Podcast: The Infrastructure Show

Mobility is essential for the well-being of people wherever they live. The automobile is king of the mobility market across the US, but public transit supports mobility for those who cannot, or chose not to, travel by car. The need for alternatives to automobility in smaller communities and rural areas is substantial but not especially visible.To understand the role and options for transit in such places, we talk with Scott Brogen, who is Executive Director of the Community Transportation Association of America

A hotter climate brings new challenges to the built infrastructure, stressing service systems – power generation and distribution and transportation systems – as well as structures. Are we prepared for these problems? How can infrastructure adapt to higher temperatures?To understand both the problems and options, we talk with Mikhail Chester, Associate Professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment at the Fulton School of Engineering, and Director of the Metis Center for Infrastructure and Sustainable Engineering, at Arizona State University

Superfund sites are seriously polluted locations that are subject to remediation by the Environmental Protection Agency under the 1980 Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA). These clean-up processes can be large, complex, and costly.To understand what it takes to restore a particularly challenging location, the 132-acre Eagle Zinc Superfund site in Hillsboro, Illinois, we talk with the EPA’s Margaret Gielniewski, who is Remedial Project Manager

This podcast is a timely history lesson about the electrification of rural America and the Depression-era program that made it happen. The Rural Electrification Act of 1936 – the REA – provided federal loans to install electrical distribution systems to serve rural areas. The REA may offer lessons as we invest to extend high speed broadband service across the country.To learn about the REA and its impacts, we’re talking with Price Fishback, APS Professor of Economics at the Eller College of Management of the University of Arizona, an expert on the political economy of Roosevelt’s New Deal during the 1930s

Marine ports are gateways to world trade, and their efficient functioning is a pillar of our economy. East and Gulf Coast ports have grown more important in recent years because of the expanded Panama Canal locks opened in 2016 and continuing congestion in West Coast ports and overland transportation. The Port of Virginia has been making important infrastructure investments to secure its position in this competition for world trade.To learn how it became the second busiest container port on the East Coast, in this podcast we talk with Stephen Edwards, CEO and Executive Director of the Virginia Port Authority (VPA)

Railroads and motor vehicles can come into conflict at level, or at-grade crossings. Such conflicts almost always lead to deadly consequences. In this podcast we consider the trend in rail grade crossing crashes, and the differences that crossing control devices, education, and other policies might make toward mitigating this risk.To understand how we can make these intersections safer, we talk with Professor Ian Savage of Northwestern University, a transport economist who studies the economics of transportation safety, including rail safety

Replacing an active railroad bridge while limiting disruptions to both rail and river traffic presents significant challenges in design and construction staging. The 1889 Merchants Bridge at St. Louis – the oldest remaining rail bridge across the Mississippi River – needed to be upgraded to modern standards. The work involved removal and replacement of three truss spans, accomplished in separate time windows, and demanding the precise coordination of multiple contractors, as well as rail and waterways operations.In this podcast we talk with Dan Sieve, Senior Project Manager for Walsh Construction, the company that led the effort, to learn how the work was done

Because temperatures below the surface of the earth are relatively constant year around, the earth can be used as a heat sink or source to cool or heat buildings, offering an energy source that is not only carbon-free, but is also constant. How does this work? Where and how can we use this seemingly free energy source?To answer these questions, we talk with Alessandro Rotta Loria, Assistant Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering at Northwestern University, who studies the connections between geomechanics, energy, and environmental sustainability

Over 1200 tornadoes strike the U.S. each year, bringing destruction, injuries, and deaths to communities. Until recently there were no structural design standards specifically aimed at providing some tornado protection for buildings.In this podcast we talk with Dr. Marc Levitan, Lead Research Engineer at the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s National Windstorm Impact Reduction Program, to learn about tornadoes, the research he has done to lead the development of ASCE wind loading standards for designing structures to resist them, and the process for moving research into enhanced building codes

Is it more costly to build urban rail infrastructure in America? Does that affect the quality of the products? If so, can we do anything to control costs and get more value for our money?The Eno Center for Transportation, an independent think tank, conducted an extensive study to answer these questions. To tell us what they learned, Paul Lewis, Eno Vice President for Policy and Finance and a co-author of the study, joins us in conversation