Is America’s Infrastructure Turning a Corner?
Two years have passed since America’s last road and bridge report card, and we’ll wait another two years for the next one. An unofficial mid-term grade suggests that conditions are improving.
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Explore "asce" with insightful episodes like "Is America’s Infrastructure Turning a Corner?", "911 Free Fall, October 5, 2022", "Good News, Bad News. A better grade for America’s infrastructure, but still no bragging rights.", "2021 Infrastructure Report Card" and "Invest in America" from podcasts like ""Thinking Transportation: Engaging Conversations about Transportation Innovations", "911 Free Fall with Andy Steele", "Thinking Transportation: Engaging Conversations about Transportation Innovations", "Peggy Smedley Show" and "Peggy Smedley Show"" and more!
Episodes (7)
911 Free Fall, October 5, 2022
911 Free Fall with Andy Steele
ASCE: The holy scripture of 9/11 will not be challenged
Richard Johns, co-author of a long-censored technical paper on the Twin Towers’ destruction, and AE911Truth’s Ted Walter are this week’s guests on 9/11 Free Fall.
They talk with host Andy Steele about the latest developments in the decade-long saga involving Johns’ paper, which he and co-author Tony Szamboti first submitted to the American Society of Civil Engineers’ (ASCE) Journal of Engineering Mechanics in 2011.
Their paper was critiquing an earlier paper by Zdeněk Bažant and Jia-Liang Le that purported to explain how, through gravity alone, the top of the North Tower could crush through the structure below it without observably slowing down.
Their paper was finally rejected as “out of scope” in 2013, more than two years after they submitted it. One of the editors who rejected it, Kaspar Willam, was a contractor on the NIST WTC investigation. The other editor, Roberto Ballarini, was a colleague and co-author of Le’s. Nine years later, Johns and Szamboti are still fighting to have their paper published.
Walter also updates listeners on a separate paper that civil engineer Jonathan Cole submitted last month to the ASCE’s Journal of Structural Engineering, critiquing a new paper by Bažant and Le.
Cole’s paper was rejected just two days after submission by editor John van de Lindt, whose Center of Excellence for Risk-Based Community Resilience Planning at Colorado State University receives $4 million per year in funding from NIST and works directly with NIST WTC investigator Therese McAllister.
Good News, Bad News. A better grade for America’s infrastructure, but still no bragging rights.
American roads and bridges get us to where we live, learn, work, shop, and play. And that network has needed repair for a while, now. TTI experts Edith Arámbula Mercado and Charles Gurganus explain how maintaining the nation’s infrastructure is a lot like taking care of our own homes. The longer we postpone necessary upkeep, the higher the cost will be.
2021 Infrastructure Report Card
2021 Infrastructure Report Card
Peggy talks about the 2021 ASCE (American Society of Civil Engineers) Infrastructure Report Card, sharing background and the progress made in the past four years to restore our nation’s infrastructure. She also explains what needs to happen next.
She also discusses:
- How a continued underinvestment in our infrastructure will cost us in GDP, jobs, and more.
- Which five categories went up and what one category went down.
- Three key recommendations to raise the grade—with a focus on how new approaches, materials, and technologies can ensure our infrastructure can withstand or recover quickly.
(03.09.21 - #709)
IoT, Internet of Things, Peggy Smedley, artificial intelligence, machine learning, big data, digital transformation, cybersecurity, blockchain, 5G cloud, sustainability, future of work, podcast
Invest in America
Peggy highlights the Invest in America Act and how it is going to authorize funds for transportation infrastructure. She says we need to tackle the backlog of infrastructure that needs to be replaced and if both sides of the aisle don’t get their collective acts together, we are going to be in trouble.
She also discusses:
- A refresher on the ASCE report card and transportation infrastructure.
- How legislation like the Invest in America Act is trying to tackle infrastructure challenges.
- The potential for the IoT to help fix infrastructure and innovative technologies that need to be built into our plan.
(07.07.20 - #676)
IoT, Internet of Things, Peggy Smedley, artificial intelligence, machine learning, big data, digital transformation, cybersecurity, blockchain, 5G cloud, sustainability, future of work, podcast
Water Systems with the Army Corps of Engineers
Problem-solving, technology, and public service all combine when you work as an engineer for the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). Dr. Michael Sterling, PhD, is a lead water resource engineer at the US Army Corps of Engineers, Southwestern Division, and he oversees missions related to water supply, flood prevention, hydroelectric power, and more issues affecting large swaths of the USA. Dr. Sterling also discusses how he came to USACE from the fields of chemical, civil, and environmental engineering, and how to help young people get on a similar path.
Related to this episode:
• US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE): https://www.usace.army.mil/
• USACE Southwest Division (SWD): https://www.swd.usace.army.mil/
• Geographic Information Systems (GIS): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geographic_information_system
• Intel International Science Fair (ISEF): https://student.societyforscience.org/intel-isef
• ROTC = Reserve Officer Training Corps: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reserve_Officers%27_Training_Corps
• Society of American Military Engineers (SAME): https://www.same.org/
• American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE): https://www.asce.org/
• 2015 Black Engineer of the Year Awards Gala: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yda663HthKw
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07/03/18 Raising the Grade
Peggy chats with Kristina Swallow, president, American Society of Civil Engineers, about our nation’s infrastructure and its grade of a D+. Swallow explains that the ASCE sees three solutions that can help solve this: investment, leadership, and planning for the future. She says it has also identified that between now and 2025 in order to bring the grade to a B, it would require $4.6 trillion—and we are currently spending $2.6 trillion. She suggests public-private partnerships are one piece of the puzzle, but ultimately it is user fees.