ACEC Engineering in B.C.

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ACEC

Engineering in bc www.acec-bc.ca @ACECBC

ACEC-BC Fall 2017 Message from the President and CEO

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Will Diverging Diamonds Be Coming to BC? Beyond Traffic: Clean, Connected, and Safe Transportation

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Accelerating Innovation through Funding 21st-Century Transportation Planning: Cellphone Data Analytics + Transit Expertise to Address Congestion in Lake Tahoe Mobile Applications and the Potential Disruptions for the Transportation Engineering/ Planning Industry Design and Launch of the Vedder Bridge Hydrotechnical Aspects of Transportation Engineering and the South Peace Flood Recovery Designers and Builders, Beware: New Technologies, New Products, New Risks Designing a Better Tomorrow The World’s Longest Extradosed Bridge Opens to the International Stage

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message from the chair

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n June 2017 ACECBC engaged Insights West to perform a survey around the theme of public perception and how it impacts the delivery of major construction projects in British Columbia. The survey results were most interesting, indicating the survey group placed more trust in information provided by engineers on the benefits and costs of construction projects in BC than they placed with journalists, politicians and nonelected public servants. This data brings to mind a question – do proponents of major projects share enough information, through the right media and presented by the right experts, for the public to develop

an informed position on major infrastructure investments? The perception of engineers being trusted advisers to the community and to public-sector clients alike can help bridge the gap in trust identified through the survey. At the end of the day, the ideal relationship that everyone hopes will evolve is one where the consulting engineering team is viewed as a partner with the public sector, and together they are looking after the public interest. As an advocate for engineers in British Columbia, ACEC-BC is confident that the use of qualifications-based selection (QBS, yes2qbs.com) can not only deliver the most advantageous engineering solutions, but also be a tool in providing confidence to the public that the decision-making process applied to infrastructure investments is transparent and thorough. Honouring

the public trust requires that when hiring an engineer or engineering firm the public sector has identified the most qualified team by considering the overall experience of the team, considering previous innovations the team has brought to similar projects, and examining the manner in which the firm does business and how good the fit is with the client’s team. Experience has shown that the results of this level of transparency and thoroughness are increased innovation and best value for the ultimate client, the public. When a client hires an engineer based on lowest price and the assumption that all engineers are the same, the dynamic to innovate and optimize is impacted and the ultimate client, the public, suffers, resulting in an inevitable erosion of trust. The theme for this year’s Transportation Conference is Highways and New Ways.

With changing technologies, improving safety standards, a growing population and more challenging conditions (i.e., denser cities, working in remote areas, etc.), expectations on today’s engineer are higher than ever. Clients are demanding that their projects incorporate the latest state-ofthe-art technologies while at the same time incorporating exciting and innovative designs. When we discuss advances in engineering and new effective approaches to solving our transportation challenges in BC, the root of our success is in trust. It is through a trusted relationship that we are able to reach new levels of success in delivering the infrastructure that is needed for the future. A relationship built on this foundation is able to deliver results that would not be imagined otherwise. Jeannine Martin, chair, ACEC-BC board of directors, COWI


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