Dan Viscardi, drives CDM's transportation services

Hispanic Times Magazine, August-Sept, 1998

CDM Vice President Dan Viscardi, pictured at right leading the discussion, is a leading member of CDM's transportation team. He specialized in environmental planning, design, and management for transportation clients. For the past seven years, Dan has managed projects for airports, transit and port authorities, highway departments, and railroad companies.

Q. Why is CDM providing transportation services to clients?

CDM has focused on transportation since 1990, when we provided strictly environmental services -- remediation, underground storage tanks, stormwater related services, and wetlands permitting -- primarily to aviation clients. These offerings, however, did not represent the full extent of CDM's expertise. Today, we are providing traditional and innovative services to 115 airports, 7 transit authorities, 6 highway departments, 3 ports, and 2 railroad companies nationally.

Q. What are some of the expanded needs for transportation entities?

Transportation entities need services that solve increasingly sophisticated environmental problems. One example is stormwater runoff for aviation authorities. While the solution was once to move stormwater off the operational areas quickly, airports today realize that stormwater management touches on many complex issues: environmental compliance, airside traffic management and safety, and air quality impacts. The successful implementation of stormwater management requires cost-effective treatment technologies; and understanding the needs of all affected groups.

Q. What do you see as the most critical transportation issue today?

I see two critical transportation issues -- existing infrastructure rehabilitation and the rapidly increasing demand for efficient transportation services. Every mode of transportation is projected to grow dramatically in the next five years, and the planning and management of that growth is CDM's challenge as we move into the next millennium.

Q. What attributes should growing entities look for in consultants to help them manage growth?

There are four items to consider. First, the relationship must revolve around a passion for the industry. Transportation is, after all, a part of practically everyone's life; it is a critical driver of our economy. Second, the consultant team must be part of the industry, not just an observer. Third, the consultant must meet clients' needs in a cost-effective manner. Environmental management normally is a revenue user, not a supplier; therefore, the associated costs have to be very carefully evaluated. For CDM, this means the innovative application of the environmental knowledge we have garnered throughout our 50 years of service.

Finally, the expertise needs to be industry-wide. CDM consistently participates in technology transfer seminars -- particularly for the Airports Council International and the American Association of Airport Executives. Also, CDM was recently asked by the American Association of Port Authorities to develop the port industry's environmental code of practice. These projects give us the opportunity to share our transportation expertise across the industry.