• The crisis of U.S. infrastructure, II

    The U.S. infrastructure is elaborate — 4 million miles of roads, 600,000 bridges, 26,000 miles of commercially navigable waterways, 11,000 miles of transit lines, 500 train stations, 300 ports, 19,000 airports, 55,000 community drinking water systems, and 30,000 wastewater plants; maintaining this infrastructure costs money

  • Melting ice menaces Russia's critical infrastructure

    Russian scientists say that the hard permafrost covering the ground year-round across Russia’s far north will melt by 2030; government officials say that if this happens, critical infrastructure, including key airfields, oil storage facilities, and strategic oil reservoirs, could all be destroyed

  • U.K. critical infrastructure vulnerable

    New report says last summer’s flood showed infrastructure’s vulnerability; funding for flood defenses was not sufficient or secure, undermining industry confidence, and there were not enough skilled engineers to deliver the protection from flooding needed

  • Assessing landslide risk

    Researchers develop new technique for assessing areas most at risk from landslides

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  • China's transportation vulnerability, I

    China has a long history of rail, airline, and vehicle accidents; outdated or relatively unregulated transportation is a given in many parts of the world, but China has also seen an increase in attacks against transportation targets

  • Thales supplies new signalling system

    London transportation authorities improve control over and monitoring of vast underground rail system by installing improved signalling control from Thales

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  • Safeguarding Infrastructure // by Christopher Doyle

    The key to protecting national infrastructure and facilitating lifesaving responses in the event of an incident is preparedness; the Infrastructure and Geophysical Division (IGD) of the Science & Technology (S&T) Directorate at DHS is working to find methods and technologies to improve the ability to protect buildings, facilities, and other kinds of physical structures

  • Potholes wreak havoc on Ontario's infrastructure

    Harsh winters, age, and neglect threaten Ontario’s infrastructure; potholes are created when moisture from rain and thawing snow finds its way into cracks and crevices in road surfaces and then expands during rapid freezes to damage the asphalt; potholes not only hamper traffic, but expose water mains and electrical wires buried beneath roads

  • Sustaining bridge infrastructure through Bridge Information Modeling

    Bentley offers end-to-end bridge solution which will allow bridge engineers to create and renovate bridge infrastructure

  • Unprepared: Canada lacks plan to protect critical infrastructure

    Seven years after 9/11, Canada lacks a coherent, coordinated plan to protect the nation’s critical infrastructure; in a recent report experts dismissed natural disasters, terrorism, cyber attacks, and pandemics as the major threats to Canada; rather, the greatest threat, they said, is a “lack of clarity around governance” during a disaster

  • Simulating hurricanes to test buildings' resilience

    Researchers built a system of “blower boxes” which exert pressure on buildings similar to the buffeting of winds from gusts exceeding 250 kilometers per hour; the goal is to find ways to construct sturdier, more resilient structures

  • Foreign investors vie for Chicago's Midway airport

    The administration has given Chicago the green light to sell Midway airport; six consortiums — five of them involving non-U.S. companies — said they would put in their bids; post-DPW rumblings about non-U.S. ownership of U.S. critical infrastructure are already being heard

  • New, more demanding rules for hazmat rail tanker construction

    New safety standard will increase by 500 percent on average the amount of energy the tank car must absorb during a train accident before a catastrophic failure may occur

  • Ballast-free cargo ship design to reduce invasion of non-native species

    As worries about non-native species invading the great Lakes mount, Wolverines researchers develop ballast-free cargo ship design; at least 185 non-native aquatic species have been identified in the Great Lakes, and ballast water is blamed for the introduction of most

  • Sunday protest against rail tunnel through Italian Alps

    Protesters in the thousands continue to oppose a super-fast rail link between Turin and Lyon; plan calls for digging a new tunnel through the Italian Alps