April 2007
Volume 32, Issue 3

It snowed the afternoon they worked the Hill this year. Some held umbrellas over their heads as they made their way through the city. Some flipped up their collars. There was a lot to do. The National Infrastructure Improvement Act of 2007 (S. 775), the Dam Rehabilitation and Repair Act of 2007 (H.R. 389), the Water Quality Financing Act of 2007 (H.R. 720), and other issues before the 110th Congress required attention.

More than 130 members from across the country came to Washington, D.C., last month to participate in asce’s policy week activities. The event, held March 5–9, marked the seventh consecutive year that ASCE has conducted training sessions and sponsored advocacy activities to help members lobby for legislation aimed at boosting the quality of the nation’s infrastructure.

“We’ve identified eleven pieces of legislation that we think would raise the grades on the nation’s infrastructure if Congress were to take action on them,” Brian Pallasch, asce’s director of government relations, said on March 7 during a training session conducted as part of the Society’s Leadership Training in Government Relations Program. “These are short-term steps that we can take to begin solving some of the nation’s most immediate infrastructure problems. Hopefully when you talk to your legislators or their staffs today, they will know something about our Raising the Grades campaign.”

The legislative strategy recently outlined by ASCE, formally entitled Raising the Grades: Small Steps for Big Improvements in America’s Failing Infrastructure, includes the following actions: enacting the National Infrastructure Improvement Act of 2007 to establish a national commission on infrastructure; reauthorizing funding for the Federal Aviation Administration’s Airport and Airway Trust Fund and increasing user fees as necessary for continued funding of that agency’s Airport Improvement Program; ensuring that funding is forthcoming for the surface transportation programs authorized under the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU); using all funds that accumulate in the Highway Trust Fund to invest in the nation’s surface transportation system; reauthorizing the Brownfields Revitalization and Environmental Restoration Act of 2001; enacting the Dam Rehabilitation and Repair Act of 2007; establishing a national levee safety program; enacting the Water Quality Financing Act of 2007; authorizing $1 billion in annual funding for the Safe Drinking Water Act’s Drinking Water State Revolving Fund; enacting the Water Resources Development Act of 2005 (S. 728); and ensuring the integrity of the Inland Waterways Trust Fund. “All week we’ve been pushing this,” Pallasch emphasized. “We’ve bought ads on local radio; we’ve placed full-color ads in policy papers; we’ve also placed banner ads on Web sites.”

Perhaps the most pressing legislative issue that members lobbied for was the National Infrastructure Improvement Act of 2007, which was introduced in the Senate on March 7 by George V. Voinovich (R-Ohio), Tom Carper (D-Delaware), Hillary Rodham Clinton (D–New York), and Norm Coleman (R-Minnesota). If enacted, the legislation would create a national commission on infrastructure aimed at ensuring that the country’s infrastructure met current and future demands and bolstered economic growth. The legislation would also require that the commission conduct a comprehensive study of infrastructure and develop recommendations for a federal plan that would outline national infrastructure priorities and define the criteria to be used by federal, state, and local agencies in assessing infrastructure needs.

“The tragedy of Hurricane Katrina made painfully clear the urgent need for improvements to our aging infrastructure,” said Voinovich in a recent press release. “Our infrastructure is collapsing due to insufficient funding. And the deterioration of our nation’s waterways and infrastructure systems is impacting our economy, our environment, and the overall welfare of the American people. This legislation gets to the heart of the problem by establishing a commission that will provide concrete recommendations for future infrastructure needs. When enacted, this commission will lead the way in providing long-term solutions to the dire problems we currently face.”

asce members were also informed of the importance of gaining support for the Dam Rehabilitation and Repair Act of 2007, which would establish a program within the Federal Emergency Management Agency to fund dam rehabilitation and repairs. The legislation would also create a public fund to award grants and thus defray the costs incurred in repairing or rehabilitating publicly owned dams. “There are around thirty-five hundred unsafe dams in this country right now,” noted Brad Iarossi, p.e., m.asce, a former president of the Association of State Dam Safety Officials, during one of the training sessions. “This is largely because our dam population is aging. By the year 2020, eighty-five percent of the dams in this country will be fifty years old or older. And as we learn more about how dams fail, as we’re able to predict large flood or earthquake events, we’re seeing that lots of these dams that we built with the best of intentions thirty or forty years ago don’t meet current standards right now. So we have this growing list of unsafe dams that have become a big problem.”

In 2006 asce’s Board of Direction adopted Policy 280, which deals with dam safety and “supports the enactment of state and federal regulations and legislation to protect the health and welfare of citizens from the catastrophic impact of dam failure.” The policy also urges the U.S. government to take “responsibility for the safety of all federal dams and federally regulated dams . . . [including] funding [for] the Dam Safety and Security Act of 2002,” and asks that “federal agencies, including the departments of Defense and Interior . . . be adequately funded to operate and maintain their dams as well as to provide sufficient security improvements.” asce assigned dams an overall grade of D in its 2005 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure, and since then there have been modest gains in improving the quality of the dams that have been deemed unsafe. Experts estimate that more than $10 billion would be needed over the next 10 years to address the deficiencies of all the nonfederal dams whose failure would cause loss of life.

Later in the day on March 7, after the training session, three members of asce’s Georgia Section—Raymond J. Wilke, P.E., M.ASCE, John E. Underwood, P.E., M.ASCE, and Andrew C. Kennedy, P.E., M.ASCE—met with Camila Knowles, a legislative assistant of Senator Saxby Chambliss (R-Georgia). The meeting, which took place in room 416 of the Russell Senate Office Building, focused on key infrastructure issues related to asce’s action plan. “The National Infrastructure Improvement Act is an effort to get a full report back to Congress on current and future needs on infrastructure,” said Wilke, who is the president of the Georgia Section. “It will also help us focus on the long-term solutions for our nation. Where can we improve the grades the most with the least amount of money? Where are we going to get the biggest bang for our buck? This legislation will ensure that a report is done and goes to Congress in 2009. It is very specific about the types of people who would need to be on the commission. One of the benefits for [Chambliss], if he were to come on board as a cosponsor, would be to have a major role in guiding this across all areas of infrastructure.”

Wilke also underscored the importance of the Dam Rehabilitation and Repair Act of 2007. “The need for dam funding has gone up as we’ve identified more and more unsafe dams, and this bill actually provides money to do something about it,” he said. “Two-thirds of the money would come from the feds and one-third would be a state match. So this bill is not just asking the feds to do all the work. This would be based on proportionate state funding. I believe Georgia is ranked eighth in the country in terms of the total number of dams per state, so we would have the eighth-largest share of the money.”

The bill, which was introduced in February by Representative John T. Salazar (D-Colorado), calls for $200 million over five years to repair state and locally owned dams. Georgia would be expected to receive about $6 million of this amount. The state currently has approximately 179 dams seen as posing a safety risk and more than 100 dams requiring repair or rehabilitation.

The next morning, Voinovich and Carper spoke at a breakfast meeting held at the restaurant Charlie Palmer Steak, which is on Constitution Avenue across the street from the U.S. Capitol in the building housing asce’s Washington, D.C., office. “I’m concerned about the level of our debt and our fiscal responsibilities,” Voinovich said. “If you look at where we’re going today, we’re in deep, deep trouble. Our national debt is the highest it’s ever been. We’re at war and we just keep driving up the debt. I learned a long time ago that you don’t solve problems by sticking them in a drawer. We’re falling behind, and there are a lot of things that need to be done. I appreciate the value of asce’s mission and feel very proud to be among a group like yours. I want to thank you all for being active in this organization and stepping up and helping us with this infrastructure push.”

In his remarks, Carper too expressed enthusiasm for asce’s infrastructure initiative. “We need an infrastructure that makes sense for this country, our economy, and our kids,” he said. “What I want to one day say about what we did in 2007 is this: We had a bunch of engineers from all over the country get together behind a piece of legislation that George Voinovich and Hillary Clinton and Norm Coleman and I got passed. Then the commission went to work and its work was adopted by a president who said we’re going to do these things because they’ll help us have a better future ad a better life and because they’re good for our country. Let’s go to work!”

All told, members visited more than 200 congressional offices. On March 9 their lobbying efforts yielded some encouraging results, as the House passed the Water Quality Financing Act of 2007. The legislation, introduced in January by Representative Jim Oberstar (D-Minnesota), would provide $14 billion for the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund over four years, beginning with $2 billion in fiscal year 2008. This fund, which provides low-interest loans and grants to state and local governments to rebuild wastewater treatment plants, has suffered from declining federal investments in recent years.

The nation’s drinking water and wastewater infrastructure systems each received a grade of D– on asce’s 2005 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure. That assessment noted that although the country faces a shortfall of $11 billion annually in the amount needed to replace aging facilities and comply with drinking water regulations, federal funding for drinking water remains at less than 10 percent of the total national requirement. Many wastewater systems have reached the end of their useful design lives, and the overflows that occur during major rainstorms and heavy snowmelts are discharging billions of gallons of untreated sewage into U.S. surface waters each year. The Environmental Protection Agency estimated in 2005 that the nation would have to invest $390 billion over the following 20 years to replace existing systems and build new ones to meet increasing demands.

“Clean drinking and wastewater systems are some of the greatest advances in improving public health,” asce’s president, W.F. Marcuson, Ph.D., P.E.., Hon.M.ASCE, said recently. “As a result, protecting America’s drinking and wastewater systems is vital to the health, safety, and welfare of the public, and we commend chairman Oberstar for his leadership on this critical national issue.” 

 —Mark Fitzgerald

ASCE has reached another milestone on its road to establishing a dynamic strategic planning process. In January the Board of Direction set goals for addressing four issues of particular concern to the Society. Various ASCE entities will now explore how best to begin achieving those targets to better serve members, the profession, and the public.

ASCE’s new strategic planning approach supersedes the approach that has traditionally produced a strategic plan every four to five years. Such a plan puts forth a vision, a mission, and a list of various goals and objectives. Although the new strategic plan too contains a vision, mission, and goals (five in all), which provide the guideposts for Society initiatives, leaders of the Society are also paying close attention to a dynamic list of issues that they believe will be of overriding importance in the coming years to the profession. At its January meeting the board singled out 4 of the 15 issues on its “radar screen” for special attention:

• Deteriorating infrastructure and the profession’s limited ability to influence public officials in this area place the public at risk and hinder economic growth.
• The increasing complexity of profes-sional practice and the range of abilities required are calling into question the notion that a bachelor of science is adequate for civil engineering practice at the professional level.

• Civil engineering services may increasingly come to be viewed as commodities.
• Limited public understanding and negative perceptions of civil engineering undermine the profession’s career appeal.

These issues have been explored over the past year through an extensive input-gathering process that has involved members and tapped the expertise of sources inside and outside of ASCE.

At its January meeting the board set “desired outcomes,” that is, positive impacts on the profession and on society at large if these four issues are successfully addressed. It then called on the Strategic Planning Task Committee to help decide which ASCE committees and other entities will take the lead in developing plans. For example, on the infrastructure issue ASCE will work to establish a collaborative national infrastructure policy that addresses a variety of facets, and it will seek to place more civil engineers in elected and appointive policy-making positions.

With regard to the commoditization of engineering services and the appeal of the engineering profession, the Society will seek to achieve a broadly accepted project delivery system that would be led by a professional civil engineer and would comprise a variety of professionals and paraprofessionals. The various team members would operate within a hierarchy in which everyone would clearly understand how his or her skill, competence, and contributions help to achieve the optimal result. Given the growing ability of nonengineers to effectively use engineering software, the leadership provided by the civil engineer would be of paramount importance. The civil engineer would no longer be called upon to perform certain routine tasks traditionally associated with civil engineering. He or she would thus be freed to lead collaborative efforts to design and realize livable communities that reflect the principles of sustainable development. The respect accorded to civil engineers would grow, as would their compensation.

Questions regarding the adequacy of the bachelor’s degree for engineering practice at the professional level spurred ASCE to adopt Policy 465 some years ago. This policy calls for 30 credit hours (not necessarily through a university) beyond the baccalaureate. ASCE and its partners scored a major success in this area when the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying voted last fall to amend its model engineering licensure law to reflect this position.

The strategic planning process acknowledges the fact that conditions change fast and that no association or business can afford to let four or five years elapse before altering its plan. To ensure that it is responding to current needs, the Society carries out the following steps each year:

• Ensure that the issues on the current radar screem continue to be relevant, add new issues as they present themselves, and set priorities.
• Define desired outcomes for the top priorities;
• Formulate strategies to achieve the desired outcomes;
• Launch strategies through the annual budget process;
• Assess progress on a regular basis.

The Society is also working to ensure that the findings of the Summit on the Future of Civil Engineering, a conference held last June in Virginia (see ASCE news, July 2006, page 1), are properly reflected in its strategic plan. Those in attendance at the conference saw civil engineers in 2025 being entrusted by society to serve as master planners, designers, and constructors, as stewards of the environment, as innovators and integrators in the realm of technology, as managers of risk and uncertainty, and as leaders in shaping public policy as it relates to infrastructure and the environment.

Another important component of the process will be engaging ASCE’s sections and branches so that they can take advantage of opportunities for action at the local level. An aligned effort will thus help the Society achieve its goals on a number of fronts. The regional boards of governors will figure prominently in such efforts.
In making its strategic planning process more dynamic, the Society has not forgotten that this process represents just one aspect of its activity. The bulk of Society resources still go into the wide variety of programs that provide direct benefits to the members and the profession. To keep a concise inventory of those areas of endeavor, the Society has produced a list of ASCE “value propositions”—30 in all.  Surveys and other channels for gathering member feedback will provide a measure of the Society’s performance and help to ensure that ASCE continues to serve its members in the most effective way possible.

For additional information about the Society’s future course, visit www.ASCE.org and click on “Inside ASCE,” then “Governing Documents,” then “Strategic
Planning.”

No doubt about it. Without the civil engineering profession and its ability to provide technical innovation and leadership, our nation would not have the prosperity and standard of living it currently enjoys. But the public will not fully understand how important our profession is in ensuring the quality of life for our society until we improve the image of civil engineers and let everyone out there know who we are and what we do. And with a better image we can inspire the next generation of engineers to lead us in the future.

Our outreach programs for students from kindergarten through grade 12 are going far to burnish this image. Our programs feature innovative engineering design activities and provide volunteer engineers with training so that they will have no difficulty engaging the interest and stimulating the curiosity of young people. asce’s precollege outreach strategy is rare in that it offers training to educators and volunteers to help them make a compelling case for engineering. Above all, the programs show engineers and educators how to make engineering fun for the young and the young at heart! In the past five years asce has conducted hands-on training workshops for thousands of asce members and educators.

Our latest resource, Design Squad, is the first engineering program expressly tailored to youngsters. It was developed by pbs and is sponsored by asce, and every aspect of it—the television show, the Web site, and the outreach program—focuses on the engineering design process. asce is hosting a number of Design Squad events around the country to acquaint members with the series and its related outreach activities. At these events, participants will view episodes of the series and take part in the design and testing of floor pads (“dance pads”) that activate a buzzer or a light.

asce is involved in other outreach programs, including zoom into Engineering, which is designed for the very young (kindergarten through grade 5). Here children are encouraged to ask questions, and they pursue ideas and solutions by working in groups. The series Building Big has been a hit with middle school students, and each year the West Point Bridge Design Contest exercises the talents and ingenuity of middle school and high school students around the country as they use computer simulations to develop their designs.

Partnering with media groups—including pbs and the global children’s publishing, education, and media company Scholastic—as well as with major science museums, asce is raising public awareness of engineering and of the role played by engineers in society. During the past year asce has helped to involve thousands of young people and their families in activities organized at the Pacific Science Center, in Seattle; the Maryland Science Center, in Baltimore; and the National Museum Building, in Washington, D.C.

asce also partners with national teacher associations in conducting workshops for those who will be engaging in outreach activities. Joint workshops are held with the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, the National Science Teachers Association, and the National Association for College Admission Counseling. In February asce members teamed up with members of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and ieee–usa (a unit of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) to organize a workshop of this type at the annual meeting of the International Technology Education Association.

asce is working to improve the image of engineering among girls through our leadership and support of the Extraordinary Women Engineers Project. By highlighting the struggles and achievements of women in science and engineering, this project will, it is hoped, encourage girls to pursue careers in engineering and science. We have found that messages of the right type can be extremely effective in engaging the interest of young women. Society in general is sure to benefit if we can make a cogent case for engineering.

I urge you to step up, jump in, and take part in our amazing outreach programs. To find out more, e-mail us at outreach@asce.org. asce’s communications staff will walk you through everything you need to know. Be part of making our future better by promoting civil engineering to tomorrow’s leaders!

—W.F. Marcuson III, Ph.D., P.E.,
Hon.M.ASCE

The Building Security Council (BSC) has announced that 44 individuals have qualified to be the first to receive the designation building security certified professional (BSCP). The BSC debuted the examination for this designation last November. The test consists of 100 multiple-choice questions covering seven areas of building security: project process, risk assessment, site considerations, building envelope, interior space, facility operations, and the bsc rating system. Led by our Architectural Engineering Institute and supported by numerous building, design, management, and ownership organizations, the BSC is dedicated to enhancing public safety.

Last month members of the Arizona Society of Civil Engineers Section held their first state lobbying day ever. Meeting state legislators over lunch in Phoenix, members stepped into the public policy arena. Citing an assessment of Arizona’s transportation system that was released in 2004, they were able to suggest ways of improving infrastructure. In the afternoon some of the section members were introduced by their representatives on the floor of the House of Representatives. If your section is interested in organizing such a day, contact Adam Gagnon, ASCE’s manager of state government relations, at agagnon@asce.org.

ASCE recently submitted a statement for the record to the House Small Business Committee supporting the immediate repeal of section 511 of the Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act of 2005 (P.L. 109-222), which mandates a 3 percent withholding on payments to companies for any contract with a government entity. The law is scheduled to go into effect in 2011. In the statement, ASCE says the requirement will hurt many honest, taxpaying businesses in an attempt to find tax delinquents by essentially forcing contractors, including engineering and construction firms, to provide the government with interest-free loans. The 3 percent withholding will adversely affect cash flow in many firms. This requirement is based on a company’s revenue and has no relationship to its taxable income. Firms with tight profit margins will lose vital funds needed to operate day-to-day activities and will be forced to pass along the added costs to their customers. More information about the hearing is available on the Small Business Committee’s Web site, www.house.gov/smbiz/.

ASCE’s Committee on Critical Infrastructure (CCI) has launched the CRitical Infrastructure Bulletin, or CRIB Sheet, its monthly electronic bulletin on developments in infrastructure. By providing links to articles in a broad range of infrastructure sectors, the CCI intends to offer a convenient, informative “snapshot” of issues for asce members. The inaugural issue includes contributions from Tadi R. Ramakrishna, P.E., M.ASCE, the newsletter editor of the Transportation and Development Institute’s Security Committee. The CCI hopes that others in the asce community will offer links to articles pertaining to the safety, security, and resilience of our nation’s infrastructure. Let the CCI know what you think and how it can best keep you informed. Feedback and news items for publication in future issues may be submitted to cci@asce.org.

ASCE, in conjunction with ASFE, will present a new award this year to recognize civil engineering leadership in professional practice and ethics. The award will honor a leader in engineering for a particular accomplishment or for lifetime achievements, and the honoree will be a person who has exhibited inspiring leadership and unwavering adherence to ethical principles in professional practice. The individual must be a licensed professional engineer but need not be a member of ASCE or ASFE. Furthermore, the person must not be a member of ASCE’s Board of Direction or asfe’s Board of Directors and must not have served on either board in the past five years. The winner will receive a certificate and honorarium, and it will not be possible for a person to receive the award more than once. Please take this opportunity to nationally recognize one of your colleagues. For additional information and to obtain the nomination form, visit asce’s awards online at www.asce.org/pressroom/honors/. Click on “Complete List of Awards Presented by asce,” and then scroll down to the “Ethics and Leadership Award, The Professional Practice.” Please submit nominations by June 1 to awards@asce.org. For paper submissions, send the nomination to Honors and Awards Program, ASCE, 1801 Alexander Bell Drive, Reston, VA 20191-4400.

Members have special access to a host of services through Bank of America. With its acquisition of mbna in December 2006, Bank of America is offering members a new line of credit cards, including MasterCard, Visa, and American Express cards, as well as MasterCard World and Visa Signature cards, both of which come with high-level features that previous cards did not offer. New services are forthcoming, among them checking and savings accounts, lending services (including student, consolidation, home equity, and mortgage loans), and lines of credit. Members can also open and access money market and certificate of deposit accounts along with other investment services. Visit www.asce.org/benefits to learn more.

—Patrick J. Natale, P.E., F.ASCE
Executive Director

At ASCE’s annual leadership conferences, which were held earlier this year, national, section, and branch leaders, along with younger member and student leaders, came together to exchange ideas, network, gain a better understanding of Society activities, and consider ways of leading their groups more effectively. As was the case last year, the 2007 conferences included sessions on engineering ethics that drew on material provided by the National Institute of Engineering Ethics. This month’s column discusses one of two case studies presented at the ethics sessions. The case studies were prepared by William D. Lawson, Ph.D., P.E., and Brian Brenner, Ph.D., P.E., and are based on an opinion issued by the National Society of Professional Engineers’ Board of Ethical Review.

SITUATION: Jack Florin is the chief geotechnical engineer for Welk Consultants, of Fargo, North Dakota, a geotechnical consulting firm that maintains several drilling rigs and has a laboratory, several geologists, and an experienced drilling crew. Drilling and sampling operations are overseen by Ernest Downholt, the firm’s drilling manager.

As the chief geotechnical engineer, Florin has written professional engineering reports providing design parameters for foundations of structures ranging from small commercial buildings to large grain elevators. In preparing these reports, he relies on data collected by the firm’s drilling crew and geologists. Florin occasionally verifies the data by making personal visits to project sites while the drillers and geologists are at work. Lately, however, his workload has kept him in the office writing reports and overseeing the work of junior engineers.

Realizing he has not been in the field much, Florin arranges to meet Downholt at the site of a proposed three-story office building complex. While touring the site, Florin does not see anyone taking borings. Downholt tells him that the borings were taken the day before, but Florin sees no track marks or signs of disturbance in the snow.

Florin now has misgivings regarding the accuracy of the borings data being used in the building design. If the members of the boring crew never came to this site, where did they go? Did they take borings at the wrong site?

The accuracy of the subsurface exploration logs and data is of the utmost importance to Florin’s design recommendations. It is now Friday morning, and the report setting forth his foundation design recommendations is due in the client’s office by Thursday of the following week, six days hence.

QUESTION: What course of action should Florin take given his concerns over the accuracy of the borings data?

DECISION: Session participants were asked to consider the following options:

1. Soil conditions in the area do not vary appreciably, so boring logs from nearby sites should be adequate for design purposes. Nevertheless, Florin should talk to Downholt to ensure that this lapse does not recur.
2. Florin should call the geologist and demand proof that the boring logs submitted are based on soil samples from the site in question. If proof is not provided, Florin should fire the entire crew.
3. Florin should tell the client what he has discovered (or thinks he has discovered) and ask for additional time to complete the report.
4. Florin should hire another crew to perform drilling at the correct site as soon as possible and should tell the client that the initial data were inconclusive and that further sampling is needed for a reliable report.
5. Florin should require the geologist and drillers to go back to the site, work over the weekend, and furnish him with samples by Monday morning.
6. After obtaining correct information for the site from the geologist and drillers, Florin should have Downholt fire them because they cannot be trusted on future assignments. Furthermore, Downholt should be told that since oversight of field crews is his responsibility, he will be fired if an incident of this type occurs again.

Category (b) in the guidelines to practice for canon 3 of asce’s Code of Ethics reads as follows: “Engineers shall be objective and truthful in professional reports, statements, or testimony. They shall include all relevant and pertinent information in such reports, statements, or testimony.” If Florin believes that the soil borings data supplied by his firm’s drilling team have been fabricated, he cannot ethically use the data in his report. His response to this situation should also be guided by his duty to have no tolerance for fraud (canon 6) and to serve his client faithfully (canon 4).
The two most popular answers among session participants were options 2 and 5. While attendees felt the most crucial task was obtaining accurate data for the foundation design report as swiftly as possible, they also wanted to determine whether the situation involved a mistake or deliberate fraud. The point was made that deliberate fraud could very well call into question the work done on previous projects. In such a case, Florin and his firm might be further obliged to disclose this fact to previous clients and attempt to make restitution.

Members who have an ethics question or would like to file a complaint with the Committee on Professional Conduct may call asce’s hotline at (703) 295-6061 or (800) 548-ASCE (2723), extension 6061. The attorneys staffing this line can provide advice on how to handle an ethics issue or file a complaint.

Robertson Named Fellow Of Engineers Ireland
Leslie E. Robertson, P.E., Hon.M.ASCE, has been named a fellow of Engineers Ireland, the operating name of the Institution of Engineers of Ireland, which was established in 1835 and is that country’s largest professional body. The founder of the firm Leslie E. Robertson Associates, R.L.L.P., Robertson is known for his pioneering innovations in the design of skyscrapers, domes, bridges, and long-span roofs. He began his engineering career with Kaiser Engineers in 1952. From there he moved to John Blume and Associates and Raymond International, where he assisted in the engineering of offshore drilling rigs. Later he joined Worthing-Skilling, a firm that was chosen in 1963 to handle the structural engineering for the towers of New York City’s World Trade Center, which at the time would be the world’s tallest. Robertson’s innovations in structural design include the Bank of China Tower, in Hong Kong; the U.S. Steel Tower, in Pittsburgh; and a host of museums and performing arts buildings. Engineering News-Record named him its person of the year in construction in 1989 and placed him on its 25 Top Newsmakers list in both 1993 and 1997. In 2003, as part of its Outstanding Projects and Leaders (OPAL) program, asce honored Robertson for his lifetime achievements in design.

Link Wins ENR’s Award Of Excellence
Engineering News-Record (ENR) last month honored Lewis E. Link, Jr., M.ASCE, with its 2006 Award of Excellence for his contributions in interpreting the damage of Hurricane Katrina and redefining tools for risk assessment. A civil engineering professor at the University of Maryland, Link heads the Interagency Performance Evaluation Task Force (IPET)—the body commissioned by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 2005 to review the performance of the hurricane protection system in New Orleans and southeastern Louisiana. The clarity, breadth, and objectivity of the IPET’s analysis of Hurricane Katrina’s impact have been widely commended by the engineering community, and the task force’s recommendations for design changes are expected to serve as an invaluable planning resource. “Risk-based design and decision support is a big step forward,” Link told ENR recently. “It is a big opportunity. If we can carry through and institutionalize it as a common decision support practice, it will facilitate that cultural change the Corps wants to go through. It’s a good tool for doing that.” Under Link’s leadership, the IPET has produced technical evaluations of the performance of the levees, gates, pumps, canals, and floodwalls that shielded New Orleans. Link has also been working closely with asce’s External Review Panel, a group of experts assembled by asce at the behest of Lieutenant General Carl A. Strock, P.E., M.ASCE, the Corps’s commander and chief of engineers, to peer-review the work of the IPET. Looking ahead, Link intends to use his IPET experience to help modify the criteria employed in evaluating federal water resources projects so that emphasis is placed more on scientifically based planning for risk reduction than on cost-benefit analyses.

NSBE Names Jackson Entrepreneur of the Year
The National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) has recognized Birdel F. Jackson III, P.E., M.ASCE, as its 2007 entrepreneur of the year. Jackson was acknowledged by the nsbe for the exceptional way in which he has led his company, B&E Jackson Engineers, and for his service to the community. Before founding his firm, he provided scheduling services for the Northeast Corridor Rail Improvement Project and developed a water quality management program for Atlanta. His work with B&E Jackson Engineers has included projects involving aviation buildings, facilities for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, bridges, and several venues and streetscapes for the 1996 Summer Olympics, which were held in Atlanta. His firm, which he started in 1988, has grown to employ more than 45 professionals and is widely respected for its expertise in aviation engineering, civil and site engineering, transportation, and water and wastewater management. Within the community Jackson is known for his mentoring work and for the encouragement he gives to young students, challenging them to succeed in their educational and career pursuits. The foundation he established in honor of his grandparents has so far awarded more than 20 scholarships to African-American students in civil engineering.

Fellows Elected
The following members were elected fellows of the Society in recent months. ASCE fellows are legally registered professional engineers or land surveyors who have made significant technical or professional contributions and have demonstrated notable achievement in responsible charge of engineering activity for at least 10 years following election to the ASCE grade of member. Fellows occupy the Society’s second-highest membership grade, exceeded only by honorary members.

Philip B. Bedient, Ph.D., P.E., F.ASCE, is the Herman Brown Professor of Engineering in the civil and environmental engineering department at Rice University. He received all his degrees from the University of Florida and obtained his doctorate in 1975. He then joined the faculty at Rice University, where he- teaches and carries out research in surface and groundwater hydrology and flood prediction systems. Bedient has worked on surface water problems for more than 30 years, and his endeavors have included major floodplain studies, water quality assessments, and hydrologic modeling for a number of watersheds in Texas, Florida, and Louisiana. He has been actively involved in the area of hydrologic analysis for flood prediction and warning, and he recently joined with others in developing a sophisticated flood warning system for Houston’s Texas Medical Center. At present Bedient is organizing the Houston test bed for the Center for Collaborative Adaptive Sensing of the Atmosphere (CASA), an engineering research center under the auspices of the National Science Foundation that is led by the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. (The University of Oklahoma, Colorado State University, and the University of Puerto Rico are core academic partners, and Rice University is what is called a strategic academic outreach partner.) CASA will focus on revolutionary sensing technology that will make it possible to obtain earlier and more accurate forecasts of weather emergencies and other atmospheric phenomena.

Jonathan D. Bray, Ph.D., P.E., F.ASCE, has been a leader in developing evaluation and mitigation methods for surface fault ruptures. He has also made contributions in the areas of ground motion characterization, seismic site response, the seismic performance of waste fills, and liquefaction and ground failure, including the effects of such failures on structures. Bray has developed advanced finite- and discrete-element and physical modeling techniques and advanced laboratory testing equipment, carried out studies on the mechanical properties of geomembranes and soil, and promoted innovative applications of geosynthetics. He graduated from the United States Military Academy and during the 1980s served as a lieutenant and then as a captain in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, where he was in charge of constructing facilities in South Korea and Virginia. He obtained his professional certification in 1985 and five years later earned a doctorate. After working as an assistant professor at Purdue University, he moved to the University of California at Berkeley, where he is now a professor. With more than 200 publications to his credit, Bray has offered expert testimony in legal cases and serves on the editorial boards of three journals. The founder of the Geo-Engineering Earthquake Reconnaissance Association, he has been an instructor for numerous asce courses and has helped to organize conferences and other courses. In addition to receiving a fellowship from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and an award in the National Science Foundation’s Presidential Young Investigator program, Bray has been honored with the Shamsher Prakash Research Award and asce’s Walter L. Huber Civil Engineering Research Prize.

William J. Conlon, P.E., BCEE, F.ASCE, is a consulting engineer with more than 35 years in the membrane field. Conlon has been a pioneer in the application of reverse-osmosis, ultrafiltration, and membrane system components to municipal water treatment. The author or coauthor of more than 60 technical papers on the treatment of water and wastewater, he is currently the technical manager and practice area leader for desalination in the Palm Beach County Water Utilities Department, in Florida. He blazed new trails in his field by serving as the technical manager on the first desalination plant in Latin America as well as by acting as the project engineer on the first reverse-osmosis plant in the world, which was built in Florida. He has been an active member of asce since 1992 and has served on numerous committees for other groups, among them a standards body within the American Water Works Association. Conlon has also held an appointment to the team within the Government Accountability Office dealing with natural resources and the environment.

Stephen F. Duffy, Ph.D., P.E., F.ASCE, holds bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees from the University of Akron. A professor of civil engineering at Cleveland State University, Duffy has taught 17 undergraduate and graduate courses, and his extensive funded research has focused on ceramics, work zone safety, and transportation development and security. He has also conducted pioneering work with the Department of Defense and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration involving the design of components made from brittle materials. He is the creator and executive director of Cleveland State’s Work Zone Transportation Center, which focuses on safety engineering principles and their application in highway construction work zones. Within asce Duffy has served as the secretary of the Transportation and Development Institute’s Security Committee since 2004, as a member of the Cleveland Section’s governing board since 1998, and as a faculty adviser to the student chapter at Cleveland State since 1995.

George G. Gibson, Jr., Ph.D., P.E., F.ASCE, has made significant technical contributions planning, risk management, and dispute resolution in capital projects and has taught more than 170 short courses on these topics for the benefit of employees at public and private organizations. His development of project definition rating indexes (PDRIS) for both building and industrial projects has changed the way industry approaches planning. Tools for managing risk, PDRIS have been adopted by dozens of organizations worldwide and have helped project teams plan thousands of capital projects effectively. Gibson has published and lectured extensively. In 2002 he received the National Society of Professional Engineers’ Outstanding Engineer Educator Award, and he has also been the recipient of the Construction Industry Institute’s Outstanding Researcher Award and Instructor of the Year Award and of numerous teaching awards from the University of Texas at Austin. Gibson has taught undergraduate and graduate courses at North Carolina State University and the University of Texas at Austin, and his administrative oversight at the latter school was instrumental in resurrecting the architectural engineering program in the late 1990s. He has supervised more than 80 master’s and doctoral students, 6 of whom are now professors at academic institutions. Within asce Gibson has served on the Construction Institute’s Construction Research Council since 1993, and he is also a member of the institute’s Construction Engineering Education Committee. He has been a member of the Architectural Engineering Institute since 2000.

Peter A. Irwin, Ph.D., P.Eng., F.ASCE, holds both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in aeronautical engineering from the University of Southampton, in the United Kingdom, and a doctorate in mechanical engineering from McGill University and is a registered engineer in Ontario. Irwin began his professional career with Britain’s Royal Aircraft Establishment and went on to work with Canada’s National Research Council. In 1980 he cofounded the company of which he is the president today—Rowan Williams Davies & Irwin, Inc. (RWDI). Irwin’s experience in wind engineering dates back to 1974 and includes extensive research and consulting in wind loading, aeroelastic response, wind tunnel methods, and instrumentation. He has published more than 150 papers and has won several awards for his work, including the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering’s Gzowski Medal in 1995. He serves on several committees concerned with codes and standards, among them the Canadian Commission on Building and Fire Codes’ Standing Committee on Structural Design and the asce 7 Subcommittee on Wind Loads, which forms part of the Structural Engineering Institute’s Minimum Design Loads for Buildings and Other Structures Standards Committee. Irwin’s influence spans the world through his consultations in a number of countries, among them Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates (for the Burj Dubai, soon to be the world’s tallest building), and the United States (for such projects as New York City’s Freedom Tower). Irwin is also the creator of a wind sensor that bears his name and is used by wind tunnel testing labs around the world.

Kanthasamy K. Muraleetharan, Ph.D., P.E., F.ASCE, received a bachelor of science from the University of Peradeniya, in Sri Lanka, and a master of science and a doctorate in civil engineering from the University of California at Davis. He is a licensed civil engineer and geotechnical engineer in California. His professional career began in 1988 with Earth Tech, headquartered in Long Beach, California, where he rose to become a senior project engineer. Since 1994 Muraleetharan has been at the University of Oklahoma, where he is currently a professor in the civil engineering and environmental science department. His achievements include developing advanced computational simulation tools, validating them through centrifuge model test results, and applying them in the seismic design of major geotechnical engineering structures, among them pier 400 at the Port of Los Angeles. He has made significant contributions to the theoretical and computational modeling of unsaturated soils, especially for dynamic problems. Muraleetharan has been generous with his time in reaching out to students and mentoring future civil engineers. He has served as a faculty adviser to a group representing students from Sri Lanka, supervised 5 doctoral dissertations and 10 master’s theses, and mentored award-winning high school science students. Within asce he has been active in the affairs of the Geo-Institute, has served on that institute’s Soil Properties and Modeling Committee, and has lent his services to the Poromechanics Committee (formerly part of the Engineering Mechanics Division).

Joseph V. Muscarella, Ph.D., P.E., F.ASCE, earned a bachelor of science at the United States Military Academy and later obtained a master of science and a doctorate in structures engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. Muscarella has rendered nearly 30 years of distinguished service to engineering as a member of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and later as a senior administrator in higher education. While with the Corps of Engineers he served in the field and contributed to a number of highly challenging engineering projects in the United States and abroad. He also carried out research for state and federal research agencies and taught civil engineering at the United States Military Academy and Columbia University. Earlier in his career he served as the deputy commander of the Corps’s New York district and as the director of public works at Fort Knox, in Kentucky. After retiring from the Corps with the rank of colonel, Muscarella was appointed the vice-chancellor for administrative services at the University of Illinois, where he oversees construction, facilities maintenance, environmental health and safety, and security for a campus of 37,000 students and staff, as well a physical plant encompassing more than 10 million sq ft (929,000 m²).

Craig L. Nowak, P.E., F.ASCE, earned a master of science in civil engineering at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology and is a registered professional engineer in South Dakota and Montana. He began his professional career as an assistant engineer with the Veterans Administration (now the Department of Veterans Affairs), later worked as a project manager for Delta Engineering, P.C., and is currently a project manager for Morrison-Maierle, Inc. Nowak has extensive experience in municipal engineering in the areas of water supply, distribution, and disinfection; the collection, treatment, and disposal of wastewater; and storm-water management system design. His background also includes experience in site civil designs for residential, institutional, and commercial developments. Nowak has been the project manager on the Mni Wiconi rural water project, in southwestern South Dakota, since 1992 and in that capacity has been responsible for providing a safe and reliable water supply to more than 1,000 rural residences

Fellow applications may be obtained from ASCE’s world headquarters, in Reston, Virginia, by calling (800) 548-2723 or, from outside the country, (703) 295-6300 or by e-mailing memapp@asce.org. Applications for fellow status are also available in PDF format at www.asce.org/membership/fellowgrade.cfm. Applicants using the PDF format must request reference forms and return envelopes from ASCE through one of the contact points listed above. Completed applications are considered at the monthly meetings of the Society’s Membership Application Review Committee (MARC), which elects qualified candidates to the fellow grade. Questions regarding the fellow guidelines or application process (including waiver of guideline inquiries) should be directed to Curtis Nunley, the staff liaison to the MARC, at one of the contact points above.

ASCE Honors Machu Picchu and Tipon at Peruvian Embassy Ceremony

For more than 40 years asce has recognized historically significant achievements that embody the pioneering spirit and ingenuity of civil engineers. Through its Historic Civil Engineering Landmark Program, the Society has designated more than 200 projects, structures, and sites around the world as civil engineering landmarks.

In September asce conferred landmark status on two Incan sites in Peru—Machu Picchu and Tipon. Perched on a ridge in southern Peru more than 1,500 ft (457 m) above a bend in the Urubamba River, Machu Picchu is believed to have been built in the 15th century at the height of the Incan empire. Often referred to as the Lost City of the Incas, the site comprises buildings, parks, terraces, and fountains that are interconnected by numerous channels and form part of a complex water drainage system. Tipon, also in southern Peru, is located approximately 14.3 mi (23 km) southeast of Cusco and is known for its fine terraces and elaborate canals and aqueducts. In addition to the Incan ceremonial buildings and living quarters, the site features underground channels and aboveground irrigation systems that once supplied the surrounding area with water.

On March 8 representatives from asce and the National Museum of the American Indian, which is part of the Smithsonian Institution, gathered in Washington, D.C., at the Peruvian embassy to celebrate these landmark designations. “ASCE is extremely pleased to welcome these two marvels as historic landmarks from the Central and South American regions,” said asce’s president, W.F. Marcuson III, Ph.D., P.E., Hon.M.ASCE, shortly before he presented Peru’s ambassador to the United States, Felipe Ortiz de Zevallos, with a bronze plaque commemorating the designation. “Machu Picchu is a masterpiece of site selection, city planning, and design,” he went on to say. “Its infrastructure illustrates the advanced civil, hydraulic, and geotechnical engineering capabilities of the Inca people. The steep agricultural terraces, fine masonry walls, surface and subsurface drainage, and the spring headworks are all excellent examples of Inca civil engineering.”

Marcuson also called attention to the civil engineering achievements on exhibit at Tipon. “Tipon is a complex also attesting to the advanced hydraulic and geotechnical engineering of the Inca and their predecessors,” he said. “Tipon is an engineering masterpiece of planning and construction. The complex irrigation system of canals, aqueducts, fountains, buried conduits, and a tunnel, some of which remain in use, provided conjunctive use of surface and spring water to these terraces constructed of massive, zoned earthworks and fine stone masonry walls.”
Kenneth R. Wright, P.E., L.S., Hon.M.ASCE—the author of Machu Picchu: A Civil Engineering Marvel and Tipon: Water Engineering Masterpiece of the Inca Empire (both published by ASCE Press)—also spoke at the event. The work done by Wright, who is the president of Wright Water Engineers, Inc., and by his wife, Ruth, who contributed significantly to the development of these publications, loomed large in ASCE’s decision to confer landmark status on these sites.

“The Inca people of five hundred years ago were good civil engineers and they were very good hydrologists,” Wright observed. “They knew how to handle and distribute water very well. Their foundations and buildings withstood the ravages of time, and their uncanny ability to support thatched roofs that were three feet thick is still a marvel to modern architects and structural engineers. We can learn from their ability to protect steep slopes from erosion. We can learn from their water-handling and urban drainage capabilities and their ability to build for the ages. And perhaps, most of all, we can learn from their sensitive environmental design, which is certainly an example for all modern engineers.”

For more information about asce’s Historic Civil Engineering Landmark Program, visit www.asce.org/history/ce_landmarks.cfm.

Three Members of Congress Named Honorary Fellows

ASCE recently named three members of the 110th Congress—Representative John J. Duncan, Jr. (R-Tennessee), Senator George V. Voinovich (R-Ohio), and Senator Tom Carper (D-Delaware)—honorary fellows.

Duncan, who was recognized for his many years of service as the chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment, was presented with a plaque commemorating his designation on February 20. In a speech he delivered on December 17, 2005, shortly after he had introduced the Clean Water Trust Act of 2005 (H.R. 4560), Duncan said, “We are all well aware that our national water infrastructure is aging, deteriorating, and in need of repair and replacement.” In reference to asce’s 2005 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure, he noted in that speech that “the American Society of Civil Engineers recently graded the condition of the infrastructure throughout our country. Wastewater infrastructure received a D–. Nearly half of the sewer pipes in American cities are over fifty years old. Some are over a hundred years old. Treatment plants built in the 1970s need to be upgraded. New mandates to manage municipal storm-water runoff have gone into effect. And water quality must be improved.” Representing Tennessee’s second congressional district, Duncan has been in Congress since 1988.

Voinovich and Carper, who are chief sponsors of the National Infrastructure Improvement Act of 2007 (S. 775), received honorary plaques on March 8 at a breakfast gathering that was held in conjunction with ASCE’s annual public policy week (see “Members Deliver Action Plan to 110th Congress,” page 1 of this issue). The Society selected the senators for their leadership in introducing S. 775 and for their steadfast support of ASCE’s policies and positions.

“How are we going to establish the infrastructure that we need in this country to be competitive in the global market?” asked Voinovich at the breakfast. “We cannot afford to push our infrastructure needs under the rug. We must think about our economic security here at home.” A former mayor of Cleveland and governor of
Ohio, Voinovich was elected to the Senate in 1998 and reelected in 2004.
Carper, a former member of the House and a former governor of Delaware, also spoke at the event. “The future health of our economy and safety of the American people require proper maintenance of our infrastructure, whether flood control, transportation, or water quality,” he said. “No nation can be prosperous without these fundamental building blocks. As we look for the best way to address the needs of our country with tighter and tighter budgets, we need to ensure we protect communities by properly maintaining our current infrastructure and setting targeted priorities for future investments.” A Vietnam War veteran, Carper was reelected to the Senate last year.

In its long and glorious history, the Society has bestowed honorary fellowship on fewer than 30 individuals. Those honored have included Norman Y. Mineta, a former secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation and a former chairman of the House Public Works and Transportation Committee (now the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee); Bill Shuster, a former House member representing Pennsylvania who chaired that body’s Transportation and Infrastructure Committee; Sherwood Boehlert, a former U.S. representative from New York who chaired the House Committee on Science and Technology; Representative Tom Petri (R-Wisconsin), a member and  former chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s Subcommittee on Highways and Transit; and, most recently, Sue Kelly, a former U.S. representative from New York.

Pittsburgh Section’s Endowment for Student Awards Tops $100,000

In 1988 ASCE’s Pittsburgh Section established the Student Award Foundation (saf) with an initial grant of $5,000. Today that endowment is worth more than $100,000. The saf, which supports an awards program in the Pittsburgh region, has thus far handed out more than $30,000 to worthy students pursuing degrees in civil engineering.

“We established the fund because we wanted to make civil engineering as a career choice more attractive,” explains Hugh L. Davidson, Ph.D., P.E., M.ASCE, who chairs the saf and is the president of Romualdi, Davidson, and Associates, Inc., an engineering firm located in Homestead, Pennsylvania. “We know that this is probably not the sort of thing that turns a profession around, but over the years more and more people have come to hear about it. It’s basically designed to enhance the profession by attracting the highest quality of people to civil engineering programs.”

Each year the section presents three awards—one that recognizes exemplary leadership and two that honor outstanding achievement. “It’s often very difficult to determine who will be selected for these awards,” adds Davidson. “We solicit applications from a large number of schools in the region and then go through a comprehensive review process.” The application process calls for a letter of introduction from the student; two letters of recommendation; an account of the student’s awards and outside activities; and an academic transcript.

Thanks to a $75,000 pledge last year from the American Bridge Company, the section has boosted its leadership award (now named the saf American Bridge Leadership Award) to $5,000. The two achievement awards, which are each for $500, also are likely to increase, according to Davidson. “We continue to actively solicit major donors,” he adds. “We are currently pursuing other corporations that may come up with a substantial gift. This could allow us to raise the value of the achievement awards. We don’t envision that we’ll one day have a million dollar endowment, but a two hundred thousand dollar endowment or more is not out of the question.” .

History Channel Contest Yields Rich Harvest of Inventions

In an effort to highlight American ingenuity and innovation, the History Channel will broadcast programs May 15–17 in connection with its Modern Marvels Invent Now Challenge (check local listings for times). During what is being called Modern Marvels: Great Inventions Week, viewers will become acquainted with the inventions of the 25 individuals who have qualified as semifinalists in the competition, which was designed to encourage inventions that have the potential to be socially beneficial. Cosponsored by the History Channel and Invent Now, Inc., a subsidiary of the National Inventors Hall of Fame Foundation, the competition takes its name from Modern Marvels, the long-running series on the History Channel that draws on the nation’s passion for ingenuity.

Two years ago ASCE became a partner in the competition, which provides an opportunity for independent inventors to gain recognition and showcase their ideas on a national stage. Chosen from among nearly 2,500 people who entered, the 25 semifinalists hail from 17 states across the United States. “The Modern Marvels Invent Now Challenge answers the call of the nation’s unrecognized independent inventors whose breakthrough ideas are real-life modern marvels,” said Judy Klein-Frimer, one of the creators of the competition, in a March 13 press release. “These twenty-five semifinalists were chosen because of their tenacity to pursue their ideas in order to make an impact on the way we live, just like the inventors of our past whom we profile on Modern Marvels.”

The judges, who include inventors, technologists, and industry experts, will consider the originality of the semifinalists in choosing the winner. asce’s president-elect, David G. Mongan, P.E., F.ASCE, who conducted a training seminar last year to help the semifinalists find a market for their inventions in the public and private sectors, is serving on the panel of judges. The winner will receive a $25,000 grant for development purposes. For additional information, visit www.History.com/invent/.

Section Assesses Nevada’s Infrastructure

On March 21 the Nevada Section released a “report card” that conferred an overall grade of C on that state’s infrastructure. The section conferred grades in eight categories: aviation, transportation, flood control and dams, drinking water quality, drinking water supply, wastewater management, solid waste management, and schools.

Wastewater infrastructure achieved the highest grade, B+, while infrastructure for drinking water supply earned a D–, the lowest mark. “Nevada’s drinking water infrastructure needs $602 million over the next 20 years,” the report states. “In rural areas the situation is dire. Aging infrastructure, current revenues insufficient to cover replacement, and little to no programmed maintenance are the norm. Statewide resource planning and protection [are] a top priority. The water supply to the state is critical for our very existence. Demand is in excess of sustainable supply in many areas. There is little to require conservation on a statewide basis.”
Nevada’s system of flood control and dams and its drinking water quality also received grades in the B range. Schools and solid waste infrastructure earned scores in the C range, while aviation and transportation were each given a grade of D. According to the assessment, Nevada will face a revenue shortfall of $3.8 billion for highway projects from 2008 to 2015. “With the lack of additional funding mechanisms in place, the condition of Nevada highways and bridges as well as the rise in congestion will be bleak,” predicts the report. “Combining considerations of current conditions and future sustainability, the transportation infrastructure needs attention now in order to protect the health, safety, and welfare of the traveling public.”

Released at a press conference in Carson City, the Nevada Section’s report was produced by a group of 20 experts representing a broad spectrum of civil engineering disciplines. Each category was evaluated on the basis of condition and performance as reported by local and state sources. Attention was also given to capacity versus need and to current and pending investment by state, local, and federal sources in relation to need.

For information about ASCE’s regional infrastructure assessments, contact Adam Gagnon, ASCE’s manager of state government relations, at agagnon@asce.org.