When watching the news on television or listening to it in our car, we tend to think there are no new ways to solve our failing infrastructure.
When the engineering community and the general public heard the nation received a Grade D for the failing infrastructure, the natural reaction is to reach for the remote control and change the channel.
What does a Grade D mean for our infrastructure?
What did the ASCE’s 2017 report say about the state of US Infrastructure?
According to the ASCE report published in 2017, the country needs an estimated $4.5 trillion investment by the year 2025 to make improvements to aging bridges, power stations, outdated transmission and distribution lines, eroding highways, waterways, water treatment systems, and more.
The most recent report showed that little had changed from the last ASCE report published in 2013. In some categories such as parks, solid waste, and transit, the standards actually declined in 2017. There were incremental improvements for schools, wastewater, hazardous waste, levees, and shipping ports. The grades for bridges, aviation, roads, drinking water, and dams remained unchanged from the report published in 2013.
Is the 2017 ASCE report telling us anything we didn’t already know? Most of us have experienced driving on potholed roads or traveling on inefficient public transportation. Whether you live in a metro or suburban community, it is a common occurrence to find workers repairing one of these issues.
Societal needs are changing as metro and suburban areas are becoming more heterogeneous.
Demographic Changes in Society Today
Sweeping cultural and societal changes are happening throughout the country. The nation’s age expectancy is growing due to advances in medicine and treatments. There needs to be a catalyst for newer transportation and telecommunication networks to bring people and communities closer. Studies show there are fewer young people getting a driver’s license. Most millennials and Generation X prefer public transit and sharing cars and bikes. According to the Urban Land Institute, 55% of millennials claim it is an important priority to live as close as possible to public transportation.
Another dramatic change is in the large volumes of people moving from the rural parts of the country to bustling cities.
People from rural communities are increasingly flocking towards happening downtowns or to industry hubs such as Houston (Energy) or to New York City (Finance). Research demonstrates that 82% of North Americans live in metro areas, large concentrations living in mid-sized to large cities.
As Bret Boyd, the co-founder of The GrayLine Group, (an organization that provides tools to keep up with global change) says that cities need to be able to manage waves of migration from rural communities. Boyd’s study shows that “In 2010, 41 urban areas in the United States housed more than 1 million people, up from 12 areas in 1950, and projected to grow to 53 by 2030.”
Boyd argues that with swelling city populations there is an urgent need to modernize and stabilize infrastructure. In most US cities infrastructure dates back to the post-war era and is rapidly surpassing its planned lifespan. The need to modernize infrastructure is apparent, especially taking into account the latest ASCE report.
Cities, public utilities, and urban planners face major obstacles to ensuring sustainable growth. Implementing environmentally sustainable innovations could be a possible solution. However, as Boyd warns, some cities are likely to “over-invest in the wrong technologies and design approaches” whereas others are likely to underestimate the enormity of change ahead and not implement suitable planning, “resulting in deteriorating and dangerous cities.”
Are there cost-effective solutions for sustainable infrastructure?
If you were to do a survey asking the public how they would solve the nation’s infrastructure problem, the likely answer is to increase federal funding. The chosen approach of most federal decision makers is to increase public taxes. Another way to raise funds is through the partnerships of public and private organizations.
The nation’s roads are in urgent need of funding for repair. Many fail to recognize another major issue is that there is a lack of professional civil engineers with the skill set to replace aging bridges and road surfaces. The length of time and training to acquire these skills and credentials can take 10-15 years.
Water / Wastewater solutions
As the ASCE 2017 report demonstrated, there are incremental improvements for wastewater. Leading firms are turning to more sustainable methods to provide energy and water to their local communities.
Public agencies such as the East Bay Municipal Utility District have a long-term commitment to creating new energy sources and being stewards of the environment. In 2010, this public utility “generated 100,000 megawatt-hours more energy from renewable sources that it used as a water and wastewater service provider.” Demonstrating to other similar utilities that it is possible to become a net generator of energy and clean reusable water.
Smaller cities such as Steven Point, Wisconsin, are producing biosolids, benefiting the local environment in several ways. Biosolids can be used as a fertilizer to improve and maintain productive soils, causing plant life to flourish.
How to solve infrastructure issues in major cities?
The nation’s larger metropolises are pursuing more sustainable solutions such as green infrastructure. One of the benefits of this approach is the reinvigoration of urban neighborhoods. By building more green spaces such as parks and planting more trees in and around the nation’s cities, the results are cleaner air to breathe and water without contaminants.
Large metropolitan projects such as New York’s Gov. Mario M. Cuomo Bridge are using a more efficient approach called design-build. In the design-build method, construction and engineering teams work as one unit working under one contact. Engineers and construction professionals share similar goals placing durability and safety ahead of profitability. From the very beginnings of a project, they research construction maps, identifying the most cost-effective approaches to complete a project in a way that causes the least disruption for road users.
As a part of the Mario M. Cuomo Bridge project engineers first demolished the old Tappan Zee Bridge and used leftover materials from the debris to construct six artificial reefs around Long Island rather than sending it to a salvage yard.
The way forward is through new sustainable approaches to infrastructure
As estimated, the $4.5 trillion investment needed in infrastructure by the year 2025 is enough to make decision makers dizzy. It is a mistake to think that throwing money at the problem will cure the nation’s infrastructure ills.
Fortunately, this approach to solving the nation’s infrastructure ill health is not the only antidote.
There is currently a lack of engineers with road and bridge repair expertise. Young engineers need encouragement and incentives to pursue careers in civil engineering specializing in bridge and road repair. The increased employment of these skilled professionals will certainly make a meaningful impact.
The positive contribution of East Bay Municipal Utility District in Oakland, CA, shows it is possible for energy and water provision to be cost-effective and efficient. Other engineering firms are adopting green infrastructure principles and the design-build approach to create a healthier future for the nation’s infrastructure, and more firms need to join this cause.
