Infra Insight Blog

Founded in 1852, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) is the country’s oldest and largest civil engineering organization. Since 1998, the ASCE has issued a quadrennial assessment of the U.S.’s infrastructure networks known as the Report Card for America’s Infrastructure. The Report Card uses an A to F grading system and examines the country’s current infrastructure conditions and needs, assigning grades and making recommendations on how to improve those grades ... 

Through recent updates to California’s Public Contract Code, public agencies are being equipped with new tools to deliver major infrastructure projects through use of the progressive design-build (PDB) model. As more public agencies gain access to the legislative tools available to use PDB, we expect to see an increasing number of water projects undertaken and completed successfully under the PDB or other early contractor delivery methods. … 

Insurance on a project is a vital tool with which to manage project risk. In a warming world with ever larger and more complex projects, insurance becomes that much more important to ensure that projects can stay on track after an accident or other insurable event.

Join Jim Vorhis and me on May 30th for the next webinar in our Infra Insight webinar series focused on navigating risks and adapting insurance to align with evolving methods of project delivery. We are excited to welcome our guest panelists, Michael Earp and Tariq Taherbhai from Aon Construction & Infrastructure. … 

The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) recently announced a long-awaited Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for public agencies to enhance technical capacity to deliver projects using a public-private partnership (P3) model. Authorized by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (P.L. 117-58; also known as the IIJA), $57.72 million is available through the Innovative Finance and Asset Concessions Grant Program (Program) for public agencies to hire technical, financial and legal experts (either on staff or as consultants) to support the evaluation and delivery ...

To mitigate the effects of climate change and years of drought, California plans to double the amount of recycled water produced in the state by 2040 – but is producing more water enough? There’s a rising trend of building energy recovery facilities in wastewater facilities to reduce the reliance on existing utility providers and powering the plant with biogas generated from sludge processing and co-digestion of organic waste diverted from landfills.  … 

A decades-long battle over a proposed desalination plant generated considerable attention for desalination. Despite the defeat of the Poseidon plant in Huntington Beach, CA, the California Coastal Commission has approved multiple plants since. As a result, substantial questions remain about desalination’s role in California’s water future. In “The Future of Desalination, Post-Poseidon,” we analyze the most significant barriers and opportunities for desalination to help California overcome its future water shortage issues due to population growth and climate ...

Last month, through the annual process known as the “May Revise,” California Governor Gavin Newsom released an update to the 2023-24 state budget proposal that he first introduced in January. The updated budget proposal sets forth a $306.5 billion spending plan that seeks to tackle the state’s growing budget deficit while maintaining key investments in education, healthcare, housing, climate and infrastructure.

Regarding infrastructure, the Governor noted that, due to unprecedented local, state, and federal investments, the state will spend more than $180 billion ...

The Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”) recently issued initial Buy America implementation guidance required by Sections 70901-52 of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (P.L. 117-58; “IIJA”).

The Buy America preference applies to federally supported public infrastructure projects, including the structures, facilities and equipment for highway, transit, water and energy projects in the United States ...

The President unveiled details of his historic infrastructure plan this morning, proposing the largest infrastructure investment in U.S. history.

The President’s proposal, titled the American Jobs Plan, requests roughly $2 trillion in total federal funding and financing tools over the next eight years...

Los Angeles County aims to integrate infrastructure planning with social and environmental needs in its recently released draft of the updated L.A. River Master Plan.

The plan is the first to cover the entire L.A. River and proposes a 51-mile connected open space to manage floodwaters while improving natural ecosystems and public wellbeing. Calculations based on information from the US Census Bureau indicate that 25% of Californians live within a 30-minute drive of the LA River and over one million people live within one mile. ...

In light of the major cybersecurity breach of the SolarWinds Orion software by malicious actors, the Water Information Sharing and Analysis Center (WaterISAC) recently issued a series of advisories providing guidance for water providers across the country on how to respond and react to this unprecedented cyberattack.

As highlighted in the WaterISAC advisory issued on December 16, 2020, the Environmental Protection Agency has recommended that all water and wastewater utilities review the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency's (CISA's) Emergency Directive ...

There can be little argument that many of the more than 90,000 dams in this country are in need of immediate attention. The catastrophic failure of two dams in Michigan last month following an extraordinary amount of rain in a relatively short period, highlights a number of issues:

• More than 60% of dams in the United States are more than 60 years old. That means they were largely constructed using construction standards and techniques that are no longer consistent with modern requirements and standards, exposing these dams to  the potential for failure. ...

Last week, the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works passed America’s Water Infrastructure Act of 2020 (AWIA) and Drinking Water Infrastructure Act of 2020 by a vote of 21 to 0. AWIA would authorize approximately $17 billion in new federal spending to invest in water infrastructure over the course of the next three years.

Two sections included in the AWIA confirmed the federal government’s continued support for the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA). If approved by the full Senate and the President, AWIA Title II Section 2014 reauthorizes WIFIA ...

As we continue to navigate the far-reaching impacts of the global coronavirus pandemic, our work and commitment to assisting marginalized and underserved communities with critical infrastructure is more important than ever.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and World Health Organization (WHO) have been recommending handwashing as one of the easiest and most effective ways to prevent the spread of COVID-19 for months.  However, according to the U.S. Water Alliance’s Closing the Water Access Gap in the United States report, approximately two million ...

Despite perceived uncertainty as to the future of two, prominent transportation P3 projects, it appears that jurisdictions within Maryland are looking to P3 structures to solve a wider array of infrastructure issues in the state.

Prince George’s County, one of Washington, D.C.’s Maryland suburbs, recently entered into a first-of-its-kind stormwater P3 with a subsidiary to Corvias, a private company with P3 experience in housing social infrastructure.  The partnership entity, called the Clean Water Partnership will tackle regulatory requirements for stormwater ...

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is currently holding a roadshow of listening sessions across the US to provide information on the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) and its proposed five-year pilot program to provide an alternative funding source for a variety of water infrastructure projects.

The EPA presented in Los Angeles on October 17, 2014 where attendees included representatives from public and private finance, contractors, water operators, state and local government entities and legal and financial advisers from across southern ...