Jan 24 2012
The President will be speaking before a Joint session of Congress and the American people tonight to discuss the State of the Union. The first State of the Union was delivered by President George Washington in January 1790 and since then has become a vehicle for a sitting President to outline his legislative agenda for [...]
Jan 19 2012
UPDATED: 01/20/12 at 5:30pm As the second session of the 112th Congress commences several ASCE priority issues remain unresolved. Thus far the 112th Congress has seen little legislative action on issues related to the civil engineering profession, however House and Senate leaders have indicated that infrastructure legislation could be a top priority in 2012. [...]
Dec 15 2011
ASCE is releasing a report today identifying the long-term consequences to the nation’s economy from failing to invest today in our aging drinking water and wastewater infrastructure. The report is the second in a four part series of economic studies assessing the impacts of continued underinvestment in the nation’s infrastructure systems. The report, Failure to [...]
Jul 27 2010
The failure this weekend of an 88 year old dam in Iowa has once again brought the nation’s attention to the poor state of our nation’s aging infrastructure and shown us the devastation that can be caused when that infrastructure fails. There are more than 85,000 dams in the United States, and the average age [...]
Nov 06 2009
The news this morning wasn’t good: unemployment in October climbed to a twenty-five year high of 10.2 percent and is expected to grow. More troubling for those of us in the infrastructure field, last month the economy also lost about 62,000 construction jobs. While the Obama administration estimates on recovery.gov that as of October 30, [...]
Oct 16 2009
The Virginia Section of ASCE this week released its 2009 Report Card for Virginia’s Infrastructure. The Old Dominion’s infrastructure rated a D+ overall. The section’s first Report Card graded 13 infrastructure categories: aviation facilities, bridges, dams, drinking water systems, energy, parks and recreation, ports and navigable waterways, rail and transit, roads, schools, solid waste [...]
Aug 07 2009
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 [...]
Jul 14 2009
Everyone seems to be pinching pennies or clipping coupons these days. Why not add throwing money down the drain to the list? No, not wasting money, I mean investing in our water infrastructure. Other than when they back up or break, most of us don’t give much thought to the pipes in our community [...]