Infrastructure Act Introduced in Senate

The National Infrastructure Improvement Act of 2006 was recently introduced in the United States Senate.

If enacted, the legislation will address the deteriorating conditions of our nation's roads, bridges, drinking water systems, dams and other public works and will establish the National Commission on Infrastructure of the United States.

The commission will be charged with ensuring the ability of the nation's infrastructure to meet current and future demands and aid in the nation's economic growth.

"Our crumbling infrastructure is a looming crisis that jeopardizes not only our nation's prosperity, but also the quality of our daily lives," said ASCE President Dennis Martenson.

In March 2005, ASCE's Report Card for America's Infrastructure noted a downward trend in many infrastructure sectors; with only two of the 15 categories it assessed showing even marginal improvement.

With an overall grade of D, and a $1.6 trillion investment needed, the Report Card echoed a nearly two-decade-old public warning that America's infrastructure was in decline. The 1988 report, Fragile Foundations: A Report on America's Infrastructure, was issued by a national commission appointed by President Ronald Reagan.

The bill was introduced by George Voinovich (R-Ohio), Thomas Carper (D-Del.) and Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.).

'Blind' Prediction Contest for Engineers, Researchers, Students

Since October 2005, a full-scale vertical slice of a seven- story reinforced concrete building in San Diego has been subjected to earthquake- strength movement.

Engineers, researchers and graduate and undergraduate engineering students have an opportunity predict how the building responded to this rigorous treatment in a contest.

The Skokie-based Portland Cement Association, with the School of Engineering at the University of California at San Diego and the Arlington, Va.-based George E. Brown Jr. Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation Consortium Inc., have announced a blind prediction contest to measure building responses to tests done at the new NEES Large High-Performance Outdoor Shake Table.

The building slice was subjected to increasing intensity of uniaxial earthquake ground motions from October 2005 until January 2006. Responses were measured using an extensive instrumentation array. Researchers designed the building slice using a displacement-based and capacity approach with design lateral forces significantly smaller that those currently required by U.S. building codes.

The NEES Outdoor Shake Table at UCSD' Engelkirk Structural Engineering Center is the first outdoor shake table in the world and the largest outside of Japan. Its size enabled testers to recreate the seismic motion that occurred at the Sylmar Medical Facility in Sylmar, Calif., during the 1994 Northridge Earthquake, the first earthquake to strike directly under an urban area of the United States since the 1933 Long Beach earthquake.

The competition is open to structural engineers, the academic and research community (including graduate students), and the undergraduate engineering student community (with graduate student or faculty advisors). Predictions are due May 15, 2006.

The prediction contest will be "blind" and compare analytical response predictions with those measured during experimental testing. All entries will be compiled and compared at a technical session of the NEES Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C., June 21-23, 2006. The technical session will focus on relevant lessons learned regarding modeling uncertainty, practical needs for improved simulation capabilities or training, and the merits of large-scale testing.

Winning teams in all three categories (practicing, research, and undergraduate students) will receive a $2,500 prize from PCA. NEES will also reimburse a representative from each of the winning teams for travel expenses to attend the NEES Annual Meeting.

For information call Patti Flesher at 847-972-9136.