Civil engineers are passionate about what they do, and their relevance was thrust into the spotlight earlier this year when infrastructure became one of the main focuses of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

When ASCE released its 2009 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure on January 28, we received media inquiries from all over requesting interviews with civil engineers.

Gathering talking points and recruiting spokespeople required an immense amount of planning and coordinating – not just for the ASCE Communications staff, but also for the engineers who made themselves available to answer reporters’ questions. These local spokespeople had to not only be well-versed on the national talking points, but also on local infrastructure issues and their local report cards.

As of midday January 29, it’s estimated that coverage reached nearly 15 million broadcast viewers alone. So a big thanks to all of you who not only served as, but took the time to prepare to be, a local spokesperson.

Now that we’ve made it through the initial release of the Report Card, it’s time to turn out attention to the March 25 release of the full, comprehensive report. In addition to the category fact sheets, we will be releasing fact sheets with state-specific information. (You’ll be able to find all this information posted on the Report Card Web site the day of the release.)

Because we’re releasing local information, we’re anticipating a higher number of local inquiries. This state information is of particular interest to local reporters because they care about what their readers care about – what’s going on in their own backyard.

One way to begin preparing for these inquiries is to review your local report card (if you have one) and pay attention to local infrastructure issues in the news. And since you’ll be keeping your eyes open for infrastructure in the news already, it’s also a great time to consider writing a letter to the editor or op-ed for your local paper. (ASCE’s Communications department has a template op-ed that you can customize to send to your local paper and we’re always here to help and answer any questions you may have.)

If you don’t have the time to write a letter to the editor or op-ed, you can also go online to your news outlet’s Web site. Many of these Web sites now have a feature where you can leave a comment to a story online.

Have you read any news articles about the Report Card and infrastructure lately? What did you think of them?

Anthony Reed
Manager, External Relations

With the nation’s attention recently turned to infrastructure as part of an economic stimulus, the information from ASCE’s Report Card for America’s Infrastructure has become that much more important.

On Wednesday, Jan. 28, ASCE will release important components from the 2009 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure, including letter grades with short conditions summaries for each of the 15 categories, solutions for infrastructure improvement and an overall cost to improve the nation’s infrastructure.

The Report Card will be launched during a press conference at 10 a.m. ET on Jan. 28 in Washington, D.C. You are invited to watch the press conference via a live Webcast.

The full 2009 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure, including detailed fact sheets on all categories and state-by-state information, will be released on March 25, as previously scheduled.

Take action now! Help us spread this message far and wide!

• Submit a letter to the editor or op-ed to your local newspaper. Samples can be found online on the PR University Web site.
• Comment on a story on your newspaper’s Web site or a local blog.
• Contact your legislators at ASCE’s Click and Connect with Congress Web site.

What does your Section or Branch plan to do to support the national Report Card release? Or if you’ve already started, tell us about what you’re doing.

Karen Albers
Manager, State Public Relations