Infrastructure 101: Repairing Pandora's Box

 

 

For most engineers and utility managers their first introduction to infrastructure "management" is an emergency call for a manhole collapse or similar catastrophic failure. In part they can be prepared for this by understanding the root causes of failure and the appropriate types of repair and replacement necessary and in part by having an appropriate plan of action in place. Preventative and remedial plans require the same level of detail and understanding to avoid recurrence and "busted" budgets. Funding, always a major issue for long-delayed but necessary infrastructure projects, can be had from operational savings derived from appropriate selection among the alternatives with a proactive approach to understanding the status and performance of the even the simplest of infrastructure units, a manhole. A manhole repair need not be Pandora's box.