The deficiency of the infrastructure in the United States has been widely reported. The American Society of Civil Engineers estimates that $1.6 trillion are needed to bring America’s infrastructure up to “good†status by 2010. A report by the Urban Land Institute and Ernst & Young, titled “Infrastructure 2007: A Global Perspective,” says the failure to address an emerging crisis in mobility will undermine the ability of the U.S. to compete internationally.
The collapse of the bridge in downtown Minneapolis this past summer raised a great deal of awareness and considerable action in the form of bridge inspections. However, much work and billions of dollars of investment are required to fix the most pressing problems.
In terms of impact on the economy, transportation is the most pressing infrastructure problem. Although investments are also needed in schools, low-income housing, levees, pipelines, air transportation, power plants, transmission lines, water and wastewater, etc. In all cases, geospatial technology is critical to the process of quantifying, analyzing, surveying, planning, designing and building the necessary structures and facilities to turn around this long decline.
Quantifying the Problems
When it comes to transportation infrastructure, the key goals are to reduce congestion, improve speed and reliability, all while increasing efficiency, decreasing oil dependency and reducing emissions. The complexity and scale of these issues require an in-depth documentation of the problems with solid research—defining, quantifying, and illustrating the benefits of a well-designed national transportation and logistics system with adequate capacity.
Prioritizing infrastructure investment requires a standard protocol and evaluation criteria. The rigor of the evaluations that are needed require a system where all the inputs can be stored and queried and related to location and the needs of the population. GIS is ideally suited for such a large-scale evaluation, and it can handle inputs for all of the diverse projects that need to be weighed and balanced to choose the best investments.
Technology Applied
The full suite of geospatial technologies are needed to address infrastructure needs:
- Aerial and satellite based imagery provide a detailed base map that can be updated for specific project locations at higher resolution and with greater frequency to show a project as it progresses
- Engineers target roads for repair by using van-based sensors to measure pavement health
- Surveyors use GPS and total stations to measure and define a projects extent, making sure that the plan is executed precisely
- CAD drawings convey construction plans
- GIS becomes the repository for data of all types, presenting the broad geography and relating all individual pieces of information to the area where a project takes place
To date, the funds and political will aren’t quickly forthcoming for considerable infrastructure spending in the United States. Politicians have long promised infrastructure improvements without increasing charges to taxpayers. That unrealistic stance is slowly evolving as the pressures of dilapidated networks take their toll. A growing interest in public/private partnerships for infrastructure is gaining favor, and we can expect a greater focus on infrastructure spending with the next administration.
Read what Jeff Thurston has to say on this topic here.
References
U.S. Infrastructure Found to be in Disrepair, Wall Street Journal, May 9, 2007
Transportation Policy Priorities for 2008, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Let’s Rebuild America initiative
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