As the new ASCE year begins, it is my pleasure to serve as T&DI president and I look forward to the coming year. As I write this, it is less than a week since Hurricane Milton made landfall in Florida. First and foremost, I want to extend my thoughts and prayers to those affected by Hurricanes Helene and Milton and to those who continue to rebuild in the aftermath of these and other extreme weather events. As ASCE past president Marsia Geldert-Murphey stated in her message following Hurricane Helene “civil engineers will be there to help communities rebuild the roads, bridges, dams, water systems, and other infrastructure damaged”. Each time a disaster occurs it underscores the need for us, as professionals, to plan, design, construct, operate, and maintain civil infrastructure that is resilient. I encourage each of you to read ASCE Policy Statement 389 - Mitigating the impacts of natural and human-induced disasters, which was adopted by the ASCE Board July 22, 2023. Our institute has an important role to play in improving the professional practices that mitigate the effects of natural and human-induced hazards on the critical components of our modern world. Join us in this worthy effort by participating in one of the T&DI activities or committees focusing on resilience.
I extend the Institute’s sincere appreciation to Dr. Chandra Bhat for his exceptional leadership as president of the Institute this past year. We also say thank you to past president Roger Millar as he leaves the board after four years of service and to board member Lucy Priddy who is stepping down after 3 years. I am excited to welcome two new board members, John Corbin with the FHWA and Navneet Garg with the FAA.
In addition to focusing on resilience, we will face challenges in the coming year as we strive to accelerate workforce development, adapt to AI in transportation and development engineering , and ensure civil engineering’s role in connected/autonomous transportation systems and in developing future communities.
Finally, your T&DI board will be refreshing our strategic plan to align with ASCE’s, once again considering the need for specialty certification, guiding the International Conference on Transportation & Development (ICTD) along with the co-located International Airfield & Highway Pavements Conference (Pavements) and planning the ICTD 2026 Conference.
There are so many new advances happening simultaneously in transportation and development engineering. It is great to be a part of this community of practice!
Respectfully,
Scott
Scott Murrell, P.E., M.ASCE
President, Transportation & Development Institute (T&DI)
American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)