Page 14 - May-June2018
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STATEWIDE By Monica Sartain
Solving Infrastructure Challenges
Will Take Money and New Ideas
The general public has no idea how more and more people their leadership.
important the work of civil engineers is traveling to or through Unfortunately, that one action alone
to their daily life until something doesn’t our state with many
work. But when things don’t work, people deciding not will not fix all our infrastructure
infrastructure can get a lot of attention. to leave. Couple those challenges. While a gas-tax increase is
Inconveniences like a water-main break, factors with the fact that a huge step and will have a profound
power outage or potholed road cause ire most people don’t give impact on the state, it does not solve
and frustration. a second thought to the infrastructure funding problem in
infrastructure – at least perpetuity. As our cars become more
The American Society of Civil not until there’s a funny fuel efficient, and some electric based,
Engineers, an organization with 150,000 smell in the backyard drivers are paying less into the system.
individual members, aims to increase from a sewer backup, a
awareness of infrastructure-investment pothole causes them to sit To ensure we are poised for the future,
needs so that those inconveniences on the side of the road for we need a holistic approach to solving
become less frequent. For the past 20 hours during rush hour our infrastructure concerns to create
years, ASCE has produced a national waiting for a tow truck, the lights don’t further lasting improvements. We must
Infrastructure Report Card, and the come on when they flip a switch, or the consider how to most effectively move
overall grade has never been higher HVAC system at the school won’t keep people – and consider if the solution
than a “D+.” To complement that up with winter weather so the kids get lies in more mass-transit options. We
message on a state level, ASCE also yet another snow day. must consider how improved efficiency
produces state-level Report Cards. in waterways, railways and airports
In 2017, Tennessee lawmakers, under could dramatically reduce the number
In 2016, Tennessee members of ASCE the leadership of Gov. Bill Haslam, of trucks transporting goods across our
released the Report Card for Tennessee’s decided to do something about a interstates. We must understand the
Infrastructure. The Report Card gave portion of our state’s infrastructure by true cost of infrastructure services and
an overall grade of C – the same grade voting on an increase to the gas tax for be willing to pay for them. The increase
as the first Tennessee Report Card in transportation. The Report Card warns in the gas tax is an important step,
2009 – to 10 areas of infrastructure. of the climbing traffic congestion in but it must be one of many in order to
Bridges received the highest grade of B, the state, and this increased investment create an overall improvement to the
a testament to the state’s concerted effort will help to lessen those burdens and condition of our state’s infrastructure
to repair and replace bridges that started position us well for future population and in turn the quality of life for those
in the 1980s and continues today. The growth. The IMPROVE Act gradually of us who live here. Learn more about
lowest grade of D was given to dams; increases the state gas tax a total of 6 the solutions ASCE offers to solve
in large part, 41 percent of the state’s cents per gallon and diesel 10 cents per Tennessee’s infrastructure challenges
dams listed in the National Inventory of gallon over a two-year period. Prior to at InfrastructureReportCard.org/
Dams are exempt, meaning they are not 2017, the gas tax hadn’t been increased Tennessee.
regulated or inspected. While the overall since 1989, the year Taylor Swift was
grade remained stagnant, changes did born. During that time, population,
happen within some of the categories. technology and costs for road, bridge
But, as the unchanged overall grade and airport construction changed
suggests, the problem with solving dramatically while the main revenue
deteriorating infrastructure isn’t easy. generator for that construction stayed
stagnant. While there were more drivers
Our state has thousands of bridges, contributing to funding raised by the
schools, miles of road and underground gas tax, there were also more roads
pipelines, and hundreds of tons of cargo and more bridges along with necessary
are transported across our roads, over upgrades needed across the state.
railroads and waterways, and through Tennessee legislators took a bold move
our airports every day. Some of that by voting on the gas-tax increase, and
infrastructure, including water and citizens across the state will benefit from
sewer lines in major cities, was built
in the 1800s, and every day we have
14 TPW May/June 2018
