29 Nov Washington’s Latest Development Means Busy Days Ahead for Civil Engineers

The new “Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act” aims at improving the nation’s infrastructure and that means that civil engineers are preparing for an influx of municipal and government improvement projects.

Infrastructure refers to the systems and facilities critical to keeping our daily lives on track including roadways, drinking water and groundwater systems, drainage, and even our forests. ERSC’s team of civil engineers make their careers planning, maintaining, and improving critical infrastructure across Southern California.

The new bill marks the beginning of $1 trillion in spending to bolster America’s most vital systems. It budgets hundreds of millions of dollars every year in each affected sector and focuses heavily on roadways.

Traffic and Transportation

Our civil engineers tout decades of experience improving local streets and highways. ERSC has proudly partnered with dozens of Southern California agencies in transportation projects over its 25-year history.

Improving roads, increasing the number of EV charges, and even deploying new “intelligent transportation technologies” are all part of the plan’s projected developments. Projects that typically fall into this category include pavement rehabilitation, signing and striping, traffic signal improvements, and bridge repair. The plan’s initial focus is on this last example. There are hundreds of bridges in states like New Hampshire alone identified as needing repair. The plan appropriates between $600 and $700 million for bridge repair each year from 2022-2026.

Less familiar to the average traveler is the tech touted in the plan. These “intelligent transportation technologies” will help the next generation of vehicles communicate with other drivers, roadways, and even buildings. Someday you may even board hyperloop public transportation that uses magnetic levitation to provide a smooth trip at currently unheard-of speeds.

Water Resources

The ERSC portfolio is rich with water resources projects completed for municipalities, water districts, and private developers.

The bill’s new efforts will address critical areas of water conservation including clean water, water storage, groundwater storage, and large-scale water recycling and reuse. The plan specifically appropriates hundreds of millions of dollars to protect drinking water in disadvantaged communities and Indian reservations, including “Grants for construction and refurbishing of individual household decentralized wastewater systems for individuals with low or moderate income.” A sizeable portion of the overall water related spending is also earmarked for examining, diagnosing, and treating issues with aging systems.

Our team is currently engaged in projects with agencies throughout Southern California including the design of water tanks, citywide waterlines, as well as providing on-call engineering services as projects arise. We look forward to participating in the development and preservation of critical water systems set to benefit from the bill.