Aging Infrastructure

Minnesota Dam Failure Highlights Nationwide Danger
The Rapidan Dam isn’t the only one at risk of imminent failure.

Baltimore Transit Lagging Behind Other Systems
State-run buses and subway trains in Baltimore have breakdown rates far higher than systems in other cities.

Op-Ed: Toll Revenues Could Fix Aging New York-Connecticut Rail Connection
Rather than bonds, an op-ed makes the case for electronic tolls to pay for improvements to commuter rail lines between New York City and Connecticut.

Scarf Depicting Rail Delays Sells for $8,650
A German rail commuter recorded each day’s travel by knitting a scarf.

Waterline Breaks Plague Phoenix as City Struggles to Keep Up
Pipeline breaks are a daily occurrence in the city, but funding for an expanded pipe-replacement program has been a contentious issue.

Chicago and New York: Two Transit Systems, Two Very Different Outcomes
Both cities have aging transit systems in need of major repairs. Chicago’s approach has helped turn the system around while New York is still grappling with its issues.

The Dismal State of Water Infrastructure in Rural Kentucky
In a region where the utility is on the "brink of financial collapse," residents face outages, boil-water advisories and bills that come with health warnings.

P3 101: Comparing Infrastructure Procurement Models
Already a common means of delivering infrastructure in many countries, public-private partnerships are growing in importance in the United States, but how do they compare to other procurement models?

EVs Not Exempt From California’s Transportation Infrastructure Plan
Governor Jerry Brown and the California Legislature reached a historic agreement to raise the gas tax, but electric vehicle owners will now be required to pay a yearly fee, Will this impact EV sales in the US's best market?

10 Water Policy and Infrastructure Realities
In celebration of Water Week in the United States, as well as World Water Day, as celebrated by the United Nations, Brookings has complied a list of ten facts about water policy and infrastructure.

In Omaha, 'Reclaiming' Potholed Streets Means Unpaving Them
The euphemism refers to a cost-saving measure that's happening even in central districts, to the chagrin of residents. This reversion to gravel roads is one manifestation of a looming local infrastructure deficit.

Dams Throughout the U.S. Fail to Meet Safety Standards
It's not just Oroville and Elko County. By 2020, 70 percent of the dams in the United States will be more than 50 years old.

Doubling Down on Infrastructure
The challenge facing the nation's infrastructure is massive in scale, requiring ambition lacking since the New Deal and Eisenhower eras. Building on those historic models, the following op-ed suggests a "WPA 2.0" approach to infrastructure.

Five Lessons for Resilience
Resilience is commonly understood as the capacity to endure shocks and stresses. But for Lisa Dickson, Arup’s resilience leader for the Americas, this definition is too limiting. Jeff Byles talks with her about five key lessons on resilience.

Malign Neglect? Urban Policy in the Trump Era
How much do we have to fear from the president-elect's policy plans for urban America? We can hope that he will follow his party's playbook and largely ignore the cities, but potential changes to housing policy are more serious.

A Great Lakes Oil Spill Waiting to Happen
Operated by Canadian oil giant Enbridge, Line 5 is an underwater pipeline running beneath the Mackinac Straits, which connect Michigan's upper and lower peninsulas. A rupture in the aging pipes could mean catastrophe.

Conceptual Shift: New York's Growing Again
For decades, New York City's boom times lay deep in the past. Now that the city's growing again, Aaron Renn says New York may need to take cues from the Sun Belt, of all places.
'The Road Taken' Uncovers the Civil Engineer's Hand in Building America's Roads
Nathan Masters reviews the new book by historian Henry Petroski, "The Road Taken," a historical look at America's roads and the civil engineers who built them.

America's Infrastructural Reckoning
Through the lens of Henry Petroski's new book, Tom Vanderbilt discusses why infrastructure, as we have come to define it, is such a fraught topic in American life.

What If Gordon Freeman Was a Civil Engineer?
The video game INFRA trades your typical Russian ultra-nationalists and Nazi zombies for a city on the verge of ruin. The protagonist, an engineer, is tasked with the seemingly mundane tasks that will bring the place back to life.
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