ASCE and "Our Failing Infrastructure"

NOTE: this post reflects my own personal opinions and not the opinions of ASCE or anyone else.

The American Society of Civil Engineers is a large organization that represents most civil/structural/water resources/etc. engineers in the US. This organization advises state boards on licensure policies, sets educational guidelines, and lobbies for engineering activities. In their own words: "ASCE's mission is to provide essential value to our members, their careers, our partners and the public by developing leadership, advancing technology, advocating lifelong learning and promoting the profession."

ASCE does a great job on educational and professional development, and they do add a necessary voice in the public forum. They are leaders in the quest for transparency in the design and construction fields, helping ACET distribute their new Ethicana movie. The goal of this venture is to remove fraud, bribery, and corruption from the construction industry around the world. It is a noble goal, but I believe ASCE must first come to terms with its own conflict of interest before instructing the world how to act.

2009 Report Card for America's Infrastructure
Every four years or so, ASCE releases its "Report Card" which sums up the entire state of all infrastructure in the US in one convenient letter grade. This year apparently the situation is so dire that ASCE is releasing their report early. The most recent report card (2005) gave our collective infrastructure a grade of "D". My advice to ASCE (though it won't be followed) is to drop this report immediately and to end this silly process altogether. Here are my reasons why:

• Representing the entire infrastructure of the United States with a single metric makes no sense. Maybe it would be possible to compare each state of the US, or maybe each infrastructure category, but trying to give an overall national grade letter is inane.
• It reduces trust and confidence in the nation's infrastructure. By using the words "failing" and "crumbling" ASCE is deliberately misleading the public. Very few bridges, buildings, or utilities fail in the US, even during extreme events. Even though there were a few high profile disasters since 2005, ASCE's policies will not correct this. The New Orleans levees and the Minnesota bridge failed because of design errors, not maintenance or lack of spending. If ASCE is serious about reducing design errors, then the only solution is criminal prosecution of negligent design.
  
• This intention of this report is clearly a conflict of interest. ASCE is basically lobbying the US government to spend more taxpayer money on infrastructure. As designers of public works projects, ASCE members and their clients and partners are likely to benefit monetarily from any new projects. Sometimes substantially. ASCE members are not allowed to do anything that will cause the public to lose faith in their actions, and are not to make misleading statements. Why should our parent organization be free to jeopardize our trustworthiness and abandon the ethical standards that bind us together as engineers?
• The new release date was scheduled so that the report would have an impact on the new "economic stimulus" packages that congress and the federal government will be debating. Basically, the report will be used by lobbyists to petition congress for new construction projects, and ASCE will encourage it because of economic benefits. This is unwise. The state of the economy is no business of ASCE. ASCE is composed of technical specialists, not economists.
  
• It is already known that our current "American way of life" is unsustainable. Road-building leads to urban sprawl, but the new ASCE policy wants to address "congestion". Building new projects harms the environment and uses a lot of resources, but ASCE does not shy away from promising sustainable development and environmental policies.
  

Rather than clamoring for more money and attention, ASCE should be arguing for smarter policies, and nothing else.