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 i ..read more

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 Univers ..read more

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 infrastruct ..read more

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 Mo ..read more

GPS, the Global Positioning System, is now half a century old. This extraordinary technological advance routinely guides planes, ships, trains, automobiles, bikers and pedestrians with high precision. A Defense Department technology, GPS became widely available to the public in 1990. It has displaced and replaced some older navigation systems and brought revolutionary change to location and timing tasks. To review some of the benefits GPS has brought, we talk with Michael Gallaher, of RTI International, who is co-author of a study of the benefits of GPS for the National Institute of Standards ..read more

Almost every major system we rely on seems to be vulnerable to cyberattacks from scammers, criminals, and nation states threatening our national security. Reports of cyberattacks disrupting and even destroying critical infrastructure systems are increasingly common. To understand the cyber risks that threaten our essential service systems and how we can defend against them, we talk with Gregory Falco, Assistant Professor in the Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Cornell University and Director of the Aerospace ADVERSARY Laboratory, which designs and develops next-generati ..read more

Energy from wind and solar sources is available when nature permits, but the demand for energy is based on the cyclical needs of people and their activities. To make renewable energy work, and to manage the normal daily mismatches between supply and demand, we need to shift energy in time from when it is available to when it is needed. That calls for grid-scale storage. To explain large-scale energy storage strategies, we talk with Nate Blair, group manager of distributed systems and storage analysis at the USDOE National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado ..read more

In very cold places, like Alaska, Northern parts of Canada and Europe, building infrastructure means building on permafrost, perennially frozen ground. Permafrost provides reliable foundations for buildings and highways as long as it remains frozen. But warming temperatures driven by climate change may threaten existing and new infrastructure founded on permafrost. To help us understand the problems and potential solutions in this dynamic risk environment, we talk with Billy Connor, Director of the Arctic Infrastructure Development Center at the University of Alaska ..read more

Spectacular bridges can be focal points of their host cities, reminding us that unique infrastructure can also be unique art. Lighting those bridges can carry their aesthetic value into the night. In 2013, the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge was illuminated with a 25,000-LED dynamic display called The Bay Lights, and its public appeal kept it lighted until 2023. In this podcast we talk with Ben Davis, Founder of Illuminate, which developed the Bay Lights plan, about the original concept, some of the challenges of lighting massive structures, and plans for its future ..read more

The Port of Duluth-Superior, located at the western end of Lake Superior, is a national and international cargo hub, serving the Great Lakes and, through the St. Lawrence Seaway, the rest of the world. It supports flows of bulk cargoes such as grain, iron ore and coal, and project cargo – large construction equipment. To learn about its unique role in logistics and the challenges it faces when winter sets in, we talk with Deb DeLuca, Executive Director of the Duluth Seaway Port Authority ..read more