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"New Yorkers will be plagued by routine infrastructure failures like last weekend's Upper West Side water-main break if we don't fundamentally change the way we fund, manage and develop large infrastructure systems," according to F.H. "Bud" Griffis, formerly head of the US Army Corps of Engineers New York District and now a Professor of Civil Engineering Construction at Columbia University.
In a draft document prepared for a June 3rd colloquium, Griffis grades the performance and condition of all the City's major infrastructure systems, including transportation, water supply and waste disposal. His assessment ranges from a double A rating for Newark Airport to a failing grade for much of the City's waste disposal system. (See attached sheet for a complete list.)
How to chart a course that steers away from infrastructure failure is the topic for the upcoming "Construction Industry Colloquium on Infrastructure: Future Directions for Policy, Technology and Finance." The consequences of systemic failures go beyond the inconvenience of ubiquitous bridge repairs or endless street excavations with their host of problems for motorists, pedestrians, and small businesses and include serious regional economic consequences and potential public health problems such as those posed by the challenge of disposing of 13,000 tons of garbage produced daily - an even more pressing issue with this week's announcement that the Fresh Kills Landfill will close at the beginning of the next century.
In The Policymakers' Guide To The New York Region Common Market Vital Systems, a draft work-in-progress to be presented on June 3rd, Professor Griffis says, "New York City, having some of the oldest civil infrastructure facilities in the nation, is experiencing some of the first failures." He says that although the problems are local and regional, "the solutions are clearly Federal" and involve dedicating funds to large public works projects and coordinating research to develop new infrastructure technologies. Currently 13 separate Federal agencies have responsibilities for some piece of infrastructure development; Congressional oversight responsibilities are similarly fragmented.
Some of the methods, materials - asphalt, Portland cement and stone-and technology used in contemporary infrastructure construction date back to the 19th century or early part of this century. "It's time for a second infrastructure revolution," Griffis states in the draft document. He cites one promising technology which maps the maze of underground utilities without the digging of test pits and could cut a year off major utility projects such as the Columbus Avenue reconstruction, but has not been perfected for lack of research funds. The prototype system uses magnetic imaging technology and surface penetrating radar to look through the asphalt. To begin solving these problems says Griffis, "the Federal government must have an infrastructure czar with the power to allocate some percentage of construction expenditures for high-payoff infrastructure research."
The New York metropolitan region in particular must recapture a larger portion of the tax dollars it sends to Washington, DC, says the report. Each year, the New York Metropolitan Area - what Griffis calls the New York Common Market Region - sends $40 billion more to the Federal government than it receives in return.
The document was prepared for discussion at the June 3rd colloquium, which is co-sponsored by the National Infrastructure Center for Engineering Systems and Technology (NICEST) and the New York Building Congress. Scheduled speakers at the colloquium will include officials from Federal, State and local government, including Ambassador Charles Gargano, Chairman of the Empire State Development Corporation; Mortimer L. Downey, Deputy Secretary of Transportation, U.S. Department of Transportation; Peter Vallone, Speaker and Majority Leader of the New York City Council, and Elliot G. Sander, Commissioner of the New York City Department of Transportation. Also speaking will be Richard T. Anderson, President of the New York Building Congress.
The colloquium will be held on the campus of Columbia University in the Kellogg Conference Center, located in the School of International and Public Affairs, 15th floor, 420 West 118th Street. Based on the recommendations and input of these who attend the colloquium, the draft document will be revised for publication.
NICEST is a consortium of 17 laboratories, engineering firms and research universities, including those affiliated with the National Center for Infrastructure Studies. The New York Building Congress is a private association founded in 1921 and its 300 members represent every segment of the design, construction and real estate industries, including architectural and engineering firms, general contractors, insurance companies, labor unions, manufacturing and utility companies, real estate owners and managers, attorneys, builders, sub-contractors, suppliers and construction industry associations.
Griffis spent 26 years with the Army Corps of Engineers, is a Principal in the consulting firm of Robbins, Pope and Griffis, P.C., and since 1986, has been at Columbia University as Professor of Civil Engineering Construction and Director of the National Center for Infrastructure Studies. While at the Army Corps, he worked on a number of high profile infrastructure projects including the Camp David Airbase in Israel, the design of Fort Drum, and the ill-fated Westway project.
Note to Editors: Copies of the draft manuscript are available and the conference is open to coverage.
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