Articles by Steven Gilchrist

In 2017, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) issued its latest infrastructure report card.  Every four years, the ASCE creates a report card regarding the nation’s infrastructure.  The report card rates 16 different infrastructure categories.  The 2017 overall grade for American infrastructure is a D+.  This is the same grade the ASCE gave American infrastructure for the last report card in 2013. “Our infrastructure bill is overdue and our inaction is costing American’s $3,400 per year in lost disposal income,” says Greg DiLoreto, chairperson of the ASCE Committee on America’s Infrastructure. The 16 infrastructure categories for the 2017 report card are: Aviation; Bridges; Dams; Drinking Water; Energy; Hazardous Waste; Inland Waterways; Levees; Parks & Recreation; Ports; Rail, Roads; Schools; Solid Waste; Transit; and Wastewater.  The highest grade for an individual category was given to Rail, which earned a B.  Transit earned the l...

Later this year in June, the 60 th anniversary of the signing of the law that established the Interstate Highway System will take place.   President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 on June 29, 1956.   The legislation authorized the construction of a 41,000 mile network of interstate highways that would cover the entire country.   The interstate highway system was intended to: eliminate traffic congestion, make coast-to-coast transportation more efficient, and simplify the ability for residents to leave large cities in the case of an atomic attack. President Eisenhower had an interest in establishing an interconnected national highway system after his experience traveling across the country as an Army Lieutenant during a 1919 military convoy.   Secondly, when Eisenhower was a General during World War II he saw the importance of having an efficient interconnected road system when he traveled the German Autobahn highway network...

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) is one of the oldest transit systems in the United States.   The MBTA is the largest consumer of energy in Massachusetts and the second largest land owner in Massachusetts.   People depend on the MBTA on a daily basis to commute to work and school, to travel, or to visit family and friends.   The MBTA operates in 175 different cities and towns in Massachusetts. The main challenge for the MBTA is maintaining a reliable and dependable transit system.   In this essay, I will present several recommendations to improve the MBTA system.   The MBTA’s systemic challenges were exposed during 6 weeks of frigid temperatures and record breaking snowfall in January and February 2015.   The MBTA has also recently endured other challenges.   For example, in December 2015, one MBTA Red Line train went through several stops without a train driver operating the train.   As a result of this incident, one man...