America is facing an infrastructure crisis. According to the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), 42 percent of America’s 617,000 bridges are at least 50 years old and 7.5 percent are considered structur- ally deficient. People are taking 178 million trips across these structur - ally deficient bridges every day, creating an urgent need for updates to our infrastructure maintenance program. Fortunately, there has been an increase in awareness and response to this issue not only among the engineering community, but in Congress. On August 10, the U.S. Senate passed the $1.2 trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework, the largest federal invest- ment into infrastructure since the construction of the interstate highway system. Dedicating $109 billion toward roads, bridges, and other infrastructure projects, this infusion of capital will go a long way toward repairing and rebuilding our infrastructure across the nation with resiliency, equity and safety top-of-mind for com- muters of all kinds – from those driving their cars on the roads to cyclists and pedestrians. Infrastructure is the foundation of a healthy economy and drives its ability to be competitive. It’s about more than just moving goods and people from one place to another. Modern infrastructure is essential to creating new opportunities in the economy of the future. With a well constructed and well maintained infrastructure, we can connect low- income and underserved communities with unrestricted access to equi- table, high-paying jobs. These roads also connect supply and demand chains, which as we’ve seen throughout history, can cause many issues when their integrity is compromised by factors outside of our control, such as natural disasters. It is up to us to ensure these essential tools remain intact for generations to come. Our nation’s infrastructure experiences inevitable aging and degrada- tion, requiring engineers and other essential road workers to perform nondestructive testing to determine if repairs need to be done for them to continue performing at optimum – and safe – levels. Nondestructive testing (NDT) and structural health monitoring (SHM) play an integral role in objective assessment and maintaining our roads and bridges, but it comes at a cost to commuters. Research from the ASCE shows motorists pay more than $1,000 every year in wasted How Nondestructive Testing and Structural Health Monitoring Technologies are the Key to Creating the “Smart Cities” of the Future By Dr. Necati Catbas, P.E. TRANSPORTATION + INFRASTRUCTURE
time and fuel as traffic jams and road closures due to structural testing impact their commute times. Testing can also be risky for road workers just feet away from fast-moving traffic. Improving the way the structural health of roads, bridges, and other elements of infrastructure are monitored could not only result in less wasted time and money for motorists and a safer environment for engi- neers and road workers, but it could also play a major role in building the “smart cities” of tomorrow. Transtek International Group (TIG), a technology spin-off housed in the University of Central Florida’s Business Incubator, came to life after the team completed the National Science Foundation I-Corps program and was encouraged by the uni- versity to turn our years of nondestructive testing and structural health monitoring research into a viable product. Yet, recognizing that this type of revolutionary innovation needed more than just our team, we formed a unique cross-regional partnership with Dr. Rasim Guldiken at the University of South Florida (USF) through our partners at the Florida High Tech Corridor Council. An economic development initiative spanning 23 counties across the state of Florida, the Corridor supported us throughout the process, even before we received funding, by providing us a letter of support which also guaranteed additional funding if we were accepted for an SBIR grant. We submitted our grant proposal and have since received fund-
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csengineermag.com
october 2021
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