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Director's Welcome: Ensuring America's Infrastructure
Dear Friends:
Infrastructure is the connective tissue of our economy and society. The extent and capacity of U.S. transportation infrastructure are characteristics we take for granted until something goes wrong. The tragic collapse of the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis was a wake up call about the importance, and risks, of that infrastructure. While the emerging evidence on I-35W suggests that the failure may have been designed in from the start, the consequences of the loss of this structure, immediate and long term, remind us of our dependence on such connective tissue.
While catastrophic bridge failures are rare, they are not unheard of. Although each was an infrastructure failure, many among them were attributable to external factors – strikes by vehicles or ships: the Sunshine Skyway Bridge in Tampa (1980); Big Bayou Canot railroad bridge in Alabama (1993); I-40 near Webber Falls, Oklahoma (2002); I-80 near Big Springs, Nebraska (2003); I-580 in Oakland, California (2007). Events such as the losses of the Silver Bridge at Point Pleasant, W. VA in 1967 and the Schoharie Creek Bridge on the New York State Thruway in 1987, however, are directly attributable to infrastructure failures: loss of integrity due to the often-complex interactions of environmental forces, design, materials, and loading.
Northwestern’s Infrastructure Technology Institute is about ensuring our nation’s surface transportation infrastructure against failure. A primary focus of the work of ITI is structural health monitoring (SHM) – developing and deploying technologies and methods to assess the condition of key transportation components, and to convert condition and performance data into information that is useful in decision making.
Key infrastructure decisions include replacement, rehabilitation, maintenance, and in the short term, use restrictions or even closures. In an era of much competition for scarce resources, it is imperative that we make wise decisions about infrastructure management, and good information can contribute to better decisions.
ITI SHM research and development efforts gather data at different points in the life of a structure – from construction through long term utilization and life extension. Using periodic static measurements or real-time dynamic measurements, our engineers deploy powerful tools to capture, transmit, store and display infrastructure data, often in challenging environments and over great distances. The data are typically presented via a secure web site to provide timely support for evaluation and decision making.
ITI researchers are also engaged in the development of advanced structural modeling methods and the creation of new, designer materials that solve old transportation infrastructure problems and meet new needs.
The work of ITI is done in conjunction with external partners, usually owners and operators of major infrastructure facilities and systems who bring us problems and a willingness to share in the pursuit of solutions. We are always looking for new problems and partners that present us with new challenges and the opportunity to innovate in materials and methods.
This web site tells some of the stories of ITI, its tasks and its people. It goes beyond our technology advances to describe some of our educational achievements and our support of policy analysis and the infrastructure policy debate. Please tour this site to learn more about achieving infrastructure surety. And come back soon to track our successes and follow the story of America’s transportation infrastructure.
Sincerely,
Joseph L. Schofer
Executive Director of the Infrastructure Technology Institute
Associate Dean for Strategy and Communications of the Robert R. McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science
Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Transportation
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