What civil engineers are reading this week

• As wildfires rage in LA area, infrastructure – including roadways – under threat

  The backbone of any recovery effort requires a healthy infrastructure system, but roadway damage often is an afterthought. Read about a study that may be helpful during Southern California’s recovery.

• LA wildfires live updates: Winds ease as fires continue to devastate region

  Santa Ana winds have died down across the greater Los Angeles area, helping firefighters bring almost 40,000 acres of ongoing wildfires under control.

• Benefits of surveying advances ripple across civil engineering

  Surveying tech has come a long way in a short time, from square levels and compass and chains setups to coordinates assisted by satellite. Here’s how it delivers more useful data for project planning.

• LA wildfire live updates: Region on high alert as strong winds fan the flames

  Southern California is braced for "extremely critical fire conditions" caused by a new period of Santa Ana winds today through tomorrow across parts of Los Angeles and Ventura counties.

• DJI will no longer stop drones from flying over airports, wildfires, and the White House

  Confusingly, amid the greatest U.S. outpouring of drone distrust in years and an incident of a DJI drone operator hindering Los Angeles wildfire fighting efforts, DJI is dropping its strong geofence. 

• National infrastructure equity coalition grows with 18 new members from California

  The Bay Area agencies’ signing grows the voluntary coalition to 92 transit authorities, airports, water districts, and engineering, financial, and construction firms from across the country.