Raising the Grades - Sustainable Solutions to Infrastructure Challenges

Engineers play a unique role in the built world—planning, analyzing, designing, building, and rebuilding things that touch the planet—and therefore have an optimal and natural role in changing the built environment to meet new needs. The 2013 Report Card for America's Infrastructure found that our nation's roads, bridges, and other infrastructure systems are in serious need of repair and modernization. The 16 infrastructure sectors evaluated in the comprehensive report earned a cumulative grade of D+, with the lowest grades of D– going to levees and inland waterways. As the nation faces a daunting backlog of rehabilitation and replacement projects, how do we ensure that we build in a more sustainable way to maximize limited resources? Sustainability strategies were examined in three key infrastructure sectors: transportation, water, and energy. Solutions range from bringing existing infrastructure to a state of good repair, using technology and nonstructural methods to get more capacity out of road lanes, and managing demand through conservation strategies.