Podcast: The Infrastructure Show

The electrical grid of the United States is an enormously impressive feat of engineering that is critical to the economic and social functioning of the nation. But the fact is, it is basically a century-old power grid, not simply inefficient but vulnerable to cascading breakdowns due to both natural and manmade events. The Smart Grid is a strategy for modernizing the electrical grid. It is an automated network that directs the movement of electric power using information and communications technology to collect data on electricity supply and demand to improve efficiency, reliability, and sustainability of electric power. The hosts discuss this important topic with one of the country’s leading experts on the smart electric power grid, Massoud Amin, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Minnesota

Those who work in maintenance frequently find their departments are regarded by top management as a cost, rather than a contributor to the profitability of the enterprise. One reason is that the value of equipment and systems maintenance is hard to quantify. As a result, many enterprises do not budget sufficient monies for maintenance. Public transit is similar to other enterprises in this regard. However, one transit maintenance department in California has begun using an innovative budgeting process that has had impressive results. The hosts talk with Michael Hursh, Chief Operating Officer for the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority in San Jose about what his maintenance department has accomplished, by using asset-inventory-based state of good repair analysis, which assigns values to maintenance that are easily comprehended by management and the public

In February of 2003, the City of London, led by then-mayor Ken Livingstone, implemented a long-discussed plan for charging motor vehicles entering Central London during weekdays, with the goal of reducing traffic congestion and pollution levels. It was the largest implementation of a congestion pricing scheme anywhere it the world. While initially many residents and businesses feared that the congestion charging system would impede access, damage central area businesses, and create inequities, today, 10 years on, it is generally regarded as an effective and efficient model of urban congestion management, and cities around the world are using the London experience as a guide for their own policies. The hosts talk about lessons learned with Paul Cowperthwaite, Head of Contracted Services for Transport for London, the governmental agency responsible for transportation in the London area

Hurricane Irene originated in the Caribbean in late August 2011, and travelled up the East Coast of the U.S., causing widespread damage to infrastructure and a number of deaths. Vermont was one of the hardest hit states. Flooding from heavy rains as the storm passed on August 29 damaged roads, bridges, and several municipal wastewater treatment plants. However, the staff members did an impressive job in restoring the facilities and the water treatment quickly, for which they received an EPA excellence award. The hosts talk with Jeff Fehrs, Environmental Engineer for the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation, about the challenges faced by the operators of Vermont’s wastewater treatment plants because of Hurricane Irene, and more generally, about the critical role that small town wastewater treatment plants play in the health and safety of their communities and the environment

The Port of Savannah, GA is located on the Savannah River, about 18 miles from the Atlantic Ocean, and is operated by the Georgia Ports Authority. While the Port is the nation’s fourth busiest container port, the Savannah River shipping channel is not deep enough to accommodate the supersized cargo ships developed for the enlarged Panama Canal. The Savannah Harbor Expansion Project, or SHEP, based on 12 years of planning and research by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, will deepen the channel, so that it can accommodate the larger ships, and thus significantly benefit Georgia and the region. The hosts discuss this important project with Curtis Foltz, Executive Director of the Georgia Ports Authority.

According to scientists, sea levels may rise 3 to 6 feet globally during the next century due to climate change. Millions of Americans live in coastal areas that would be flooded by sea level rises of these magnitudes. There also is concern regarding surges from destructive storms like Hurricane Sandy, which caused so much damage in October 2012, particularly in New York and New Jersey. Sandy was a super storm, of a type previously referred to as “once-in-a-century”, though looking ahead, some fear that such storms may become more frequent due to climate change and resulting extreme weather events. How can U.S. coastal communities deal proactively with the challenges of rising sea level and storm surges? The hosts discuss this important topic with Jessica Grannis of the Georgetown Climate Center, author of the “Sea-Level Rise Toolkit.

The St. Croix River, a tributary of the Mississippi River located in the states of Minnesota and Wisconsin, is crossed by the 80-year-old Stillwater Lift Bridge at Stillwater, MN, about 20 miles northeast of St. Paul. Over the years, as sprawl from the Twin Cities has increased the demand for suburban development and Stillwater has grown, the two lane lift-bridge crossing over the St. Croix has become highly congested. The decision was made to build a new bridge across the river between the two states, at a site south of Stillwater, to be called the St. Croix Bridge, beginning in 2013. It will feature a bridge design called extradosed – and will be only the second such bridge in the U.S. When the extradosed bridge is completed, the lift bridge, a historic structure, will not be torn down, but rather will be turned into a pedestrian-and-bicycle-only bridge. The hosts talk about this innovative project with Kevin Western of the Minnesota Department of Transportation, who is design engineer for the project.

On the afternoon of May 22, 2011, an EF-5 tornado struck Joplin, MO, killing 161 people and injuring about 1,000. St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Joplin suffered substantial structural damage. Five patients and one visitor died that day. The damage to the hospital was so extensive that the facility required replacement. Because such storms are not rare in Joplin – it has been struck by three tornadoes in the past four decades – the goal was to design a new facility that would safely withstand a future tornado by learning from the structural weaknesses of the original building after such conditions. The hosts discuss the innovative storm-resistant design of the 900,000-square-foot new facility under construction, called Mercy Hospital, with John Farnen, Executive Director of Strategic Projects for Mercy

Construction of the Second Avenue Subway on the East Side of New York City – a project that has been discussed for 75 years – began in April of 2007 and is scheduled for completion in December of 2016. This subway will consist of two miles of tunnels under Second Avenue, from 125th Street in the North to the Financial District in Lower Manhattan. The hosts talk about this long-awaited and very important addition to the New York City subway system with Peter Cafiero, Chief of Operations Planning for MTA NYC Transit.

The Eagle P3 East Rail Line is a project that will provide train service from downtown Denver’s Union Station to Denver International Airport, 22.8 miles east of the City. The Eagle project also includes the 11.8 mile Gold Line, northwest of Denver and the segment of Northwest Rail Line to Westminster as well as a rail maintenance facility. It is funded by a public-private partnership between RTD, the Federal Transit Administration and several companies that formed the Denver Transit Partners Consortium. Work began on the project in August of 2010 and is estimated to be finished in early 2016. The hosts discuss this interesting project with Richard Clarke, Assistant General Manager of Capital Programs for the Regional Transportation District