Ships hit bridges much more often than people realize, and while most of the outcomes are minor, such events can present big risks to bridge users, ship operators, and infrastructure. Bridge design standards that address such risks are issued and updated periodically by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, but they do not mandate adding protection to existing bridges. Yet the size of ocean-going cargo has grown substantially in the past 30 years, amplifying the risks for bridges over ocean-connected waterways.

To understand just how safe our major U.S. bridges are today, we talk with Mike Winters, P.E., who is Senior Structural Engineer with Moffatt & Nichol, a U.S.-based global infrastructure advisor. Mike is the principal U.S. representative to an international committee established by the Permanent International Association of Navigation Congresses to develop guidelines associated with ship collisions with bridges and other fixed structures.

Transformers step-down voltage from high levels most efficient for long distance transmission to lower levels for safe distribution to homes and businesses. Having enough transformers for replacement and to support expansion of the electrical grid is essential for ensuring reliability of the power system, but currently there is a shortage of transformers.

A study by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), a U.S. Department of Energy lab, assessed the factors affecting demand for distribution transformers. To tell us about the findings of this analysis is one of the authors, Killian McKenna, Group Manager of Electrical Engineering for NREL. Killian earned a PhD in Electrical Engineering from University College Dublin.

The Chicago Transit Authority’s $2.1 billion Red and Purple Line Modernization Project (RPM) is rebuilding a 5.6-mile elevated rail rapid transit structure and four stations, ensuring structural integrity, expanding capacity, and improving ride quality along a corridor on the North Side of Chicago. Included in this six-year project is removal of a failing embankment and returning land to the community.

Here to talk with us about this project is Grace Ohs, Chicago Transit Authority RPM vice president and project lead. Grace earned her BS in Civil Engineering from the University of Illinois.

Earthquakes can generate massive tsunamis that pose severe risks to coastal communities. The 2004 earthquake off Sumatra spawned a tsunami that killed an estimates 228,000 people. Facing its own tsunami risk, the Shoalwater Bay Indian Tribe built an evacuation tower serving the coastal community of Tokeland, Washington. This tower can hold more than 400 people, and it is a model for vertical towers that might be constructed in other tsunami hazard zones.

Here to describe this project is Maximilian Dixon, Earthquake Program Manager for the Washington Military Department’s Emergency Management Division. Maximilian earned three degrees from the University of Washington: a BS in Environmental Policy and master’s degrees in urban planning and infrastructure planning and management.

Digital twins are virtual representations of real systems used to test designs and operating policies in safe environments prior to implementation or offline. Applications include a variety of public and private facilities, notably airports and operating systems such as water supply and manufacturing processes. Much of the work is centered in architectural and engineering firms, with its foundation in Building Information Modeling (BIM).

To understand digital twins and their infrastructure applications, we talk with Howard Shotz, a Vice President at Arora Engineers, where he leads the Global Smart Infrastructure practice. A graduate in architecture from Temple University, Howard is former Director of the Digital Twin and Digital Advisory Practice at Parsons Corporation.

Dam failures are frightening, and they can become disasters. Just how common – or uncommon – are the failures of dams in the U.S.? What are the contributing factors and are there ways we mitigate them?

To learn the facts about dam failures, we talk with John Roche, who is Chief of the Dam Safety Permits Division of the Maryland Department of the Environment. John’s work on dams includes emergency preparedness and response, public safety strategy, policy development, hydrology and hydraulics, and natural resources management. John earned his BS in Civil Engineering and MS in Geotechnical Engineering from University of New Hampshire. He’s a registered Professional Engineer in multiple states and is currently Secretary and Board Member of the Association of State Dam Safety Officials.

The Eads Bridge, opened in 1874, is the oldest functioning bridge across the Mississippi River. This St. Louis crossing, named after its designer/builder, James Eads, pioneered the use of steel, then a new material; the construction of long-span arches without falsework; and deep underwater foundations. Eads himself led the creation of an elaborate international financing scheme to pay for the bridge and promising large profits for its investors. Today the Eads Bridge carries 4 lanes of road traffic and the Metrolink light rail line.

Bringing us the history of this National Historic Landmark is John K. Brown, whose recent book, Spanning the Gilded Age; James Eads and the Great Steel Bridge, presents this story in detail, addressing financing of the economic expansion of the post-Civil War United States; the self-dealing and conflicting interests of the banking, railroad, construction, and materials industries of the time; as well the beginning of an integrated, standardized U.S. rail network. John is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Science, Technology, and Society at the University of Virginia. He earned three degrees in history: a BA from Emory and MA and PhD degrees from University of Virginia.

Intercity bus terminals are key links in the national bus network. We’re losing some these terminals due to pressures for more lucrative land uses. The announced closing of Chicago’s downtown Greyhound station will be impactful because about half a million passengers pass through it annually. How important are these terminals, not just locally, but in the national intercity bus network? Is there a need for public intervention to save them?

To explore the contributing factors, the implications of closures, and potential interventions, we talk with Professor Joseph Schwieterman of DePaul University in Chicago. Joe is Founding Director of DePaul’s Chaddick Institute for Metropolitan Development, and the foremost scholar on intercity bus transportation in the U.S. He has a BS degree from Purdue, an MS in Transportation from Northwestern, and a Ph.D. in public policy from the University of Chicago.

Scientific research needs supporting infrastructure – some small, some big, but rarely simple. The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment – DUNE – will study the neutrino, one of the smallest atomic particles that is a fundamental building block of the universe. DUNE will send neutrinos generated at the Long Baseline Neutrino Facility near Chicago 800 miles though the earth to a massive detector in South Dakota, 1500 meters underground, that will collect data for scientists around the world.

To explain the experiment itself, the infrastructure that will make it possible, and how that infrastructure is being built, we’re talking with Ron Ray, Particle Physicist at Fermilab and Deputy Project Director of the LBNF/DUNE project team, to join us. Ron earned his Ph.D. in particle physics from the University of California-Irvine and worked as a scientific researcher at Northwestern University.

Bridge inspectors like to get up close and personal to detect small defects that could grow into disasters. The configuration of bridges – their size, height, and locations – can make the job difficult and dangerous. But rapid advances in aerial drones are making it possible to inspect difficult-to-access areas of bridges quickly and safely, reducing inspection costs and supporting better bridge maintenance.

To update us on recent applications of drones for bridge inspection, we’re talking with Barritt Lovelace, who is Director of Unmanned Aerial Systems, Artificial Intelligence and Reality Modeling at Collins Engineers in St. Paul, Minnesota.