The Transportation of Tomorrow: Self-Driving Vehicles
December 15, 2017
General Motors, Alphabet Inc., and other innovators are racing to the finish line with the latest in transportation technology: autonomous vehicles. This week Florida, Montana, Wisconsin, and Minnesota made headlines for showing interest in this new technology, with some cities heading to the streets for a test-drive. Across the country, we are seeing what was......
Infrastructure Wins on Election Night 2017
November 08, 2017
On November 7, voters across the country approved infrastructure investment ballot measures. In Maine, a resounding 72% of residents across the state voted yes on Question 3, allowing the issuance of $105 million in bonds for transportation projects around the state. $80 million will be provided to state highways and bridges, $20 million for multimodal......
Kelly Barnes Dam Failure: Dam Safety Then and Now
November 06, 2017
Today marks the 40th anniversary of the Kelly Barnes Dam failure: an event that acted as a catalyst for improvement in dam safety. On November 6, 1977, Toccoa Falls Bible College was nearly swept away as high water erupted through the defects in the Kelly Barnes Dam, sending 25-foot waves through the campus. This tragedy......
September 27, 2017
Within the past month, major hurricanes hit Florida, Texas, and Puerto Rico, two earthquakes only days apart, led to the loss of over 100 lives and the destruction of massive amounts of infrastructure in Mexico, and hundreds of thousands of acres of land have burned in the Pacific Northwest from wildfires. These events coincided with......
Texas Report Card Gives Infrastructure a “C-“
September 20, 2017
Texas’ infrastructure has received a lot of attention in the past few weeks following Hurricane Harvey. Today, weeks the cities of Port Aransas and Rockport were destroyed and Houston and South Texas flooded, the Texas section of the ASCE released the Report Card for Texas’ Infrastructure, and the report finds there is work to be......
Earthquake Program Bill Introduced in Senate
September 12, 2017
Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) have introduced the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP) Reauthorization Act S.1768, a bill to reauthorize the national program to improve the nation’s earthquake preparedness, which was last passed by Congress in 2004. NEHRP plays an important role in preparing earthquake-prone communities for seismic events. First created......
New Report Helps State Legislators Better Understand P3s
August 08, 2017
Public-private partnerships (P3s) are increasingly becoming a recognized and tapped tool in the toolbox to fund infrastructure investments. While the early adopter states have many P3 ventures under their belts, others are still navigating the process of how to structure an effective P3. To help further the conversation, the National Conference of State Legislatures released......
July 17, 2017
While all areas of infrastructure are important to address, with its “D-” grade—the lowest in the Report Card—transit would benefit from a little extra attention. For proof, look no further than two of our nation’s most prominent cities’ subway systems. Reliable transit systems are critical for thriving cities. Yet the subway systems in our nation’s......
July 11, 2017
Last week, the U.S. Water Alliance, of which ASCE is a member, held their annual One Water Summit in New Orleans, Louisiana. The summit’s themes included collaborating across and beyond water by leveraging effective partnerships across the water industry; financing and delivering water projects that maximize economic, environmental, and community benefits; communicating the value of......
President Trump Highlights Need for Investments in Inland Waterways Infrastructure
June 08, 2017
Last month President Trump released a $1 trillion infrastructure plan that calls for leveraging $200 billion in direct federal spending over the next decade with state and private sector funding. As a follow up, the White House spent this week rolling out details of the plan in what they referred to as “infrastructure week.” On......