Our Failing Infrastructure

The question this week on the National Journal’s Transporation Experts Blog asks if states should be allowed to toll exisitng interstates. ASCE’s Executive Director Pat Natale says yes, but cautions that tolls won’t fix all our transportation woes.

While it won’t be the ‘silver bullet’, we absolutely should consider tolling, even on existing interstate highways, as one of the tools in the solutions toolbox. Over the next five years, funding needs will outpace spending on roads and bridges by nearly $550 billion. With a problem of that magnitude, we can’t afford to take any revenue options off the table when we talk about solutions. And, if we are to have any long-term success, users are going to have to learn to associate an appropriate cost with the benefits they reap.

What we need is a bundle of options targeted at specific goals, such as system preservation, congestion relief and environmental quality. Included in that bundle will have to be things like increasing the use of PPPs, raising the federal gas tax and utilizing infrastructure banks.

Go to the Blog to read the rest of Natale’s and the other Experts’ responses.

My friend/co-worker lives pretty close to one of the bridges linking Virginia and the District of Columbia and has found that riding her bike to our office is a great way to add some exercise into her busy schedule. While it’s not that great on these hot August days, she’s found that in the fall and late spring, biking to work is a cost-effective and scenic alternative to riding the Metro.

From jaunted.com

SmartBike DC allows residents to pay a small yearly fee for access to bikes all over the city. The program, first in it’s kind in the U.S., is designed to help people go short distances that might be a bit far to walk without having to use their cars. As we strive to build more “livable” communities, we need more programs that show people they can move around easily without cars.

Despite this effort, we’ve still got a long way to go before everyone hops on their old 10-speed on the way to work. Over 800 people are killed every year in accidents involving motor vehicles and bikes - and thousands more are injured. Not having ridden a bike myself since I was about 12, and even then not being that proficient, it is a bit daunting for me to get out on the road with traffic wizzing by. That’s why transportation planners need to integrate bike facilities into roadway plans.

The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials recommends that all roads, except interstates, should be designed under the assumption that they will be used by cyclists. That means wider lanes or even dedicated bike lanes. Also, bike paths through parkland need regular maintenance to funnel bike traffic off the already clogged streets.

Will biking solve all our transportation infrastructure problems and is it the right choice for everyone? Of course not, but every little bit helps. So if you have the opportunity and the interest, why not get a car off the road or a rider off the train and grab a bike?

You may have heard news reports of unruly Town Hall Meetings with legislators across the country, in most cases centered on the issue of healthcare reform.  Many civil engineers (and other citizens) may be thinking, “I don’t want to get involved in that mess!”

Town Hall Meetings are the very essence of democracy.  They present a chance for citizens to confront those elected to represent them in government directly.  The hope is that all involved will treat others with respect, but news reports have shown that this is not always the case.  While it is tempting to lament the loss of decorum and respect, we should also reflect on the thought that people still care enough to make the effort to get their voices heard.  Despite negative campaigning and lackluster approval ratings, we have not totally given up on the democratic process.

In short, citizens and lawmakers should not shy away from these opportunities for engagement! 

ASCE’s Report Card for America’s Infrastructure is designed in a way so as to make the most challenging and complex problems facing the nation’s infrastructure, understandable by the average person. Summer town hall meetings are the perfect opportunity to share that message.  And who knows, people might list that much more if you’re the one person there not talking about health care!

A few tips to help you get something out of your next Town Hall Meeting:

• Arrive early to get a seat and possibly meet with an elected official’s staff on hand for the event, or maybe even the elected official himself/herself.
• Always treat elected officials and staff with respect for their position and the office, even if you don’t agree with the opinions and actions of the individual that currently holds office.
  Don’t be afraid to bring up a subject not listed on the agenda.
• Even if you’re not comfortable speaking in front of the group, you can still interact with elected officials and staff before and after the program.
• Keep your remarks brief, whether addressing the assembled group or in one-on-one interactions before and after.  If the topic demands more than a few minutes of discussion, ask to set up a meeting in the lawmaker’s district office at a later date.
• Download briefing information from the ASCE Government Relations webpage and the Report Card Advocacy Site  to learn background on the issues to share with your lawmakers and their staff.
• Provide feedback to ASCE through the grassroots activity form.

Remember, there are other ways to interact with your lawmakers besides potentially contentious Town Hall Meetings:  write a message using the Report Card Advocacy site or request a one-on-one visit with your lawmaker in his or her district office.

A water main installed in the 1870s- yes the horse and buggy 1870s- ruptured this morning in New York City, causing major flooding and transportation disruptions. The NY Times City Blog paints a pretty grim picture:

A 12-inch cast-iron water main installed in 1870 broke in Lower Manhattan early Friday morning, flooding about a dozen buildings, forcing the evacuation of several structures, and sending water gushing over the area at least three blocks around the site … The water was up to four feet deep in some buildings at the height of the flood, around 5 a.m. Service on the Nos. 1, 2 and 3 subway lines was interrupted for a while, and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority is continuing to warn of delays in service along those lines, as well as on the M20, M22 and X25 bus routes.

While I hate to say “I told you so” after a disaster, this rupture brings home the need to do two crucial things recommended by the 2009 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure:

1.      (specific) Invest in modernizing the nation’s water infrastructure

2.      (general) Plan, design, and operate resilient critical infrastructure systems to withstand and recover from disruptions.

It might not be much consolation to the people up in NYC today dealing with damages to homes and business or who are unable to travel, but there are some tools we can use to keep problems like this from happening again.

Firstly, we need to support legislation that increases revenues for water infrastructure. The federal government’s share of water infrastructure investments has dropped dramatically over the last few decades and local governments are left shouldering a financial burden too big to handle. A new proposal in Congress, the Water Protection and Reinvestment Act raises revenues from a variety of sources to fund a Trust Fund for drinking and wastewater infrastructure. An easy thing for you to do is visit ASCE Report Card Action Center and send an email to your legislators instantly asking them to support the bill.

Second, the delays to vehicle, bus, and rail travel in a busy downtown area this break is causing illustrate how interconnected our infrastructure systems are. A new publication form ASCE Guiding Principles for Critical Infrastructure gives engineers and policymakers a framework for not only protecting infrastructure in a disaster, but making sure all systems (transportation, water, emergency services) work together to keep people safe and get things back on track.  

Most of these problems won’t be fixed over night – NYC itself probably has hundreds of miles of century-old pipes – but we need to start somewhere. Infrastructure failures are often tragedies with both human and economic costs, but they also show us where we need to be doing better. Thankfully it looks like no one got hurt this time, but let’s not sit around and wait for another break to happen we need more money to build a safer, smarter system.