Infrastructure Application and Review - Essay Example

Infrastructure Application and Review ID 19714 Order No. 262508 14 December 2008 Acknowledgements Table of Contents: List of Figures: Figure No. Figure Description Figure 1 Well Being of citizens and corresponding Physical & Mental Health & Safety of the citizens of a Country Figure 2 Percentage Capital Outlay on Public Infrastructure (Source: Report to Congress by US Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration and Federal Transit Administration. The Secretary of Transportation. 2006) Figure 3 Percentage of Public Funding for Transit Infrastructure (Source: Report to Congress by US Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration and Federal Transit Administration. The Secretary of Transportation. 2006) Figure 4 A projection of annual investments in Federal Rail Infrastructure up to 2022 (Source: Report to Congress by US Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration and Federal Transit Administration. The Secretary of Transportation. 2006) Figure 5 A projection of change in highway user costs against the proposed investments in 2022 (Source: Report to Congress by US Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration and Federal Transit Administration. The Secretary of Transportation. 2006) Figure 6 Annual Highway Fatalities - A linear projection by ARTBA, USA (Source: American Road and Transport Builders Association, 2003) Figure 7 Annual Highway Fatalities - A linear projection by ARTBA, USA and Estimated Road Fatalities in USA due to Road Conditions and Outdated Alignments (Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and ARTBA, USA. 2003) Figure 8 A Bicycle Transit road (Source: Bikes Belong Coalition and Rails-to-Trails Conservancy. USA. 2008) Introduction: The Transport System and other Public Infrastructure Services are deployed by the Government in collaboration with Private sectors for the well being of the people of a country. As defined by the American Society of Civil Engineers, the public infrastructure services comprises of Aviation, Bridges, Dams, Railways, Roads, Drinking Water, Gas, Energy, Communications, Hazardous Waste Management & Disposal, Waterways, Recreation Areas & Parks, Schools, Colleges & Professional Training Institutions, Public Protection & Security, Religion & Community Centers, Hospitals & Healthcare, Solid Waste Management, Transportation & Transit, and Wastewater management. These Infrastructure Services are primarily established for the People of a country and hence human health & safety is the primary concern in design and deployment of the services. Most of the citizens of America and the politicians think that Public Health is all about providing adequate number of hospitals and clinical services to the citizens. These facilities are reactive modes of ensuring health as they are normally consulted when the impacts have already happened. What about the proactive measures required ensuring that the impacts to health & safety are minimized Again, the so called proactive measures are not only about reducing the probability of infections. There are a number of other factors that need to be considered. In a country the well being of the citizens and the corresponding impact on mental & physical health & safety are dependent upon the following factors (Source: TurningPoint, 2002): Social Determinants of Health Environmental Health Occupational Health Behavioural Health Oral Health Health Services for General Population Health Services for Underserved Community Assets Mobilization Economic Development Public Safety The well being of citizens is not primarily the Government's responsibility; the Private sectors and community participation also need to contribute considerably to ensure that bad practices in the surroundings are promptly identified and changed in order to demonstrate an overall commitment to the well being of the natives of the area. Example, Overall, the Infrastructure Services of a city should be designed, deployed and maintained by the concerned authorities after taking a holistic view of impact on well being of citizens with long term visibility into the factors affecting people lifestyle and the environment. Figure 1:Well Being of citizens and corresponding Physical & Mental Health & Safety of the citizens of a Country In this dissertation, a critical review of the Infrastructure Services on the economy and Public health & safety is presented. Literature Review: The Infrastructure services of a country are deployed to ensure acceptable quality of life in cities or countryside for the citizens by ensuring secured, clean & fully equipped neighbourhoods, high quality basic services and responsible & proactive Municipalities & Communities. The Public infrastructure comprises of hard structures with long term sustenance & excellent maintainability & scalability thus ensuring that the communities availing the services also survive for long. The infrastructures need continual enhancements to cope up with the growth of populations and hence the number of vehicles on the road. However, most important for ensuring constant well being of the citizens is to maintain the quality of the infrastructure components that consumes the maximum capital. For Example, the following figure shown that about 50% of the total Capital investments in Highway infrastructure services of USA occur in maintenance & preservation of the Infrastructure. Figure 2: Percentage Capital Outlay on Public Infrastructure (Source: Report to Congress by US Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration and Federal Transit Administration. The Secretary of Transportation. 2006) Figure 3: Percentage of Public Funding for Transit Infrastructure (Source: Report to Congress by US Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration and Federal Transit Administration. The Secretary of Transportation. 2006) The report from Federal Transit Administration shows that about 20% of the funding for transit comes from the public funding. This means that the general public possesses a lot of stake in the Infrastructure Services and hence the responsibility of upkeep of the Infrastructure components is not only the responsibility of the Government but also is the responsibility of the general public and communities. As a matter of fact, community partnerships in United States carry out major contributions in the social, economic and personal well being of the community members. Habits of people that may be harmful to the environment or the infrastructure components are controlled by education, awareness and penalties. The government bodies also participate with the communities actively to support their initiatives and activities. In this context, the contribution by the local communities in promoting measures for improving health and safety of the local population is highly important. Examples are: prevention of burning leaves/papers, etc. in public place, protection of gas distribution pipelines, immediate actions on voids on pedestrian or bicycle paths, discouraging junk food menus in eating joints, etc. Figure 4: A projection of annual investments in Federal Rail Infrastructure up to 2022 (Source: Report to Congress by US Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration and Federal Transit Administration. The Secretary of Transportation. 2006) Figure 4 presents the projected annual investments of maintenance of Federal Rail Infrastructure up to 2022. If the figures are compared with the annual investments in Highway infrastructure up to 2022 to keep overall user costs bare minimum (costs pertaining to vehicle operation and travel time), it is observed that the cost per annum projected on Highways is about 7 to 8 times that of the rail-roads. While there may be many factors contributing to these calculations an overall conclusion is that the cost to country pertaining to highways is much higher compared to the same on Railways (Source: US Department of Transportation, 2006). Figure 5: A projection of change in highway user costs against the proposed investments in 2022 (Source: Report to Congress by US Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration and Federal Transit Administration. The Secretary of Transportation. 2006) Moreover, the number of fatalities on highways due to increase in traffic and road conditions is alarming. Figure 6 shows a linear analysis of annual highway fatalities up to 2009 and an estimated number of fatalities due to Road conditions alone (Source: ARTBA, USA 2003). Roger L. Kemp (2008) presents a report on the deteriorating infrastructure conditions in USA whereby almost all Infrastructure services are graded between C- & D- according to a report by American Society of Civil Engineers (Kemp, 2008). Figure 6: Annual Highway Fatalities - A linear projection by ARTBA, USA and Estimated Road Fatalities in USA due to Road Conditions and Outdated Alignments (Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and ARTBA, USA. 2003) Further to the above, the figure 7 presents the data on total number of fatalities pr year from 1980 to 2002. In these years, about one million people have lost their lives on the highways alone which are alarming figures. These figures reveal that the general population needs to adopt alternate means of transport for most of the transits and use cars only if it is dire essential. In this context, the community partnerships need to propagate general awareness to encourage usage of public transport like railways and buses. Usage of public transport would also enhance public health as the commuters would need to walk a lot to the designated bus stands or train stations. Figure 7: Total Fatalities on Road in USA from 1980 to 2002 (Source: Report to Congress by US Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration and Federal Transit Administration. The Secretary of Transportation. 2006 The healthiest mode of transport is the bicycle. To promote cycling, the communities "Bikes Belong Coalition" and Rails-to-Trails Conservancy" promote cycling as the active transportation of America. These communities feel that within urban belts, half of the Americas possess trips within 20 minutes of bike ride and a quarter of Americas possess trips within 20 minutes of walking. Using such statistics, these communities sell the advantages of cycling whereby the benefits propagated are pollution free transportation (reduction of greenhouse gases), savings in cost of fuels, and above all, achieve recommended physical activity thus reducing risks of deadly diseases like Heart Attack, Stroke, etc. The Federal Government in USA are promoting cycling by developing long secured cycling networks parallel to motorways in such a way that cycling paths are shorter compared to motorways to reach the same destinations. Figure 8 presents the figure of such a cycling track developed by the Federal government to promote cycling within the urban belt. Figure 8: A Bicycle Transit road (Source: Bikes Belong Coalition and Rails-to-Trails Conservancy. USA. 2008) The Federal government in USA has been spending trillions of dollars in building road networks but still not able to reduce congestions in some major roads because the thought process is one dimensional that cannot cater to the rate of increase of cars continuously. Somewhere, the expansions need to be reduced because they are carried out at the cost of destruction of natural resources and also considerably increase green-house emissions. Increase in gas prices and risks to health due to reduced physical activity have invoked a general willingness among Americans to use alternate means like cycling (entire analysis sourced from Bikes Belong Coalition and Rails-to-Trails Conservancy. USA. 2008; Pucher, John and Komanoff, Charles et al. 1999). Promotion of cycling is high on agenda in many developed countries. NHS London Healthy Urban Development Unit promotes cycling as one of the primary modes of transportation. They regard this mechanism to be the mode that contributes phenomenally to the Health & Safety of the citizens. They recommend planning of market places, hospitals, community centres, workplaces, etc. in such a way that the cycling paths are shortest and safest as compared to motor paths. Further to this, to reduce congestions in parts of Central London, congestion taxes are levied during peak hours. NHS recommend collaborative town planning keeping in mind a number of factors that affect public health & safety such as: Healthy Lifestyles: Providing a green open space within 15 minutes of every household) Housing Quality: Life of houses, environment friendliness like using environment friendly materials that are sourced & maintained locally, affordability, orientation, etc. Access to Work: Encourage and Promote access to employment and training opportunities within the same locality, provide opportunities of local business, etc. Accessibility: Encourage cycling & public transport usage, discourage usage of car, improve the quality & availability of public transport, levy extra taxes on usage of cars, etc. Access to Food: Encourage locally produced affordable fresh food, encourage allotment of agriculture lands, discourage junk foods, etc. Reduction of Crime and Community Safety: Encourage neighbourhood watch, implement effective surveillance systems, etc. Quality of Air and Neighbourhood Peace: Strong restrictions on factories/establishments that cause air pollution, educate local communities on reduction of air & noise pollution Social Cohesion: Encourage involvement of local community in planning & deployment of infrastructure services Public Services: Ensure access to adequate public services like hospitals, schools, community centres, public libraries, etc. Minimization of consumption of non-renewable natural resources: encourage use of resources that can be recycled for reuse in different forms - like reuse of existing buildings rather than constructing new ones, minimize energy & water wastage, sustainable urban drainage, etc. Climate: Consideration of impacts on environment and climate change when planning for facilities; keep impacts on regional & global warming under special considerations, etc. NHS has prepared guidelines to analyze and conclude on the positive as well as negative impacts of planning when a design is underway. In this context, a number of policies are published that are strongly enforceable (NHS, 2008). Emily Thornton (2007) has invoked a thought on a serious social issue whereby the infrastructure services in USA are being leased out to private companies to generate rich cash flows and are aggressively financed by Banks. This mechanism is causing uncontrolled rise in toll prices and also is reducing focus on public health & safety to generate more & more cash. Privatisation of Infrastructure Services is not a bad idea but allowing private companies to operate in an uncontrolled fashion would cost the nation very dearly in terms of reduced productivity & increased fatalities. The banks are very aggressive in providing loans for Infrastructure leases and hence apply enormous pressures to the leasing companies to generate maximum cash. It is the role of government to monitor breach of regulations by the leasing companies very closely and apply control on banks in terms of applying pressures for faster recoveries. Some of the prominent banks in this business are Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs. Conclusion: Infrastructure Services & Facilities significantly influence the well being of the citizens of a country whereby the health & safety remains the primary concern areas in their planning & deployment. The Government should implement adequate mechanisms to monitor the health of communities very closely and promote healthy practices like cycling. Means for timely diagnosis of health hazards should be in place such that proactive actions can be taken such as education, community involvement, additional regulatory controls, etc. Moreover, Government should ensure access to essential social infrastructure services like hospitals, schools, community centres, workplace, markets, etc. to ensure that the citizens are not only healthy & safe but also economically stable (http://www.healthypeople.gov/Document/HTML/Volume2/23PHI.htm). Reference List: Active Transportation for America. The case for increased Federal investment in Bicycling and Walking. Bikes Belong Coalition and Rails-to-Trails Conservancy. USA. 2008. Community Participation can improve Americas Public Health Systems. Prepared by the Lewin Group, Inc. for the W.K.Kellogg Foundation. TurningPoint. USA. 2002. Kemp, Roger L. Cities and their Parts: Is America on the Road to Ruin. Texas Town & City. USA. 2008. Public Health Infrastructure. Healthy People 2010. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Health Resources and Services Administration. Retrieved on December 14, 2008. Available at http://www.healthypeople.gov/Document/HTML/Volume2/23PHI.htm. Public Health & Safety Benefits of Transportation Investment. American Road & Transportation Builders Association. ARTBA. USA. 2003. Pucher, John and Komanoff, Charles et al. Bicycling renaissance in North America Recent Trends and alternative policies to promote bicycling. Transportation Research Part A. Vol.33. Nos. 7/8. USA. 1999. Thornton, Emily. Roads to Riches - Why investors are clamouring to take over America's highways, bridges & airports - and why the public should be nervous. Business Week. 2007. 2004 Status of the Nation's Highways, Bridges and Transit: Conditions & Performance. Report to Congress by US Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration and Federal Transit Administration. The Secretary of Transportation. 2006. Watch out for health. NHS London Healthy Urban Development Unit. 2008. Read More