PILLAR Talk

Lane Closure or Construction

Delivering Maintenance Cost Efficiencies in P3/O&M Projects

If you are performing an outsourced O&M project, it is very likely you have a fixed budget based on your contract price. Your cash flow is known upfront, the day you sign the contract. As the Maintenance Manager, your job is to meet the contract performance requirements as efficiently as possible while meeting your budget. […]

LiDAR Van Two-ton Point Cloud and Highway

Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Transportation Asset Management

There have been numerous developments in recent years in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI) that are transforming our daily lives. Among the most commonly recognized are self-driving vehicles and voice recognition devices such as Amazon’s Alexa. While perhaps not as flashy as having your virtual personal assistant, Pillar Operations & Maintenance Advisors is a […]

Yellow Safety Helmets on Lockers

Top 10 Ways of Safely Getting Through The Day (and Life)

It’s as tough of a job as it is an important one – each year the National Safety Council tries to make a dent in the collective consciousness of America by celebrating “Safety Awareness Week.” Because safety is often forgotten until we wish we remembered it, we should applaud this effort and practice a constant […]

Aerial View of Highway Corridor

How Outsourcing with a P3 Project Makes Good Business Sense

What is outsourcing? Outsourcing is simply using contractors to do things traditionally done by in-house staff. In the P3 space, virtually the entire project is outsourced, by definition. In a traditional, publicly owned and operated roadway, the Owner (DOT/Ministry, etc.) provides operations and maintenance for the roadway with in-house staff, trucks, equipment and materials. Similarly, […]

Canadian All-Season Road

PILLAR, INC. Part of Team Chosen for Canadian Roadway P3 Project

North Star Infrastructure Team to build and maintain Northwest Territories Tłı̨chǫ All Season Road WYTHEVILLE, Va. (February 27, 2019) – PILLAR Operations and Maintenance Advisors worked with its client, North Star Infrastructure, on a project to design, build, finance, operate, and maintain the Northwest Territories Tłı̨chǫ All Season Road in Canada. Working closely with North […]

Asphalt Patching for Drain

The Case for Pavement Management

Why is pavement management important? The nation’s road system represents an asset valued at more than $2.4 trillion. Nearly 90% of passenger-miles traveled and 60% of the nations’ total freight is transported via the nation’s highway system. There is no doubt, it is an asset worthy of substantial investment for the sake of our economy […]

Pillar Truck Tunnel Fire

What does Rehabilitation mean for a Public-Private Partnership?

A Public-Private Partnership (P3) is a contract vehicle where a private developer – working with a public entity – designs, builds, finances and operates the infrastructure. This Pillar Talk will focus on the rehabilitation, or handback portion, of a P3. P3 transportation projects have two varieties: availability payment or revenue risk. In an availability payment […]

PILLAR Field Assessors Walking

Is Your Agency Maximizing Asset Management to its Fullest?

Last month I attended the 12th TRB Asset Management Conference (my third) and the 2018 AASHTO Committee On Maintenance Annual Meeting (my fifth). While both conferences were about Asset Management, the focus of each was on two different planes. The TRB Conference focused more on strategic issues (i.e. risk, resiliency, sustainability) and the AASHTO Conference […]