Enhancing Infrastructure Management Education Through Collaboration

Efficient and well-maintained infrastructure systems are essential for societal stability, economic growth, and sustainable competitiveness. Although the United States is served by some of the best civil infrastructure systems in the world (valued at more than 20 trillion dollars) 1 , many of the current systems are reaching the end of their service lives. For example, the United States infrastructure earned only a D+ in a recent American Society of Civil Engineers’ (ASCE) survey 2 . This ASCE report also estimates that the investment needs to bring the condition of these deteriorated systems to an “acceptable level” is estimated at more than 1.6 trillion dollars. Consequently, we must emphasize the maintenance and renewal of our infrastructure by using sound infrastructure management principles.