ACEC-SC/SCSPE Winter Meeting Mark your Calendar
The Winter Meeting is Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2011 at Seawell’s in Columbia, SC.  You have a chance to get six professional development hours by attending this informative meeting at a reasonable price. 

As usual the program will consist of business and environmental tracks.  Of course DHEC will be back this year.  Speakers and topics are coming together. This program offers topics of  interest to everyone.  More information is coming soon.  ACEC-SC and SCSPE received a grant from the SC State Board of Registration for Professional Engineers & Surveyors. 

UPS Delivers Commission Check to SCSPE & New Association Agreement
The third quarter of the 2010 partnership between the South Carolina Society of Professional Engineers and UPS has come to an end.  Ms. Jeffrica Garcia and Mr. Waites Epps, UPS, came by SCSPE Headquarters on November 4, 2010 to deliver the 3rd quarter Commission check to SCSPE Executive Director Joe Jones for $304.94, bringing a total of $653.58 to SCSPE this fiscal year.

UPS rewards SCSPE with these commission checks for engineers/companies that participate in the SCSPE/UPS association program.  Until now this program gave discounts on shipping when a member used UPS for Next Day Air, 2nd Day Air, and World Wide Express Packages. 

UPS has updated the Association program and it now offers more savings and includes UPS Ground.  Not only do members save on shipping, a percentage in commission is paid back to SCSPE.

Unfortunatley, under the new Association Agreement members who are already enrolled in the program will have to re-enroll.  Please take the time to sign yourself (or company) up for the SCSPE/UPS Association program to start saving while SCSPE starts earning today.  To enroll please take a moment to call 404-828-6000, tell them you want to enroll in the South Carolina Society of Professional Engineers UPS Association Agreement program. 

Peter Stub Joins ACEC Fellows
At the ACEC Fall Conference in Puerto Rico, Mr. Peter Strub was inducted as an ACEC Fellow.

The College of Fellows is an elite group of engineers who have made significant contributions to the engineering profession through their experience, knowledge and networking abilities.

Mr. Strub was nominated by the ACEC-SC Board of Directors and had supporting nominations from individuals from other states.

L-R Jerry Stump, Peter Strub and David Raymond

Currently, Mr. Strub is ACEC-SC’s National Director representing South Carolina on the ACEC Board of Directors. In 2010 he served on the ACEC Nominating Committee and as Chair of the ACEC Membership Committee. Previously, he served as ACEC Transportation Committee Chair. Also, Mr. Strub served two terms on the ACEC-SC Board of Directors and held all three ACEC-SC officer positions. He was instrumental in forming the ACEC-SC/SCDOT Partnering Committee.

New White House Report Touts Construction Stimulus Spending
The White House’s Council of Economic Advisors (CEA) released its third quarter American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) update Nov. 18.
 
The document reports the highest quarterly gain in public-investment outlays, which includes most construction projects, since the Act’s creation in February, 2009.        Tom Ichniowski of Engineering News-Record summarized the CEA’s 28 page report, stating, “stimulus act public-investment outlays rose 38%, to $119.3 billion, in the third quarter … The $119.3 billion cumulative total for public investment includes $25.9 billion for clean energy, $15.3 billion for transportation infrastructure construction, $11.3 billion for buildings construction and $10.7 billion for environmental cleanup and preservation … Jobs preserved or created by ARRA public investment totaled 1.06 million as of Sept. 30, up 29% from June 30.”

It is important to remember that the ARRA was created as a temporary measure and “most of the stimulus construction money has been spoken for.”  While GDP and employment numbers may go down in coming months, the steady growth of the past several quarters and the significant gains in the 2010 third quarter are promising for the future of construction businesses and workers.

Administration’s Plans for Spending on Roads/Bridges May Face Strong Opposition
The hope of a large 6-year transportation bill passing in the 2011 Congress is waning.               

The new GOP majority congress will not be of a mind to pass a $500 Billion bill. Although the new congress has not met, speculation is that highway and transit funding may be more like 2008 funding levels of roughly $51 Billion per year for highways, bridges, tunnels and mass transit.

Alternate funding such as the administration’s plan for an infrastructure bank that would back bonds from states to pay for highway and passenger rail projects may not get traction with the new Congress for fear that the federal government might have to cover bonds states might default.

A concern to consultants and contractors in the transportation industry is that Tea Party advocates and others in Congress may be rethinking the federal government’s role in funding highway and transit construction and maintenance. At some point next year, lawmakers are going to have to put more money into the Highway Trust Fund or let it go broke which will force many state infrastructure projects to stop. Such an alternative is unlikely, but the condition of the economy may give rise to these issues and others like them.