U.S. Infrastructure A Deadly Time Bomb

Dare if you will, to watch the History Channel special, “The Crumbling of America.” While this show initially comes across like a doomsday scenario, you quickly realize it's not. This is not a hypothetical “what if?” special, but rather a documentary about real infrastructure nightmares here in the U.S.—and there are plenty of them.

Here are a few facts I learned: In 1961 the U.S. spent 12 percent of GDP on its infrastructure—it now spends 2.5 percent. Meanwhile India spends 8 percent and China 9 percent. According to the documentary, we would need to spend $2.2 trillion over the next five years to bring our infrastructure to “acceptable” levels. Meanwhile, only 9 percent of the stimulus package was earmarked for infrastructure repairs. I'm no mathmetician, but I can see where this is going.

The documentary sums it up this way: “Tens of thousands of bridges are structurally deficient or functionally obsolete. A third of the nation's highways are in poor or mediocre shape. Massively leaking water and sewage systems are creating health hazards and contaminating rivers and streams. Weakened and under-maintained levees and dams tower over communities and schools. And the power grid is increasingly maxed out, disrupting millions of lives and putting entire cities in the dark.”

The program uses interviews with real experts, on-location shooting and computer animation to illustrate the kinds of infrastructure disasters that could be awaiting us if we don't take action.

One such disaster they pointed to was the I-35 bridge collapse in Minneapolis—the result of a “tiny design flaw”—plates on the bridge that were one-half inch thinner than they were supposed to be. Another was the coal ash dam breach in Tennessee, which wiped out a community. There are hundreds of similar dams in the U.S., according to the report.

What brought it home, however, was a report on the Tappan Zee Bridge, a 3.1-mile bridge connecting Westchester and Rockland Counties, 13 miles north of New York City—and only a few miles from where I live. The bridge is 54 years old. While this in itself isn't a disaster, consider that the George Washington Bridge is 80 years old and the Brooklyn Bridge is 100, and both at still in very good shape. They were built to last and have been well maintained.

In contrast, the Korean War-era Tappan Zee Bridge, according to the report, was designed to last 50 years and is coming to the end of its life span. It was built on top of untreated wood pilings, which were used instead of steel—a true disaster waiting to happen. And the estimate for replacement? A huge $6 billion.

This appears to be the ultimate challenge for risk managers, especially those serving the public sector. There are time bombs waiting to explode across the U.S., in our dams, levees, underground water pipes and sewage systems. Everywhere we look, in fact.

The question is what's being done? Anyone?