Transportation infrastructure stakeholders say it’s a good time to be in the business, despite myriad challenges, and they are holding out hope for bipartisan agreements on federal funding and regulatory reform.
The backlog of construction projects “is as healthy as it’s ever been,” said Greg Kelly, president and CEO of WSP USA. Kelly spoke on a panel at the national convention of the American Road & Transportation Builders Association, held in New York City this month.
莱恩工业公司（Lane Industries）总裁兼首席执行官鲍勃·阿尔格（Bob Alger）兼新Artba主席表示，承包商在未来三年内可以在12个州的12个州竞标1000亿美元的工作。他说：“我们需要改变文化的挑战和多样性，而不仅仅是老白人建造东西。”
Kelly concurred, noting that the industry should attract more women by offering better options for work flexibility and maternity leave.
ARTBA正式承诺这样的努力在the convention, holding all-women leadership panels and award presentations and signing a memorandum of understanding with the Women’s Transportation Seminar.
该公约还标志着长期领导人皮特·鲁恩（Pete Ruane）退休，后者警告说，关于长期的联邦资助解决方案，“没有完成这项工作”。尽管国会和特朗普政府达成了为期两年的预算协议，要求每年至少有100亿美元的补充投资，但目前的高速公路信托基金短缺将在2020年增加到19020年的190亿美元。倡导Artba。
Artba监管和法律问题副总裁Nick Goldstein指出，已经或可能正在制定各种监管改革。关键变更包括联邦机构的一项协议，即将重大项目的环境审查平均降至两年，废除要求联邦承包商竞标5000万美元或更多的项目以披露各种工作场所健康和安全违规行为，并废除新利18备用网址裁定从不符合六名污染物的清洁空气法标准的县的联邦资金。
ARTBA表示将对该行业有利的预审改革包括撤回一项规则，该规则禁止在联邦资助的高速公路和桥梁项目上使用专利或专有产品，并免除施工机械运营商的服务时间，从而限制了汽车运营商驾驶员时间。新利18备用网址
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Resilience and Technology
The convention also addressed resilience in infrastructure. Ryan Prime, sustainability director for Skanska USA Civil, highlighted flood mitigation elements being built into the $4-billion Terminal B at LaGuardia International Airport. They include dry-floodproofed walls with reinforced 12-in.-thick concrete, a deployable flood barrier system with gasketed aluminum beams, electrical infrastructure constructed above design flood elevations, concrete-encased duct banks and wall-mounted panels for electrical closets.
东北大学全球弹性创始董事史蒂芬·弗林（Steven Flynn）警告说，在“超连接世界”中，运输，能源和通信之间存在“更大的级联失败风险”。他指出，诸如新泽西州伊丽莎白港的爆炸爆炸，类似于2015年中国天津港的爆炸情况，或者在西北地区发生的“逾期”地震，在这里，机场在沙质土壤上建造的机场跑道将受到液化的影响。
Major corporations will abandon such regions if they don’t address potential disaster, he warned, urging urban planners, engineers and city managers to work together on baking resilience into infrastructure projects—utilizing private capital where possible.
Mike Steep, executive director of the Stanford Global Projects Center’s Digital Cities Program, highlighted promising developments such as thin wafers holding thousands of sensors. Bechtel is looking into applications for projects such as solar roads, he said.
