Wednesday, 30 July 2008

Love Amongst the Infrastructure

While my days here at the American Society of Civil Engineers are usually spent in serious research on the condition of the nation’s infrastructure and following the policy machinations on Capitol Hill, I have to admit I do have other, less professional interests. The other day while casually surfing the New York Times’ Style Section during my lunch break, I came across a wedding announcement for a couple in Los Angels, Jenna Didier and Oliver Hess.  I have to admit that I love reading about the over-the-top, glitzy New York Society weddings usually chronicled in the Times, but this particular announcement interested me for different reasons.

The Didier-Hesses are artists who “specialize in transforming public spaces into spectacles,” and chose the rather unconventional venues of a highway overpass and an urban brownfield as the location of their wedding and reception. While this may not seem like the most romantic spot to start a life together, it makes perfect sense to this couple who had worked together to “transform the area from a drug-infested homeless encampment into a public art space.”  The work that this couple does reminds us what an impact infrastructure can have on our lives, and in what ways it can substantially improve it.

If we look back over the history of infrastructure, we see countless examples of improved quality of life. The introduction of clean water standards has dramatically reduced the spread of disease and improved overall sanitation. The interstate highway system has contributed to dramatic economic growth by facilitating travel and goods movement – to name a few. Infrastructure even has an iconic quality – who can think of San Francisco without picturing the Golden Gate Bridge in their head?

If this couple is able to transform and improve the infrastructure in their own community so that it serves a greater use than just for its original design, then the task of improving, modernizing, and expanding the national infrastructure seems just a little less daunting. We all know the needs are staggering and the fight to fix it will be tough, but with conviction and creativity, those goals can be achieved.

In the meantime, congratulations Jenna and Oliver!

Posted by Allison D at 5:19 PM in infrastructure/
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Tuesday, 22 July 2008

Time is Running Out for the Highway Trust Fund

Sure, we like to sit around here telling people how structurally deficient the nation’s bridges are, or how many hundreds of billions of dollars it will take to fund our future wastewater needs – and there are definitely problems with the condition of our public infrastructure. The most immediate problem, however, is a matter of accounting. The federal Highway Trust Fund is projected to run a nearly $4 billion deficit next year, and so far Congress has been unsuccessful in remedying the problem.

 

Trust Fund monies come from the 18.4 cent-a-gallon federal motor fuels tax and they go to finance highway and transit projects all over the country. Without that cash in the fund, nearly $40 billion in projects are in jeopardy. At a time when construction costs are rising dramatically, state DOTs and construction companies can’t afford to do the needed work alone. Even more pressing, without the ongoing construction, hundreds of thousands of workers stand to lose their jobs in a shaky economy.

 

Over the past few months, Congress has tried multiple times to pass a temporary “fix” to the fund (the fix only needs to last one year until the new surface transportation authorization bill) through various methods – all have been unsuccessful. Despite passage by the Senate Appropriations committee, that avenue is likely blocked as Congressional leaders seem unwilling to complete the appropriations process this year. The latest iteration of the fix is a bill introduced by House Ways and Means Committee Chairman, Charlie Rangel, D-NY, and a bipartisan group of legislators (H.R. 6532) that would transfer $8 billion back into the Trust Fund to make up for a debit of the same amount in 1998. Democratic leaders hope to have it on the floor Wednesday.

 

Beleaguered by false starts and partisan bickering, the Highway Trust Fund Fix will hopefully find its way this week. To ensure that the workers in your area don’t lose their jobs and the road projects you most need in your community get completed, please contact your legislators and let them know you support H.R. 6532. You can email your legislators directly from ASCE’s website.

Posted by Allison D at 10:02 AM in transportation/
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