2011 Issue

19 Civil engineers are the stewards of our nation’s infrastructure. We are charged with the design, construction, maintenance, and operation of the vital public works that make our daily lives possible. T HE FACILITIES INCLUDE roads and transit, water and sewer systems, dams and power plants, public and commercial buildings, airports and harbors, and many other, often unseen, elements of our society. For over a hun- dred years in the United States, we have built a vast network of infrastructure that has driven our economy and lifestyle to a level that the world envies and emulates. A few years ago, the former Dean of Yale Medical School, Dr. Lewis Thomas, stated that the greatest advances in improving human health were the development of clean drinking water and sewage sys- tems. So, we owe our health as much to civil engineering as we do biology . Similar things can be said of our highways, ports and energy networks. Our impact as civil engineers, and the role of our infrastruc- ture systems, is crucial. Inherent in our stewardship responsibility is the obligation to periodically assess the state of the infrastructure and to advise the public and policy makers on that con- dition. Since 1998, the American Society of Civil Engineers has taken that duty seri- ously and has issued periodic report cards on our infrastructure. The latest Report Card for America’s Infrastructure (issued in March 2009 and available at www.asce. org) gives a dismal overall grade of D, and indicates that the total investment needed to bring our infrastructure up to a good condition is $2.2 trillion, about twice what is now being spent at all levels of government. We now find ourselves grappling with a crisis of enormous pro- portions as our crucial systems age and are outstripped by the demand of a grow- ing population. The concept for a report card on the infrastructure dates back to 1988, when a congressionally chartered commission, the National Council on Public Works Improvement, issued a report titled Frag- ile Foundations: A Report on America’s Public Works. This report established a baseline grade of C, and gave detailed reports on eight categories of infrastruc- ture, including recommendations on how to improve the nation’s infrastructure. Our Vital Infrastructure, and the Engineer’s Role Blaine Leonard, P.E., D. GE, F. ASCE Among other things, this early report identified increasing congestion and de- ferred maintenance of aging systems as problematic trends. The authors worried that fiscal investment was inadequate to meet the needs of a vibrant and growing American economy. Twenty years later, it still is. The poor grade conferred by the 2009 Report Card isn’t an indication that the quality of our nation’s infrastructure has fallen below that of most other countries. It is a measure of the condition of our in- frastructure relative to what we have come to expect and need, and a warning about the level of attention and investment we are paying to this vital resource. The low grade portends serious threats to our economic competitiveness in the global marketplace and a diminished lifestyle. The 2009 Report Card goes beyond an overall grade, and issues grades in 15 specific categories – aviation, bridges, dams, drinking water, energy, hazardous waste, inland waterways, levees, public