The first 24 hours at IHEEP 2015 were very productive. IHEEP is the International Highway Engineer Exchange Program. As the name indicates this organization’s roots are in face-to-face communication and we all know what value the younger generation places on that idea. Couple that with the fact that many state employees are not allowed to travel out of state and you have an uphill battle at getting people to attend this event which is too bad because it has the potential to be an important conference.
The opportunity is there for the DOTs to come together, share best practices and lessons learned in a venue where they can feel comfortable being honest with each other because they are all facing similar challenges. An example being 3D modeling which was the number one initiative mentioned during the roll call of states. This transition is far from over.
The most disturbing news was on the IT front. A HEEP survey found that IT is not at all aligned with the needs of engineers, survey or asset managers and that is an understatement.
The Michael Baker rig in the photo above has lidar, GPR, crack detection, video, still cameras – you name it. The keynote on autonomous vehicles was enlightening. They will be here sooner than you think.
Call me the eternal optimist, but for some reason I am optimistic about the future of IHEEP. I think it’s the people.
