Podcast: The Infrastructure Show

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

This year is the 75th anniversary of the completion of the Golden Gate Bridge, the iconic suspension bridge that connects the City of San Francisco to Marin County. The 8,981-foot steel bridge – with a 4,200 foot main span – painted a distinctive dark orange, is one of the most photographed bridges in the world. While several engineers worked on the project, the Golden Gate Bridge District has given major credit for the design to Senior Engineer Charles Alton Ellis. While some younger bridges have deteriorated and been replaced, it is interesting to explore what it has taken to sustain and update this important bridge over its 75-year-life. The hosts discuss this topic with Ewa Bauer, Chief Engineer of the Golden Gate Bridge District.

Two thirds of the State of California’s fresh water needs are supplied by the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta in Northern California. Runoff flows into the delta from the Sierra Nevada Mountains, the Cascade Range, and the Pacific Coast Range. Until the 1800s, the delta flooded each year in the spring, but in the latter part of that century, levee construction was undertaken for flood control and to reclaim land for farming – which created one of the most productive agricultural areas in the nation. Today, there are about 1,100 miles of levees in the delta. Their condition is a major concern to the State of California, because a failure could result in catastrophic flooding of the agricultural area and disruption of water supply to other parts of the state. The hosts discuss the dilemma of how to ensure the safety of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta with Jeffrey Mount, Professor of Geology, at the University of California-Davis

According to the U.S. Green Building Council, buildings are responsible for 40% of the country’s energy consumption, and 39% of the CO2 emissions. Therefore, buildings represent an important target for greenhouse gas reduction, and during the last decade the country has seen significant progress in that regard, from the USGBC’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification system, to the Architecture 2030 Challenge, to CALGreen, the first mandatory statewide green building code in the nation. The ultimate goal is zero energy buildings – structures that make as much energy as they consume. The hosts discuss innovations in energy-efficient buildings and greenhouse gas reduction with Roger Frechette, President of PositivEnergy Practice, whose work focuses on sustainable engineering and building design.

An Infrastructure Show podcast in October of 2009 discussed high-speed-rail efforts in the Midwest. High-speed-rail plans are still in the news – with considerable activity and controversy coming from California – and funds for high speed rail in the President’s transportation budget. Plenty of uncertainty remains in the HSR arena, about future ridership, costs, and finance. It’s timely to explore these issues once again. What are the issues and what might the future hold for high speed rail in America? Professor Schofer and Tom talk about these issues as decisions are being made in Washington, California, and other places across the country.

The Federal Aviation Administration began conducting research in the 1990s to determine how to ensure maximum safety at airports where the full runway safety area cannot be obtained. Working in concert with the University of Dayton, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and the Engineered Arresting Systems Corporation (ESCO) of Logan Township, NJ, a new technology emerged to safely arrest overrunning aircraft. The engineered material arresting system – or EMAS – uses crushable concrete placed at the end of a runway to stop an aircraft that overruns the runway. The tires of the aircraft sink into the lightweight concrete and the aircraft is decelerated as it rolls through the material. Currently, EMAS is installed at 42 U.S. airports. The hosts discuss this EMAS technology with James White, Deputy Director, Airport Safety and Standards at the FAA