Innovative Infrastructure

By Martin Wachs

Martin Wachs directs the Transportation, Space, and Technology Program within RAND Infrastructure, Safety, and Environment.

Americans are awakening to the fact that our roads, bridges, water systems, and power grids are falling into disrepair and are desperately in need of renewal. Governments are neither building new capacity to match the growth in demand nor maintaining existing infrastructure sufficiently to reverse deterioration.

We must come to grips with this problem. But rebuilding and repairing critical infrastructure systems is only part of the challenge. We need to reinvent the systems themselves.

Instead of relying on human inspectors holding clipboards to monitor the condition and maintenance requirements of bridges, tunnels, and pipelines, we should be embedding small but powerful and inexpensive electronic sensors to issue automatic warnings when repairs are needed. These devices are more accurate, yet far cheaper, than human inspectors who eyeball complex facilities and see only the surface signs of wear and tear.

AP IMAGES/WINONA DAILY NEWS,  MELISSA CARLO  Corrosion in the gusset plates beneath the deck of the Highway 43 bridge is seen in Winona, Minnesota, on June 4, 2008. Minnesota transportation officials have cut off traffic at three busy river crossings since March, betting that motorists will put up with the hassle to avoid a repeat of the deadly Minneapolis bridge collapse of August 2007.

The collapse of a major highway bridge in Minnesota might well have been avoided had we invested in technologically advanced monitors of its stresses and strains, perhaps even allowing the bridge to be cleared of motorists as dangerous conditions developed before it fell down.

Instead of hunting for parking in a crowded shopping center by driving up and down aisle after aisle — burning gasoline, breathing fumes, creating greenhouse gases — we could rely on computers and cell phones to tell us where spaces are available in advance and to direct us to them. We wouldn’t have to build as many spaces to begin with, since each would be used far more efficiently.

The same sort of technology can improve economic efficiency. Rather than pricing road use by taxing gasoline by the gallon — the clumsy and indirect way we now pay for highway driving — we can shift to electronic meters in cars to charge different rates for using different types of roads at particular times of day. We could charge more for vehicles, like heavy trucks, that do more damage to roads than do cars.

Likewise, in many places today water is still not metered, but paid for from taxes on property that don’t relate to how much water we consume. Existing technology can bill us more fairly for water and power, varying the charges with the costs of providing the services and thereby promoting conservation.

America’s infrastructure needs fixing. As we enjoy new gee-whiz computer applications at work and play, we should not overlook the opportunity to employ the latest technology to solve problems that threaten daily living. Our most critical infrastructure systems should be supported by technology at least as modern as we expect to find in an iPod or video game.