Podcast: The Infrastructure Show

The Everglades is a huge wetland – an area permanently covered with water – that includes a variety of unique ecosystems delivering essential services to both natural and human development systems, including water storage, treatment, flood control, and providing habits for many creatures and plants. Occupying much of Florida south of Orlando, the Everglades has felt the effects of human activities for hundreds of years. The Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) is a congressionally mandated, 35-year federal/state collaboration that is restoring, preserving, and protecting the Everglades.To learn more about the Everglades and CERP we invited Eva Velez, Chief of the Ecosystems Branch of the Jacksonville District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, to talk with us

We rely on state and local highway agencies to assure the safety and functionality of the more that 618,000 bridges the American public traverses on a daily basis. The sheer numbers, our aging bridge population, and limits to funding make this a large and demanding responsibility. How do these agencies assess the condition of our bridges and set priorities for repair and replacement?To learn how one state department of transportation works to assure that its bridges are in a state of good repair, we talk with Todd Springer, Assistant State Structure and Bridge Engineer for Design and Project Delivery at the Virginia Department of Transportation

Competition for urban curb space can be fierce on a day to day basis, and a policy and technical challenge for longer term planning. Delivery companies and their customers, people trying to park their cars, pedestrians, and bike riders are all in the mix. How common is this competition? What are the options for allocating scarce curb space so all of the important needs are met?To learn about this problem and possible solutions, we talk with Anne Goodchild, Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering and Director of the Supply Chain Transportation & Logistics Center at the University of Washington

Groundwater is the source of about 40 percent of our potable water, and thus it is important for many households, farms, manufacturing, and other processes. In some places groundwater is contaminated, or at risk of contamination. In many placed it is being used at rates faster than it is being recharged. How do we manage groundwater? What are the risks that it faces, and what can we do about them?In this podcast we talk with Dr. Bill Alley, Director of Science and Technology, for the National Ground Water Association

Rail terminals are the beginning and end points of the rail freight journey, and they serve a key sorting function for merchandise trains, those carrying mixed freight. Rail terminals are large, complex, and varied in their characteristics, and their functioning is critical to the success and efficiency of rail freight and the broader U.S. supply chain logistics system.To learn about railroad terminal operations and design, we talk with an expert on the subject, Rich Gray, who served as General Director of Asset Planning before retiring from the Union Pacific Railroad

History can be a great teacher, particularly so when it comes to infrastructure achievements. During the Bicentennial period of the construction of the Erie Canal, it is appropriate and informative to look back at this groundbreaking infrastructure project. Built between 1817 and 1825, the Erie Canal opened the Midwest to trade and settlement, and by cutting freight rates by 75% overnight, it boosted the commercial power of New York City. It offers lessons about the link between accessibility and economic development, the merits of strategic public investment, as well as the conflicts that can occur in public finance decisions.To remind us of this history, we’re joined by Brad Utter, Senior Historian and Curator at the New York State Museum and author of the 2020 book, Enterprising Waters – the History and Art of New York’s Erie Canal

Beyond the capability to move products, supply chains need storage space for transferring and holding goods en route and while they await shipment to customers. Sufficiency – and efficiency – of logistics real estate, warehouses and distribution centers, are essential attributes of well-run supply chains. How does the logistics real estate sector work? What factors drive the market and assure that customer demands are met?To learn how the space needs of the logistics industry are met, we talk with Christopher Caton, Global Head of Strategy and Analytics with Prologis, which builds and invests in logistics space around the world

It’s the functionality of infrastructure that brings value, and when natural hazards disrupt that functionality, the costs can be high. This is a growing problem for transportation networks, which are being assaulted by wildfires, landslides, and floods with increasing frequency and severity. What does it take to keep a road network flowing when the flood waters rise?To learn about this critical role for the economy and society, we talk with Austin Yates, engineer with the Iowa Department of Transportation, which has had more than its share of flood disruptions in recent years

Big infrastructure projects need big money, and larger projects rely on some kind of borrowing – using other people’s money for a period of time.To learn how infrastructure projects are financed through borrowing, we talk with Scott Trommer, Senior Director, Advisory Services US at WSP USA, a professional services firm specializing in, among other things, infrastructure and transportation

Electric power operates our homes and businesses, and it promises to be the future of mobility, as well. There is a constant need to match temporal and spatial variations in supply and demand for electricity across regions of the country. This need grows as we increase the share of electricity coming from renewable sources, particularly wind and solar, which are time-dependent. We rely on the electric grid to move electric power from sources to need centers.To learn how the grid works, and how it might be improved, we talk with James McCalley, who is London Professor in Electrical Engineering at Iowa State University