TCEP 195: The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act: How It Will Affect Civil Engineers

In this episode, I talk to Dennis D. Truax, Ph.D., P.E., BCEE, D.WRE, F.NSPE, F.ASCE, the 2022 President of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), and the professor emeritus of the Richard A. Rula School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Mississippi State University about the new Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), and how it will affect civil engineering companies in the short and long term.

Engineering Quotes:

Here Are Some of the Questions I Ask Dennis:

What does the new legislation, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, entail?

How soon will funding be available for this legislation?

Are civil engineering schools addressing new technologies in their curricula?

Should companies that are interested in the projects keep in contact with their DOT?

Here Are Some Key Points Discussed in This Episode About the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act:

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is a $1.2 trillion, five-year program that invests in 17 different infrastructure areas that have been defined and evaluated in the most recent ASCE Infrastructure Report Card. There are 43 specific recommendations in the 17 report card categories that are included in this legislation. The last report card projected a deficit of $1.2 trillion over the next 10 years. The $1.2 trillion has now been made available to be spent and applied to the improvement of infrastructure for the next five years. The funding will be using formula distributions that are already in place for specific projects that will advance the quality of life and improve economic imperative in selected regions. Transportation will be getting a large chunk of the funds that will be distributed, through DOTs, based on state and infrastructure demographics.

This profession is a profession where we serve others first. That service requires us to stand up and talk to our legislators and communities about the importance of infrastructure. They must know that it is the infrastructure that supports commerce, industry, and defines the quality of life.

Civil engineers are in high demand and they have worked throughout the pandemic. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act will be producing many opportunities. Many groups must be engaged, and civil engineers need to set themselves apart and think of new ways and new products, embracing the full community, engaging the STEM society, and utilizing the technicians and technologists. It is about building the right project that has the right lifecycle cost, use of materials, and is resilient, sustainable, and robust. The projects must be done with the vision for the 21st century, not the 19th century. The firms that look at new approaches and apply new processes to the solutions will be far ahead of those that choose not to. The first deployment of funds will be formula-distributed in the transportation sector.

A lot of what is being taught in the universities is history about how civil engineers have done things in the past. It does not mean that this is how it should be done in the future, but serves as a foundation from which you move forward and gives the skill set to learn, grow, research, and develop new approaches and methodologies.

There is a talent resources gap in civil engineering, and the projects will require a variety of individuals on the design teams. We must rely on the talents of the broad-spectrum of STEM who must be lead, supervised, and tutored by engineers so that the resource gap can be caught up.

A lot of the work that the infrastructure act will bring will be incrementally larger. The transport sector will get an increase of 60% in spending. Some of the sectors will get massively larger funding. For instance, the ports will be getting 17 times more funding than what they originally got.