Pipes, Potholes, and Pathogens: Infrastructure Issues in the USA

Catalog description

The poor condition of the nation's infrastructure--its roads, railways, bridges, tunnels, drinking water systems, wastewater systems, and more--has been widely reported. In fact, in recent years the infrastructure was so bad that fixing it offered a rare opportunity for bipartisanship. In spite of that, as the grades given by the American Society of Civil Engineers in its quadrennial Report Card have indicated, conditions remained dismal. The 2025 Report Card published in Spring 2025 shows improvements resulting from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, but serious issues remain. This course will study the structures and systems that constitute national infrastructure, the tools used to evaluate its condition, and the challenges of monitoring, maintaining, and repairing it. Class discussions will be held on questions such as: Which metrics are used to grade various infrastructure categories? Do these metrics accurately describe conditions in a meaningful way? What does it mean to say that the condition of bridges, for example, is a "C" or a "D"? How should government agencies use this information when prioritizing spending? Is it better to repair or replace? Are some categories more important than others? Is it better, for example, to address drinking water before dams, or sewers before roads? How should spending be distributed geographically and socially? Should spending be spread evenly, or is it better to target urban, suburban, or rural settings? To answer these questions, we will investigate examples from around the country, from Ohio and from the Cleveland area. Counts as a Communication Intensive course.