Infrastructure and Corrosion – Part One
Posted on February 28, 2014
It is well known that the several forms of infrastructure in the U.S. have seriously deteriorated. The President and the Congress are presently (late February 2014) in the process of working towards defining the level of funding, and funding methods, that will be applied to these problems. The current Transportation Bill covers most of the recent past rehab work. The existing bill expires in September of 2014. Issues of the proper level of expenditures for this purpose versus other priorities and, as always, the overall effects on the budget, jobs created or not, etc. are the political stumbling points in coming to a meaningful resolution. Some type of conclusion will be reached – good or not so good – relatively soon.
From an engineering point of view, addressing infrastructure problems has multiple aspects but possibly the most important is corrosion and the various approaches to its control. This is because corrosion is the root cause of many, if not most, of the infrastructure issues that now exist. Besides unavoidable large levels of required spending, the most effective and economic ways to accomplish the needed fixes for the long-term will require talented and professional concerted efforts from the engineering and construction communities. However, this must be done or the present declining conditions will continue to negatively affect individuals, families and drag down our economy.
This is the first blog post in an anticipated series that will discuss some of the specific infrastructure problems and alternative technical approaches to minimize corrosion problems in the future. Stay “tuned” for more.
