On May 24, the Pennsylvania ASCE Sections released the 2010 Report Card for Pennsylvania’s Infrastructure.
The Lehigh Valley Section had a press conference at the Lehigh County Government Center in downtown Allentown. Simultaneous press conferences were held in Harrisburg, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh. There were 19 attendees at this press release including civil engineers, press and agency stakeholders. The conference was included in the newspaper and was on Channel 69 News that evening.

Later that same day, Mike Perlow, Phil Gauffreau, Pete Terry and Bill MacNair traveled to Harrisburg to discuss the infrastructure issue with our State representatives. Our representatives are beginning to appreciate the need to maintain and improve our infrastructure. They are struggling with how to pay for it.

The PA House Transportation Committee held a hearing on Thursday, June 3 at DeSales University to discuss the nearly $3.5 billion a year the state needs to maintain Pennsylvania’s existing highway, bridge, and public transit systems. Pete Terry addressed the committee as the spokesperson for the Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce.

There is a lot more that needs to be done to address the infrastructure in our State and in the Lehigh Valley.  Stay tuned for further developments. Please let us know if you are interested in working in this important civil engineering issue. More information is available at http://www.pareportcard.org.

Phil Gauffreau

Mike Perlow