PWX 2025: connecting infrastructure assets with field operations
Public works equipment and information systems shared a practical brief: helping crews maintain the places people use.
APWA’s Public Works Expo took place at McCormick Place in Chicago on August 17–20, 2025. Its relevance to construction extends beyond new projects to the equipment, records and people needed to keep infrastructure working.
A program built around operational problems
APWA’s advance program set out more than 150 education sessions and a sold-out exhibition of nearly 400 companies. Its themes included aging infrastructure, workforce challenges, asset management and emergency preparedness. These are published program figures, not a final attendance tally.
The breadth of that program matters because infrastructure maintenance crosses departments. Equipment decisions are linked to the condition of assets, the availability of crews and the way work is recorded.
Information belongs beside the machinery
Esri’s Adam Carnow described a GIS Pavilion display with topics including field and fleet management, streets and bridges, and capital improvements. His recap also identified data use and resource constraints among challenges raised in the event’s Solution Hub discussion.
A useful question after the show is whether a proposed tool fits the agency’s existing records and working practices. A demonstration should make clear what a field crew enters, what supervisors can see and how the information is maintained.
Make the next discussion specific
Choose one recurring infrastructure task and identify the steps that take the most time. Then ask equipment and technology suppliers to address that same workflow.
PWX’s strongest editorial connection is between capital equipment and long-term service. A successful follow-up should give the agency a clearer maintenance process, not simply a longer list of products to investigate.
Source: APWA 2025 program and Esri participant recap; photograph: Citylogix, PWX 2025