Civil Engineers Give Hawai‘i’s Infrastructure a D+ on First Report Card
March 07, 2019
The Aloha State’s infrastructure sits in poor condition, mostly due to aging infrastructure, lack of funding, and sea level rise. Today, the Hawai‘i Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) released the inaugural 2019 Report Card for Hawai‘i’s Infrastructure, grading 11 categories of the region’s infrastructure, resulting in an overall grade point average......
Northeast Ohio Infrastructure Gets “D+”
February 20, 2019
Northeast Ohio Infrastructure Gets “D+” The Cleveland Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) today released its 2019 Report Card for Northeast Ohio’s Infrastructure, grading seven categories of the region’s infrastructure, resulting in an overall grade point average of “D+” – which is the same overall grade the nation received in the 2017......
Midwest Polar Vortex Impacts Critical Infrastructure
February 01, 2019
This past week, a blast of polar air covered much of the Midwest, closing schools and sending staff home early—causing businesses and restaurants to close shop before the end of the day. Piercing the Midwest with record low temperatures, infrastructure systems were also strained. Rail lines were snapped and gas-fed heaters ran alongside the rails......
January 23, 2019
This afternoon, the Georgia Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers released the 2019 Report Card for Georgia’s Infrastructure. Fourteen infrastructure categories were given an overall grade of “C+.” In 2014, the state received a cumulative GPA of a “C.” The following state’s transportation categories, bridges (“C+”), roads (“C+”), and transit (“D+”), saw grade increases......
House Panel Examines Federal Energy Management
December 13, 2018
The U.S. House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy recently held a hearing entitled, “Public Private Partnerships (P3s) for Federal Energy Management.” Committee members discussed the current status, challenges, and opportunities for increasing energy efficiency savings and conservation in federal facilities and programs, which would be done through the primary U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)......
Montana Infrastructure Earns a “C”
December 06, 2018
Today, civil engineers in Montana released the 2018 Report Card for Montana’s Infrastructure at the State Capitol. Montana earned an overall grade of a “C,” meaning the state’s infrastructure systems are generally in mediocre condition. The Report Card graded ten categories: bridges, drinking water, dams, energy, rail, roads, schools, solid waste, stormwater, and wastewater. Rail......
Minnesota Earns a “C” in First Infrastructure Report Card
October 10, 2018
On Tuesday, October 9, civil engineers gathered at the Minnesota State Capitol for the release of the first-ever Report Card for Minnesota’s Infrastructure. The Report Card gave the state’s infrastructure an overall GPA of “C” and evaluated and graded nine individual infrastructure categories: aviation, bridges, dams, drinking water, energy, ports, roads, transit, and wastewater.......
Power Outage Complicates Summer Air Travel at Reagan Airport
August 17, 2018
When we plug our phones into the wall we expect them to start charging, and when we flip a light switch we expect the lights to go on. Most of the time, these systems work just fine, but this week, travelers at Washington’s Reagan National Airport sat for 90 minutes with no power, while others......
Congressman Curbelo Introduces Bill to Tax Carbon
July 24, 2018
Earlier this week, Congressman Carlos Curbelo (R-FL) introduced H.R. 6463, the Modernizing America with Rebuilding to Kick-start the Economy of the Twenty-first Century with a Historic Infrastructure-Centered Expansion Act, or the “MARKET CHOICE Act.” This bill would amend the tax code to add tax equal to $24 per metric ton of carbon dioxide (CO2), with......
Congress Hosts Series of Disaster Recovery Hearings
April 12, 2018
This week Congress held multiple hearings offering status updates on post-disaster recovery efforts and lessons learned after 2017’s deadly hurricane season. It started off with a field hearing held by the House Committee on Homeland Security entitled “Houston Strong: Hurricane Harvey Lessons Learned and the Path Forward.” Witnesses included officials from the U.S. Army Corps......