The infrastructure of the United States received horrible grades in the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) 2005 Report Card.
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As Rep. Heath Shuler’s (D-NC) statement to the House Transportation and Infrastructure, Subcommittee on Water Resources and the Environment hearing on the Water Resources Development Act of 2008 pointed out, the only passing grade given to the American infrastructure by ASCE was for waste management–the one sector in which geosynthetic technologies are required for use.
ASCE estimates that it will take $1.6 trillion over 5 years to properly upgrade the troubled infrastructure. Organizations such as the Geosynthetic Materials Association (GMA) are now working with lobbyists to bring these issues straight to legislators’ desks. And on Thursday, February 14, the US Senate Banking Committee interviewed Treasury Secretary Paulson and Federal Bank Chairman Ben Bernanke about the US economy. Senators Dodd (D-CN) and Hagel (R-NB) both expressed concern about the state of the US infrastructure and how an economic slowdown could make the US fall even further behind the world in modernizing the infrastructure system.
What we should take from it all is this: modern infrastructures need modern materials.
The waste management’s industry engineers and regulators have understood this and adapted. Keep an eye on infrastructure and legislation news developments here at geosynthetica, follow the updates to ASCE’s report card, and take a look at ASCE’s infrastructure blog.
