
Long famous for its top-notch highways and passion for cars, the United States is letting bridges rust as traffic chokes overburdened roads, threatening a pillar of its economic strength.
A prime example of this neglect is the Brent Spence Bridge over the Ohio River. It worked well when it opened in 1963. Now it handles twice the traffic it was designed to support. Gridlock often stretches for a mile beneath a thick haze of smog.
"As you're coming across the bridge into Cincinnati you can tell when traffic has slowed because you can see the cloud," said Margaret Drury, an engineer at United Parcel Service.
UPS trucks avoid the bridge as much as possible but that adds time to its routes, pushing up costs, Drury said.
Two interstate highways come together at the river crossing, with a UPS distribution center to the north and the company's global air shipping hub to the south.
The bottleneck illustrates the decline of American infrastructure that is already hurting the U.S. economy. The trend shows little sign of being reversed.
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August 10, 2011 at 11:00 AM by envista
When the bright orange barrels, traffic cones and trucks appear on a road or highway, drivers groan and say, “Not again! I’m going to be late!”
While utility work may impact the public right of way, there are many added benefits that a project can bring to the community.
When the basic utility right of way is granted, the impact on public right-of-way [ROW] is taken into account, which allows for gas lines, power lines, sewer lines and other structures to blend into the overall public architecture.
Utility companies should be aware that when they’re working in the “their” utility right of way, there are many positive steps they can take to minimize the impact on others in the same ROW and actually enhance the area before completion of the project– in addition to the standard installation of new power lines, sewer lines, phone lines etc.
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August 5, 2011 at 2:50 PM by envista
We recently came across an article in the Torstar News Service that is titled "Chaotic Utility Work Messes up Good Streets"
This article states that in 2010, the city received 800 requests from Utility Companies to cut into freshly repaved streets where construction was supposed to be banned for five years. We are sure this is a familiar situation in most Municipalities.
Denzil Minnan-Wong, Chairman of the Public Works and Infrastructure says that too often a lack of communication, consequences and project coordination in the ROW (Right-of-Way) means utility companies are tearing up streets that have just been redone.
Envista is the solution!
Envista allows organizations with a vested interest in the public right-of-way (ROW) to communicate and coordinate more efficiently and effectively through dynamic map-based solutions delivered via the web.
Imagine with one click, getting a compenhensive view of all activity in the public right-of-way - knowing where and when each project, event or incident is occuring and if a conflict will cause costly delays or public frustration.
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August 3, 2011 at 5:41 PM by envista
When you first conceive a utility project, the goal seems clear – but once you delve deeper into the project planning, the details seem endless!
Like any undertaking, the key to a successful utility project is proper planning or in this case; utility coordination. Why? Because utility coordination allows you to gain an excellent overarching picture of the project, the steps involved, and how best to execute each task.
Think of utility coordination as the recipe for baking a cake – before you crack an egg or warm up the oven, you need to have all of your ingredients laid out in front of you, and a plan on how to mix them together.
Utility coordination begins with an initial investigation process – a fact-finding tour that covers the different players and entities that will be involved in and/or affected by your project. This step includes contacting local authorities and asking for their permission, permits and procedures and then notifying any utilities that will be affected.
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August 1, 2011 at 2:25 PM by envista
As Congress debates how to meet the nation’s long-term transportation needs, decaying roads, bridges, railroads and transit systems are costing the United States $129 billion a year, according to a report issued Wednesday by a professional group whose members are responsible for designing and building such infrastructure.
Complex calculations done for the American Society of Civil Engineers indicate that infrastructure deficiencies add $97 billion a year to the cost of operating vehicles and result in travel delays that cost $32 billion.
July 29, 2011 at 1:20 PM by envista
As federal funding declines, a report from the Urban Land Institute in conjunction with Ernst & Young warns of the strain of US cities to maintain assets and build infrastructure projects.
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July 20, 2011 at 7:16 PM by envista
You’ve seen it on the evening news. The heat wave across the country is crumbling our roads and causing water main breaks. Envista is the solution for managing all these problems for your city, county, state or region as you maintain and upgrade your aging infrastructure.
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July 11, 2011 at 9:23 AM by Envista
Right-of-way (“ROW”) software saves many municipal and private commercial users considerable sums of money and time, while simultaneously conserving the earth’s resources. An unfortunate irony of the Information age is that rapid innovations often outpace their inventors‘ capacity to keep up.
Consequently, many highly touted innovations are hardly tried or true. In fact, many technological advances have been proven to be more of a hindrance than a help to humanity. Given this commercial atmosphere wrought with rapid high-tech evolutions, it is hardly surprising that many of its would-be beneficiaries remain skeptical.
Prospective users and procurers of right-of-way software may rest assured, however. The tremendous cost savings and strategic advantages of these novel programs are well-tested. The acclaim of these activity and project management programs is well deserved.
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June 27, 2011 at 1:05 PM by envista
“In just the first four months of using Envista we realized $250,000 in cost avoidance.” —Darryl Jackson, Director, Operations Work Planning, Measurement and Technology, Washington Gas Company
For more than 160 years, Washington Gas Company has been distributing natural gas in the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia. Today, with more than one million customers throughout the greater Washington, D.C. metropolitan region, the company manages more than 13 thousand miles of distribution pipeline beneath city streets and roadways. That means, every time work is performed to upgrade or repair the system, a portion of roadway must be cut, removed, and restored. Paving restoration could consume as much as 40 percent of the company’s capital expenses, and with ever tightening budgets, Washington Gas needed to find creative ways to make its dollars go farther.
Like many entities that perform work in the public right-of-way, Washington Gas used to meet regularly with fellow utility and municipal project managers to coordinate their respective activities. Typically, information was shared in the form of spreadsheets, or in some cases data was provided electronically. Yet, the information remained static and was difficult to consolidate into a common format. Too often, conflicts were either not visible or not identified soon enough in the project schedule to avoid paving restoration costs.
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June 22, 2011 at 11:10 AM by envista
And the WINNER is… Vicki Ebner from UGI Utilities, Inc. Congratulations Vicki! While at AGA, Envista announced that there would be a drawing for an iPad 2 for one lucky individual who attended a free demonstration of our Product.
Stay tuned for our trip to APWA Congress in Denver, CO from September 18-20th. Contact sales@envista.com to sign up for your free Demo today and be automatically entered to win the next iPad2 !
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June 14, 2011 at 12:08 am by envista
Northern Kentucky Area Planning Commission Rolls Out Envista’s Map-Based Web Solutions Area-Wide to Reduce Paving Costs and Enable Proactive Coordination
Now that’s Smarter Streets.
“Envista allows our users to align their project schedules so street cuts occur only once. This helps us cut down on street closings, which avoids traffic problems and reduces the negative impact on our neighborhoods. Most important, Envista helps our governments and utilities stretch their limited budgets by realizing very significant savings in paving costs.” —Trisha Brush, Deputy Director for GIS Administration, Northern Kentucky Area Planning Commission
May 25, 2011 at 12:07 am by envista
Come See us at the AGA Operations Conference & Biennial ExhibitionMay 24 - 27th Gaylord Opryland, Nashville, TN
Seeing a Demo on May 25th enters you to win an iPad 2
Utilities have a constant need to coordinate construction and maintenance projects in the municipalities they serve. From replacing aging pipelines, to adding new service lines, to fixing leaks, the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of your projects depend on timely, accurate information both internally and from external projects that may overlap with yours.
Benefits for Utilities
- Provides better information with which to make operational decisions
- Eases the management of street cut moratoriums with municipalities
- Reduces utilities' costs for repaving through an improved ability to plan
- Increases perception of utility companies as service-oriented, community-minded businesses
- Improves coordination among utilities, as well as with municipalities, state & federal agencies, and the community at large
Let us show you what you can achieve by attending at Demo at our Booth (#1023); we will scan your name tag for an opportunity to win an iPad 2!
Demo Times – Wednesday, May 25th:
10:00 - 10:30 AM
1:00 - 1:30 PM
3:30 - 4:00 PM
6:30 - 7:00 PM
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May 18, 2011 at 12:12 am by envista
“Envista now allows the City to manage utility projects and avoid needless road cutting and repaving. In the end, Envista will help us substantially stretch Winnipeg’s capital budget for streets—all good things for the taxpayer.”
— Derrick Saedel, Supervisor of the Underground Structures Group, City of Winnipeg
For more than a decade, the Public Works Department of the City of Winnipeg, Canada has seen a steady rise in the number of project requests for construction and maintenance in the city’s right of way. Traditionally, the Department’s Underground Structures Group, which is charged with coordinating infrastructure projects, would use spreadsheets to share project information. However, a spreadsheet without a spatial component did not provide adequate information to coordinate projects across multiple departments and utilities.
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April 27, 2011 at 4:00 PM by envista
See how Baltimore used Envista’s Map-Based software as a service (SaaS) to coordinate a marathon in a recent issue of Engineering News-Record Magazine-
System Heads Off Interagency Construction Coordination Conflicts
By Luke Abaffy
The annual marathon in Baltimore is a tricky affair to coordinate among the city’s agencies, especially amid a full spate of construction and infrastructure projects. Conflicts between new construction and the race route are a key challenge for officials to manage. Enter Envista, a web-accessible infrastructure coordination software system that Baltimore’s chief of design and construction calls a game changer.
See the Full Article
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April 22, 2011 at 12:10 am by envista
Utility Coordination Best Practices; Promoting effective collaborations for efficient project delivery- A Guide For Local Agencies
Effective utility coordination leads to many tangible benefits —helping keep construction costs in line and projects on schedule, as well as promoting
collaborations that make the process move more smoothly and efficiently for all. “The more effectively local agencies involve utility companies in the
concept and early design stages, the more likely they will avoid costly issues and project delays. Since utility owners play such an important role in a project’s success, it’s critical to involve them early and consider their utility relocation constraints. Before the project starts, promoting collaboration between the utility and the contractors also pays off in many ways.”
GORDON MCCONNELL / RIGHT OF WAY AND PERMIT COORDINATOR / DAKOTA COUNTY
Click Here to View Full Guide
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April 20, 2011 at 12:12 am by envista
This is an article that appeared in a recent issue of Modern Contractor Solutions Magazine
A Smarter Way to Coodinate Street Projects: Map-Based Coordination on the Web
February, 2011
by Brad Steer
It’s a well established fact among utilities and municipalities alike: paving restoration is the express lane for wasting money. But it’s not an uncommon issue. How often have you seen a city complete a paving job, only to have one of the serving utilities come in shortly thereafter and cut into the newly paved road? The ripples of frustration extend far and wide—from the project manager to the mayor’s office, from residents of the affected neighborhood to every driver caught in the snarl of traffic diverted by the construction.
It doesn’t have to be this way. See Full Article
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April 19, 2011 at 9:00 am by envista
Envista has dramatically expanded the depth and breadth of our
offerings to better meet the diverse coordination needs of our
customers, requiring an expanded website to reflect these exciting
new capabilities. We are pleased to announce the NEW
envista.com—completely redesigned to make it easy for you to find
the information you need on our full range of enterprise map-based coordination
solutions and services. The new site includes:
Design Changes
Our goal with the new design of Envista.com was simple: to make it easier for our new visitors and current customers to find the information they need. With an updated layout and more logical navigation, we feel that the new website has achieved this goal.
Social Media
Social media was non-existent on our old website and clearly this was something that had to change. We invested in creating 4 social media properties: Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn and Twitter. Visitors to Envista.com can now easily access all of our social media sites and learn about updates as they become available. You can access these pages any time by clicking the social media icons in the upper right hand corner of the website.
New Content
The content on our old website didn’t reflect the growth that Envista and its products
have experienced in recent years. We created the new content to better reflect who
Envista is and what we offer.
Feedback
We hope you’re pleased with our new website and trust that it will better serve you.
All feedback, good or bad, is extremely valuable to us and will only help Envista to better serve you in the future. Please take the time to leave a comment using the form below, or by visiting our contact us page or sending an email directly to thebuzz@envista.com with any thoughts, questions or ideas.
Brad Steer
Sr. Vice President of Sales and Marketing
Envista Corporation
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