Podcast: The Infrastructure Show

Railroads helped grow our nation, supporting settlement and economic growth from coast to coast. Today, the rail industry plays a central role in the most efficient freight and logistics system in the world. The 7 national, Class I railroads are well-known to most of us, but less visible yet no less significant in the U.S. freight industry are about 600 short line and regional railroads that make the connections directly to customers.To learn about the role of these smaller railroads, we’re talking with Henry Posner III, who is Chairman of the Iowa Interstate Railroad and President of the Rail Development Corporation, a holding company with ownership and operating interests in railroads in the U.S., the Americas, and Europe

What’s the path forward for large cities once COVID-19 is controlled? Will workers and residents come back downtown? Will riders return to mass transit systems? How can we sustain them until then? Will the demand for private and public infrastructure rebound to attract investment and growth? Where will the money come from?To get some answers, we talk with Edward Glaeser, the Fred and Eleanor Glimp Professor of Economics at Harvard, an expert on cities and the values they bring. In his 2011 book, Triumph of the City, he describes big cities around the world as hubs for opportunity and innovation

Is the Internet a part of U.S. infrastructure? Although the physical infrastructure that carries the data is largely invisible, broadband Internet communication has become a backbone of our society and economy, carrying messages that support work, learning, purchasing, social connections, and medical services. Despite its centrality to daily life, fast and reliable broadband connectivity is not available to everyone.To help us learn more about the functioning and coverage of the broadband network, we talk with Fabian Bustamante, Professor of Computer Science at Northwestern University

River basins in the Midwestern U.S. are under growing threat from flooding driven by climate change. Within the flood control and protection portfolio of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is a large project to mitigate flood risk for the towns of Fargo, ND, and Moorhead, MN, its neighbor across the Red River. The design itself is informed by a large-scale physical model developed by the Corps.To learn about the project and the model used to guide its design, we talk with Gary Bell, Research Hydraulic Engineer in the Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory of US Army Corps of Engineers Research and Development Center in Vicksburg, Mississippi

All tall structures are designed to sway in response to wind and earthquakes for reasons of efficiency and economy, but it is important to control that movement for the comfort of occupants.To learn about some of the technologies for managing the response of tall buildings to wind, we talk with Dr. Mark Nelson, who leads the Advanced Technology and Research Group in the New York City office of Arup, an international engineering and architectural design firm.

Crossing the Piscataqua River at Portsmouth, N.H., the Sarah Mildred Long Bridge carries both road and rail traffic between Maine and New Hampshire. Its unique three-position vertical lift design accommodates recreational and less frequent commercial marine traffic, as well as occasional rail movements, in different ways to minimize delays to all users.To understand the functioning of this modern incarnation of its nearly 80-year old predecessor, we talk with Jeff Folsom, who is Assistant Program Manager/Design for the Maine Department of Transportation

People began laying undersea cables to carry telegraph messages over 170 years ago. Today, modern submarine cables connect all continents except Antarctica, and even in the age of satellites, their importance in delivering global connectivity continues to grow.To help us understand the intricacies of these invisible links, we talk with Chris Carobene, Vice President of Marine and Network Construction for SubCom, which designs, manufactures, deploys, maintains, and operates undersea cables

Salt Lake City is replacing the landside infrastructure of its airport with a 21st century facility while airline operations continue. In fact, the slowdown in air travel due to the corona virus has presented airport management with an opportunity to accelerate construction and cut costs.To describe plans for the updated airport and how the pandemic was used to advantage, we talk with Bill Wyatt, Executive Director of the Salt Lake City International Airport

Rising sea level driven by climate change is threatening some coastal settlements with more frequent flooding and potential inundation. For some, the time may come to consider relocating to higher ground. This is a controversial and costly option, a difficult choice for communities and their leaders.In this podcast we talk with A.R. Siders, Assistant Professor at the University of Delaware’s Biden School of Public Policy and Administration, who is a leading researcher on the topic of strategic retreat

When aging infrastructure needs repair or replacement, a primary challenge is finding the money. Bay City, Michigan, northwest of Detroit, faced this problem with two key bridges, and the community ultimately decided to sell the bridges to a private consortium that will pay for improvements and collect tolls to finance the projects.In this podcast, we learn how Bay City is addressing its bridge issues from the town’s City Manager, Dana Muscott