February 2025 President's Report

Christopher P. Hersey, Project Executive, Suffolk Construction

This month’s newsletter is sponsored by 2024-2025 BSCES Society Sponsor, Skanska USA Civil. Skanska’s article on “Pioneering the Future: Innovative Practices in Infrastructure,” highlights infrastructure innovation by exploring a number of their key practices that foster innovation. This article focuses on the Hunts Point Interstate Access Improvement project, which was recognized with DBIA’s Best in VDC Award. In addition, this issue features an article titled “PFAS Amid a Change in Federal Administration: What is the Outlook Moving Forward for Water and Wastewater?” which was written by Scott Greico from Kleinfelder.

This newsletter’s featured group is the Construction Institute Boston Chapter, which has had a flurry of activity since April of 2024 and will continue to host site visits through the remainder of the fiscal year. Their past events include:

• The CI group sponsored a plant tour of Boston Sand & Gravel, a recognized leader in the New England Ready Mixed Concrete and Aggregate industry.
• The CI Boston Chapter and Younger Member Group sponsored a tour of the on-going construction of Harvard’s Enterprise Research Campus Project that transforms a historically underutilized section of Allston into an urban district designed to nurture and inspire creativity and exploration for all.
• The I-90/I-95 interchange in the City of Newton and Town of Weston is a critical location for Massachusetts infrastructure, connecting two of the state’s busiest highways. The CI and SEI Boston Chapters cosponsored this site visit last month. 

I would like to acknowledge WPI student Frederick Smith IV for being named a 2025 ASCE New Faces in Civil Engineering – College Honoree. Congratulations Freddi, this is an auspicious honor. Sticking with college and university theme, members of the BSCES Executive Committee and Northeastern University ASCE Student Chapter recently got together for a dinner meeting. As with many of the ASCE Student Chapters, it is impressive to see the number of activities that students engage in during the year. Notwithstanding the concrete canoe and steel bridge contests, which are key ASCE events, Northeastern’s student chapter utilizes membership meetings as a springboard for numerous engineering outreach and networking events.

On February 12, the BSCES Young Member Group  coordinated the 2025 Annual Leadership Student Caucus dinner meeting, hosted by Jacobs and also attended by BSCES Executive Committee members. As a yearly event, this is a wonderful opportunity for student and BSCES leaders to communicate, network and discuss ways that these groups can develop. Importantly, this is an opportunity for these leaders to have a dialog with students that have been part of ASCE but may not know about BSCES. Our hope is that active Student Members become active Associate Members upon graduation and for those that remain local, we look to have them join the BSCES membership ranks.

Lastly, I’d like to remind you that during the upcoming month of March 2025, ASCE will release the 2025 Infrastructure Report Card, which is the industry standard for grading the country’s infrastructure. BSCES is in the process of developing a Massachusetts state report card, so stay tuned for more on this over the year. While Federal Infrastructure Funding in the new administration is rolling out and under review, Healey-Driscoll Administration and Massachusetts Congressional Delegation are looking to move forward with a number of projects in the year including:

• $43 million for the McGrath Boulevard Project in Somerville
• $17 million to support expansion of the Ashuwillticook Rail Trail
• $14.4 million from the Charging and Fueling Infrastructure Discretionary Grant Program 
• More than $10 million for the City of Quincy for the Southern Artery, (Route 3-A) Multi-Modal Transportation Project
• $7.9 million for Southbridge for the Hamilton Street Transportation Project
• $4 million for the MBTA’s High-Risk Grade Crossing Elimination Master Plan