“Engineering is the art of directing the great sources of power in nature for the use and convenience of man.” -Thomas Tredgold
Civil engineers provide a lot of services that have to do with an individual’s everyday life in a specific community. Civil engineers have a critical hand in the creative development of highways, complex bridges, sewage systems, power grids, and both the sustainability and scalability of a city on a comprehensive scale.
Civil engineers must be meticulous in nature and creative enough to be solutions driven and operationally minded – thus solving potential problems before they have a chance to materialize.
The diligent work of these engineers often goes unnoticed, but let us take a more granular look at the specific problems civil engineers solve on a near daily basis.
Traffic reduction with optimized highway design
Do you commute to work on a daily basis? If so, you are well aware of the continual need to increase highway efficiency in order to properly optimize traffic flow.
Enter, civil engineers.
Ramp length, bridge connections, highway and lane expansions, commuter lanes, toll lanes, regular road construction, and road slants are all meticulously considered and contemplated by a collaborative team of civil engineers. Their job is to predict what will happen, consistently adapting and expanding the infrastructure to accommodate the yearly increase in road traffic.
However, in order for them to effectively perform their jobs, they must be equipped with appropriate key metrics, indicators, grid layouts, and skill sets needed for the sheer complexity of the issues that arise when dealing with traffic patterns and driver behavior. Traffic projections often involve computer modeling.
Developing sustainable waste migration
The population continues to rise in most U.S. cities every year. The more people you have, the more waste that needs to be moved from residences and businesses by networks of pipes to sewage processing facilities. Just as with road traffic, engineers must take care to optimize the flow of waste and decrease potential contamination.
Sustainability is a key component. Civil engineers are taxed with the complex issues of reducing the amount of pollutants and waste acquired by towns and cities each year. Through detailed collaborative efforts, civil engineers manipulate design strategy by building networks and integrative underground infrastructures to efficiently and effectively eliminate waste runoff.
It is vitally important that civil engineers have the opportunity to evaluate preliminarily developed land sites to mitigate risk and connect the property to the local utility services. This will allow for the future tenant of the space to be compliant and up-to-date with current waste and utility guidelines regulated through local agencies.
Platting: Compliance and regulatory issues
Platting is nuanced and complex in a general context, but it is essentially the official land survey completed by civil engineers.
More specifically, though, a plat is a cadastral map used by towns, cities or counties to show specific sections used for various reasons.
With a plat, comes compliance and governing issues through individual cities, counties or states. It is the job of the civil engineer to adequately assess and ensure the project complies with land use regulations and laws. Here the exact boundaries of the plot are drawn, identifying easements (if any), indicating specific paths of travel, and outlining flood zones.
Considering that land regulations are rigorous in nature, civil engineers are employed to see through the complexities that can arise with platting and the particular laws in relation to land development.
McNeil Engineering
McNeil Engineering offers both civil engineering and site engineering for the public and private sectors. McNeil employs a knowledgeable staff full of expertise ranging from small projects to more complex comprehensive scaled projects. McNeil engineers focus not only on an individual service offering but rather a comprehensive approach to effectively manage inclusive projects.
Areas of experience include:
- Retail spaces
- Office spaces
- Restaurants
- Industrial parks
- Manufacturing
- Institutional
- Transportation
- Residential
- Multi-use projects
If you have any upcoming projects and are in need of compliance consultation or are facing regulatory issues regarding developmental implementations, please feel free to reach out to us HERE today. We have a team of civil engineering project experts ready to un-complicate the process for you.
Our specific Design Service Offerings are as follows:
- Land development services
- Site feasibility studies and due diligent analysis
- Site layout
- Road design
- Grading design and earthwork analysis
- Drainage analysis and storm drain system design
- Storm water detention system analysis and design
- Erosion control measures and SWPPP (Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan)
- Water system analysis and design
- Sanitary sewer system design
- Subdivision design
- 3D models
- UDOT (Utah Department of Transportation) access and encroachment permits
- Permitting and Entitlement assistance with cities, counties, and state agencies
We look forward to working with you on your next project!
“Scientists investigate that which already is; engineers create that which has never been.” -Albert Einstein
