Podcast: The Infrastructure Show

Securing the money to maintain public infrastructure continues to be a top priority in the United States. The surface transportation system, roads, bridges, and public transportation facilities, need ongoing investment to assure that they meet economic and social needs. In January, 2017, the State of Pennsylvania increased its gas tax to become the highest in the nation, working under 2013 legislation that restructured the state’s approach to transportation funding. Since then Pennsylvania has made considerable progress renewing and improving its transportation infrastructure. In this interview we talk with Roger Cohen, Policy Director for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, to learn about his state’s strategy and progress

The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) is a strong advocate for infrastructure in the United States. Its quadrennial Infrastructure Report Card has brought us a comprehensive assessment of that infrastructure since 1992, and the picture has not been a pretty one. Reviewing 16 major types of infrastructure, the ASCE report card tells us how we’re doing and offers directions for essential improvements. In this interview we talk with Casey Dinges, Senior Managing Director of the ASCE, about the 2017 report card. More details on ASCE’s Infrastructure Report Card is at www.infrastructurereportcard.org

Big infrastructure projects often present the need to move very large objects, such as parts of chemical processing plants or even entire bridges. The capacity for moving massive components has grown to an impressive scale. In this podcast we talk with Jack Tol, Senior Sales Engineer with Mammoet, a company that provides solutions for lifting and moving large and heavy structures

When infrastructure becomes obsolete, unsafe, or the need for it goes away, and when the space is better used for something new, that facility must be demolished. Structures are usually disassembled piece by piece, but sometimes controlled explosion may be more efficient or necessary. This process may be no less complex than building a structure anew. In this interview we talk with Mark Loizeaux, President of Controlled Demolition, who tells us about how explosives are used to remove structures rapidly and safely

Forecasts of the costs and benefits of infrastructure projects are important for making informed investment decisions. However, there have been many instances of major cost overruns and unexpected low utilization of new facilities. To explore the nature and pattern of such prediction errors and what we can do to make more accurate predictions, we talk with, Dr. Martin Wachs, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Urban Planning at UCLA, formerly with the RAND Corporation and before that professor at UC Berkeley

Cable stayed bridges have become increasingly common in the past few decade, and they seem to be the design of choice for modern bridges spanning 500 to as much as 2,000 feet. In this podcast we learn of the mechanics and the advantages of this architecturally appealing design from an expert in the field, Denny Pate, Senior Vice President and Principal Bridge Engineer with Figg Engineering in Tallahassee, Florid

A variety of natural and intentional events can disrupt components of the U.S. power grid, including large and small storms, vandalism, and cyber attacks. In this podcast, Thomas Overbye, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Illinois – Urbana-Champaign describes the functioning of the grid, some of the risks it faces, its resilience, and mitigation actions for both grid operators and households.

Lead in the water supply is a serious threat to public health and a particular danger to children. Water supplies in many U.S. cities carry unacceptable lead concentrations because of the use of lead pipes, especially where protective water additives are not used. In this podcast we talk with Marc A. Edwards, professor in the Environmental and Water Resources Engineering group at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, who has been actively engaged in both testing municipal water systems for lead, notably in Flint, Michigan and Washington, D.C., and advocating mitigation through the use of additives and the replacement of lead pipes

The threat of damaging storm surges grows as sea levels rise and the frequency of severe storms increases. Some U.S. cities on the east and Gulf coasts are particularly vulnerable to storm surges. Houston is the fourth-largest city in the country, home to the nation’s largest refining and petrochemical complex, and it may be right behind Galveston in the path of the next big Gulf hurricane. This area has been hit hard by past hurricanes, which underscores the importance of protecting it. In this podcast, Prof. Wesley Highfield of the department of Marine Sciences at Texas A&M University at Galveston discusses storm surge risks, protective options, decisions to act, and lessons for other coastal cities

Unmanned aerial cameras – drones – are becoming a standard part of the infrastructure management toolkit. They are particularly useful for inspecting widely dispersed facilities in areas than can be difficult to navigate on the ground. Although there are important flight restrictions that preclude operations over populated areas, there is a growing set of applications in surveillance and inspection for large-scale infrastructure systems. In this discussion, Kevin Lewis of the Denver Department of Public Works describes the merits of using an off-the-shelf quadcopter drone to inspect critical flood control structures