CIVL 1101 - Civil Engineering Measurements

What's Right and Wrong About Infrastructure

Infrastructure: Investing in our Quality of Life

What is Infrastructure?

Look around. Infrastructure is everywhere you live, work and You use a subway system, or drive to work each morning on roads and highways. You cross a bridge to get to the grocery store. You turn on the kitchen faucet and clear water comes from underground pipes. You swim in a sparkling lake kept clean by a wastewater treatment plant. You fly to your family vacation or business meeting from a modern airport.

Infrastructure is often underground and out of sight, like pipes and sewers. It's also above ground right before your eyes, like roads and bridges. You use infrastructure everyday, often without realizing it. Infrastructure is that vast network of structures and systems civil engineers design and build to improve everyone's quality of life.

How Infrastructure Benefits You

Infrastructure benefits nearly every aspect of our lives -- from our nation's economy to our personal health to our environment. A sound infrastructure:

	Creates jobs: Every $1 billion of federal investment in infrastructure creates 47,000 construction and service-related jobs, and nets local governments $80 million in vital tax revenues from contractors, consultants and construction payrolls.
	Enhances public health and safety: Well-maintained roads save lives. Poor roads are a factor in 30 percent of all highway accidents. Modern water treatment plants make our water safe to drink.
	Helps protect our environment: Water treatment plants also clean the wastewater that enters our rivers and lakes. This helps keep our waterways clean for fish, wildlife and recreation.
	Increases productivity: Modernizing our highways, for example, lets businesses sell products faster and at lower prices. This saves everyone money. In fact, modern highways also would save Americans $39 billion in lost wages and wasted fuel each year. And, investing $40-billion per year in highways will increase every American worker's productivity $250 per year in the first five years (in 1990 dollars), and $3,200 annually within 20 years.
	Promotes economic development: States and communities with strong infrastructure can better attract businesses seeking to increase productivity and better compete in U.S. and world markets.

We are in danger of losing these and other important benefits because too much of America's infrastructure is aging and decaying, and we neglect adequate maintenance and upgrades.

What are the Problems?

Portions of our infrastructure are decaying beneath our feet every day, threatening our health, safety and economic growth.

Consider these facts:

	Nearly one of every five miles (234,500 total) of interstate roads remains in poor condition.
	The average motorist spends more than $112 annually on wasted fuel, added tire wear and extra vehicle repairs from driving on poor roads.
	One of three bridges needs serious repairs, and one in four bridges is at least 50 years old -- the average lifespan of a bridge.
	More than 45 million Americans drink water from public water plants that have contained cryptosporidium, a microorganism that caused some 100 Milwaukee residents to die and more than 400,000 others to become ill in 1993.
	One of every four of America's 800,000 miles of wastewater pipelines needs immediate repair or replacement. Leaking water supply pipes cause some older cities to lose as much as a third of their water each day.
	Seventeen major airports will be severely congested by 2002 unless we add new runways.

What are the Causes?

Aging Infrastructure -- America's infrastructure is well-built, but too much of it has aged well beyond its normal lifespan, or can no longer the greater demands of our growing population.

Lack of Maintenance -- Many problems are caused by failure to maintain and upgrade our infrastructure, which often suffers from "out of sight, out of mind syndrome." Most of us don't think about watermains until they burst, or bridges until they close or collapse.

Lack of Funding -- While our infrastructure silently but dangerously decays, vital federal and state funding for infrastructure grows increasingly scarce as more lawmakers seek to balance their tight budgets. States and communities often must make tough budget choices -- sometimes between more police and school teachers, or funding for basic water quality and bridge repair.

Neglect Skyrockets Future Costs

Neglecting basic maintenance and upgrades today costs us all much more tomorrow. It's much like buying a new car and not changing the oil regularly. Wouldn't you rather spend a little money to change your oil regularly than hundreds of dollars to replace your broken engine later?

In 1992, Chicago failed to invest $10,000 to repair a small underground leak, which caused a rupture that cost taxpayers and companies more than $1 billion in emergency response, lost business and property damage. More than 200,000 people were evacuated when millions of gallons of water flooded a tunnel underneath the downtown district.

New York City also suffers from pressure to save money in the short term. The city can spend only about one-tenth of the $50 million it needs for annual bridge maintenance, and last-ditch repairs of severely damaged bridges cost the city 3-4 times more than routine maintenance.

But even if we maintain the current condition of our infrastructure, it will fail to support the growing population of many urban areas in the coming years. We must modernize our infrastructure soon, or risk losing the benefits of safe water, bridges and roads on which we all depend.

Developing Workable Solutions

America's civil engineers believe rebuilding our infrastructure requires smart spending. But, finding the funds takes creativity, cooperation and commitment.

Shrinking federal budgets have encouraged community and state officials to find innovative solutions such as having private companies invest in and sometimes operate water utilities and toll roads. This appeals to private companies because infrastructure facilities can yield high long term returns for investment dollars.

Some communities also have asked local residents who benefit the most from modern roads and bridges or water systems to pay reasonable user fees to help fund infrastructure renewal.

Civil engineers also are developing new technologies and materials to make infrastructure safer, stronger and last longer.

Improving our quality of life through better infrastructure can happen only with a strong partnership among the American people, civil engineers, lawmakers, and businesses.

You Can Make a Difference

Rebuilding our aging infrastructure is an immense challenge, but you can make a difference.

	Learn about infrastructure needs in your area and share your concerns with the right people.
	Contact your Department of Transportation and water boards to explore their plans for maintaining and upgrading roads, bridges and water systems.
	Call or write business groups such as your Chamber of Commerce to learn how infrastructure affects local business and employment.
	Share your concerns with officials and your Congressional representatives. Ask how they plan to solve the problems.
	Inform your community by writing letters to the editor of your local paper.
	Support bond issues to improve your infrastructure.
	The bottom line is infrastructure affects you whether you are a consumer, business person or lawmaker. With your help we can rebuild America.

This web site was originally developed by Charles Camp for his CIVL 1101 class.
This site is maintained by the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Memphis.
Your comments and questions are more than welcome.