Eckert, 4:00
Group L01
DECLINING QUALITY OF ROADS IN THE U.S.
Brett Borelle (bab130@pitt.edu)
INFRASTRUCTURE
Infrastructure is defined as the “combination of
fundamental systems that support a community” [1]. These
systems can include railways, pipelines, bridges, and roads.
Each and every day these systems get worse as climate
changes and population increases. Engineers are faced with
the challenge of improving the quality of these systems in
order to efficiently transfer people and goods. Due to the
engineering code of ethics, engineers are required to follow
certain guidelines in order to design and build things that are
safe for the people and the environment [2]. There are
numerous general canons and more specific ones for each
type of engineering profession [2]. Only a few of the general
guidelines will apply to certain engineers and the jobs that
they do. In 2005, Civil Engineers graded different categories
of the nation’s infrastructure and gave it a grade of “D” [1].
Problems with Infrastructure
One major problem with our infrastructure is that it is
mostly underground [1]. Pipes and cables that are in the
ground aren’t easily accessible because the maps of these
locations of these things have been lost or are incomplete
[1]. These cables are going to need to be replaced soon.
Internet capabilities, phone use and water supply are all
dependent on how well they work. Replacing our pipes is
critical in stopping the “7 billion gallons of clean drinking
water” that leak into the ground each day [6]. Another major
problem is bridges. Bridges are a major part of
transportation for our country. Our country is over 200 years
old and many of the bridges are outdated. In order to safely
transport people and other things across rivers, these bridges
are going to need to be replaced. They are a hazard in the
fact that they are unstable and can fall down. Though these
two parts of infrastructure are important, by far the most
important aspect is roads. Roads are how people get around,
goods and materials are transported and how the country
stays on its feet. The most important road way is the U.S.
highway system. The U.S. Highway system “was
constructed as a part of the nation’s strategic homeland
defense” and is over 40 years old [3]. It is a federal highway
but it also maintained by local and state governments. These
roads were built to withstand the climates of the regions that
they were built in [4]. As temperatures increase, roads
buckle and crack. When it rains, the water gets in the cracks
and lifts the road up and when this water freezes in the
winter, it creates potholes and bumps in the road [5]. These
potholes and cracks are very rough on cars. All these things
University of Pittsburgh, Swanson School of Engineering
Oct. 9, 2012
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are happening to the U.S. highway system and can be
fixed by restoring the road.
U.S. HIGHWAY SYSTEM: A MAJOR
ORDEAL
Every year, American motorists spend 4.2 billion hours
stuck in traffic [3]. The reason for this is the increasing
population and the need for wider, more lane roads. The
U.S. highway system was designed for the population back
in the 1970’s and since then there is a lot more people using
them today. This in turn wastes 78.2 billion dollars in fuel
costs just from people sitting in traffic [3]. Gas is too
expensive to be wasted in excess and can be reversed by
repairing and upgrading the roads. Not only are the people
being affected by sitting in traffic so are trucks that transport
goods and materials across the nation. Trucks transport
materials that are used in production of things that people
use and if these trucks are caught in traffic then the
production time is increased.
.
Solutions
The first step in improving roads here in the U.S. is to
increase the money spent on them [6]. There are numerous
attempts to create revenue for projects but none so far have
been effective. Money has to come from not only the
government but from private investors as well [3]. A
National Infrastructure Bank would be beneficial to funding
high priority projects [6]. This type of bank would “leverage
federal dollars in the form of grants and loans” to fund
projects that are viewed as important and necessary to
upgrading infrastructure [6]. This in turn would give private
companies the money to rebuild roads and would give
Americans thousands of jobs. Once funding is achieved for
these projects, then allocating it would be the next issue. If a
bank doesn’t work, then taxing could also be an option [5].
In Germany, “road fees brought in 2.6 times the money
spent building and maintaining roads” [5]. On the other
hand, American revenue brought in from road fees only
covered 75 percent of the road costs for that year [5]. A
change in revenue has to happen to make all of these
changes happen. The biggest problem with the nation’s
roads is the traffic. In order to fix that problem, current roads
would need to be widened and better ways of entering and
exiting them would have to be established. In order to reduce
damage from rain, drainage systems would have to be put
into place [2]. Roads are built to withstand the climates of
the regions that they are built in and when temperatures go
outside of that range then that’s when damage is done to the
Brett Borelle
roads. Extreme heat causes cracks and big bumps in the
roads. When it rains, water gets in these cracks and lifts
roads up. In the winter, water can freeze in these cracks and
expand and destroy entire roadways. Plows are used in the
winter to clear snow off the roads. This can cause potholes
and ruin roads. An effective way to solve these problems
would be to design new materials that could withstand
intense heat and constant use. This is where engineers come
in, specifically civil engineers. If something could be
developed, then thousands of roads would be safe from heat
and water damage. In the process of doing these restoration
projects, engineers would have to follow the first canon on
the engineering ethics guidelines [2]. This canon states that
“engineers shall recognize that the lives, safety, health and
welfare of the general public are dependent upon
engineering judgments.” This is the most important one in
this issue because fixing roads deal directly with peoples
safety. If they don’t design a road or bride to specification,
then people could get hurt. If the material that they used is
faulty or doesn’t work correctly then, the road will be
ineffective. If an engineer doesn’t make the right decision,
then people’s lives could be in danger. He has to take people
in account when making any kind of decision. Ethics can
also include designing things to the best of your ability and
also informing the people of major decisions. A far-fetched
but effective solution to all these problems would be a highspeed railway system. This would be costly and take lots of
time to complete. The effects of this would be fast
transportation and reduced damage to the environment.
Effects
Once an effective funding source is developed then
restoration of the nation’s roads can be begin. Traffic will be
drastically reduced. In turn, people can travel faster and so
can trucks. Production time will be efficient. People will also
be safer as they travel in cars and buses.
Why This Topic Is Important To Me
Over the summer, I worked on my township’s road crew
and enjoyed it. We fixed potholes, paved roads, cut grass,
cleaned streets and pretty much made the township look
nice. If enough people would call and complain about a
certain road, then we would go and fix it. After this
experience, I now know the importance of good roads and
the effects of bad ones on a community. Not only are smooth
roads easier on cars, they make a community look much
nicer.
Importance of Education
Education is just as important as ethics. It is almost a
necessity in today’s society for someone wanting to get a job
to have some type of college degree. College expands your
knowledge so that when you graduate you can get a job in
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your field of interest. When someone is getting their degree
and going through school, they learn valuable things that
will help them when they become an engineer. A paper like
this will get students thinking about what specific type of
engineering profession that interests them. Although it is not
necessary for a freshman to know what they want to do for
the rest of their life, it helps to have an idea, so that they can
start taking the right classes and not waste any time. In my
opinion, I feel that every engineering school should do an
assignment similar to this one. It not only improves on your
writing skills but makes you take a stand on an important
issue in today’s society and form an opinion about it.
CONCLUSION
Infrastructure is a major part of how our nation works.
How smoothly everything runs in dependent on how well
our infrastructure is. Since it is deteriorating and needs
upgraded, we aren’t running as efficiently as we could.
Population is growing and the roads are being packed with
cars every day. This constant use is breaking the already old
U.S. highway system. In order for us to continue to be a
powerful nation that runs smoothly, our road ways need to
be repaired and upgraded. It is causing too much
wastefulness and congestion that is unneeded in our already
struggling economy. The rebuilding and restoration process
might be an expensive one but in the long run it will save
money and time. In the end, engineers will have to find a
way to do all these things as ethically as possible. They will
have to make sure that all the road specifications are
accurate and that they will be able to withstand heavy loads
and immense amount of pressure. The brides that they
design will have to be able to withstand high winds and
freezing weather. Doing all this, while staying inside the
code of ethics.
REFERENCES
[1] (2009). “Restore and Improve Urban Infrastructure”.
American Society of Civil Engneers. (Website).
http://www.engineeringchallenges.org/cms/8996/9136.aspx
[2] (2007). “Ethics”. National Society of Professional
Engineers.
(Website).
http://www.nspe.org/Ethics/CodeofEthics/index.html
[3] (2009). “Roads”. The U.S. Department of
Transportation.
(Website).
http://www.infrastructurereportcard.org/fact-sheet/roads
[4] M. Wald. (July 5, 2012). “Weather Extremes Leave Parts
of
U.S.
Grid
Buckling”.
(Online
Article).
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/26/us/rise-in-weatherextremes-threatens-infrastructure.html?_r=1
[5] (April 28, 2011). “America’s Transport Infrastructure:
Life
in
the
Slow
Lane”.
(Website).
http://www.economist.com/node/18620944
Brett Borelle
[6] E. Rendell. (March 29, 2012). “Ed Rendell: Rebuild our
infrastructure”.
(Online
Article).
http://www.postgazette.com/stories/opinion/perspectives/ed-rendell-rebuildour-infrastructure-256930/
[7] (2009). “Code of Ethics”. American Society of Civil
Engineers. (Website). http://www.asce.org/Leadership-andManagement/Ethics/Code-of-Ethics/
[8] S. Doyne. (2012). “How Necessary Is a College
Education?”.
(Online
Article).
http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/30/hownecessary-is-a-college-education/
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to thank my writing instructor Julianne McAdoo
and John Lavanga for helping me with this paper. They
showed me how to correctly format my paper and how to
begin it.
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