Podcast: The Infrastructure Show

Rail transit connections between airports and city centers have become increasingly common and heavily used around the world in recent decades. A particularly high-profile link is now being constructed in the Washington, D.C. area – a 23-mile extension of the existing Metrorail system, which will connect East Falls Church, VA to Washington Dulles International Airport. It will serve the major employment areas of Tysons Corner, Reston, and Herndon, VA, and will connect into the 106-mile Washington Metro network to provide accessibility across the region. The hosts talk about this important venture with Sam Carnaggio, Project Director for the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, who is leading the extension project

In the month of August, 2005 and again in August, 2007, the United States experienced major infrastructure failures – in New Orleans and Minneapolis – that stunned the country with their traumatic loss of life, and drew the attention of the world. The causes of the failures were many: inadequate maintenance and inspection, vulnerable design, construction issues, as well as unexpected changes in loadings that exceeded the margin of safety. How common are structural failures of civil infrastructure? And what can we learn from them? The hosts discuss this important topic with Henry Petroski, a Professor in the Pratt School of Engineering at Duke University in Durham, NC, where he specializes in failure analysis

Imagine a bus that travels in its own dedicated lane at the speed of a subway train, dramatically faster than conventional buses; a bus that brings high-speed transit to areas of the city where subways don’t run; and the costs of which are far below those of rail rapid transit. Although this sounds “too good to be true”, this is one instance where a too-good-to-be-true idea has proven realistic, workable, and highly beneficial – both abroad and in the U.S. The hosts discuss this topic with Walter Hook, Executive Director of the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy, and co-editor of the book “Bus Rapid Transit Planning Guide”

There are about 2.3 million miles of natural gas and hazardous liquid pipelines in the U.S. This pipeline infrastructure is overseen by the U.S. Department of Transportation, whose sub-department, the Pipeline Hazardous Material Safety Administration (PHMSA), is the main regulatory authority. The agency only has about 100 federal inspectors nationwide. The Pipeline Safety Law provides for Federal authority for regulation of interstate pipeline facilities, and a cooperative Federal/state gas and hazardous liquid pipeline safety program, where certifying state agencies could assume responsibility for intrastate pipelines. The hosts discuss this topic of pipeline safety with Cesar de Leon, former head of the Office of Pipeline Safety (now PHMSA), currently a pipeline safety engineering consultant

Throughout history, materials used for infrastructure and transportation-related projects have followed a continuous course of development and change – from the first use of concrete in bridges by the Romans, to the first steel bridge, the Eads Bridge, built in 1874, and more recently to railroad bridges made of recycled plastic, something we discussed in a recent Infrastructure Show podcast. The hosts discuss this topic of new materials with one of the country’s top experts on the topic – architect Blaine Brownell, an Assistant Professor at the University of Minnesota’s School of Architecture, College of Design, and the author of the acclaimed book Transmaterials, which includes information on hundreds of innovative new materials for architecture. He also leads the design and research firm Transstudio

According to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, there are currently more than 85,000 dams in the U.S. Surprisingly, the majority of these dams are privately owned – the Association of State Dam Safety Officials estimates that fraction number at 65%. These private dams are under state regulation, but many state dam offices lack adequate operating funds, and as well, states differ widely regarding their safety standards. The publicized failures of two private dams this year – the 300-year-old Freetown, Massachusetts dam in March and the Lake Delhi dam in Iowa in July – have brought attention to the safety of privately owned dams. Just how safe are they? And who is responsible when they fail? The hosts discuss this topic with David Gutierrez of the California Department of Water Resources. He is Acting Chief in the Division of Dam Safety, and also is the current President of the Association of State Dam Safety Officials

The target condition for physical infrastructure on mass transit facilities in the United States is called the state of good repair, or SGR. The concept of the state of good repair is used to help gauge current and future needs for repairing and renewing buses, rail cars, bridges, and track. Based on analyses conducted by U.S. public transit systems, mandated by the U.S. Federal Transit Administration, many facilities have not met this mark, in large measure because of insufficient funding. The challenge faced by transit operators today, particularly managers of the oldest systems in the country, is to meet, or come close to that target with available resources. The hosts discuss this important topic with Christopher Boylan, Deputy Executive Director, Corporate and Community Affairs for the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority, who will discuss the SGR challenges involved in managing the MTA

The inland waterway system of the United States, operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, includes 12,000 miles of commercially navigable rivers, canals and other waterways, and 240 locks. This system, which includes the Mississippi, Ohio, Columbia-Snake River systems and the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, allows barges to transport cargo among 21 states. For bulk cargoes, barges are not only more fuel efficient than trucks and trains, but have fewer societal impacts as well. Yet, perhaps because the waterways are a rather hidden infrastructure, making the case for increased funding can be a challenge. How do we go about placing a value on this essential part of the infrastructure, and communicating this value to the public and decision-makers? The hosts discuss this topic with Bruce Lambert, Executive Director of the Institute for Trade and Transportation Studies, a multistate research institute – an economist whose prior position was as Senior Economist with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Institute of Water Resources

Two major earthquakes happening within a month of each other in early 2010 galvanized the world’s attention. Highly publicized was the role that building codes played in the differing losses of life in the two events, in Haiti and Chile. What are the implications of a mega-quake for buildings and other structures in the U.S.? Some people looking for the next “Big One” in this country are predicting the San Andreas Fault in California, others the Cascadia Fault near the Pacific Northwest or the New Madrid Fault in the Midwest. The hosts talks about this important topic with Dr. Sharon Wood, Civil Engineering Professor and Department Chair at the University of Texas-Austin

Corrosion of steel bridges, and of reinforcing steel in concrete bridges, is a major cause of bridge deterioration. The search for a wonder material that bears heavy loads, yet won’t corrode, has been a dream of infrastructure engineers for many years. And now perhaps such a material’s time has come. Recycled structural plastic composite – or RSPC – has been tested since the 1990s, beginning with railroad ties. More recently RSPC is being used in bridges of increasing size. This material is made of recycled plastics, such as milk containers and car bumpers, which might otherwise end up in landfills. The hosts talk with Vijay Chandra of Parsons Brinkerhoff, the principal in charge of the design of two RSPC rail bridges in Ft. Eustis, VA. They discuss the project – the largest bridges built to date of RSPC, to support the heaviest loads (120-ton locomotives used by the U.S. Army) – and also the potential for the use of this environmentally friendly material in future infrastructure projects