Exercise. They are also personal trainers. [laughter] plus one of them is named pira pirate. [laughter] where did you come up with this idea and what was the hardest thing about writing the book my agent who was a tough minded lady told me that ive written enough about the climate and it was time to try something else. I was updating a tech book and then discovered no one has doneo this. They specialized in two things. One is sitting in the outbox and the other one is like you they get up and arrange themselves on the keyboard and the only solution is to keep the books to them and the last book i dedicated two my cat whose name was atticus otherwise known as the great keyboard. [laughter]. I have to ask you one question since you have written betweenen 40 to 50 bucks as i understand it cant tell us how you did this. How can you write that much in a lifetime . The years of undetected crime. This isnt like writing your life story or Something Like that. It all started in africa where i was working for me to see him at the time and we were asked a question. I got involved in writing for that and then i almost gave up archaeology because i got bored by it and wasnt a good excavator and then i came to Santa Barbara i was appalled tom find the textbooks, so thats where i started. I wrote textbooks which believe it or not to than i go then i gr stuff and, i become one of the few that rights as a fulltime job without looking because theres nobody doing it. These are the commitment to more books. Can you tell us what the next books are . Rking theres a global history of fishing which starts with the industrial revolution. After that on the history of bad which is titled of life and the horizontal claim. But its fun stuff and i am deeply satisfied to communicate. I could give you ten gems like this in this. And this. Thats the fun of the job, isnt it . Do you want to say a word of what you are thinking of doingn . Next . This one comes out in two days, so im going to bask in the glory for three more days. I am working on a book about a Small Company in upstate new york. Ive spent the last seven years building a robotic machine that has been the dream of engineers are pretty much 50 or 60 years. The machine is named sam. Its out there in the world you might see on a job site somewhere. It has a red arm and puts it down and does it again and again. So im going to make you care about bricks. [laughter] thanks so much for talking with us today. [applause] thanks to everyone for coming. We now have the book signing in area number one. We will look at family memoirs. A signature feature of cspan book tv as our coverage of book fairs and festivals across the country featuring nonfiction authors. On saturday beginning at 11 a. M. Eastern by booktv will be live at the mississippi book festival for the Second Annual Literary Party at the state capital injection. The author panels feature discussions on civil rights, education policy, Mississippi State history and the president ial election. Offers include jon meacham has written biographies on president s thomas jefferson, Andrew Jackson and george h. W. Bush and the Senate Majority leader trent lott discussing his book on Political Polarization in a crisis point. Go to booktv. Org for the complete weekend schedule. Next, Duke University professor Henry Petroski talks about the road taken, the infrastructure. He spoke at the regulator bookshop in durham North Carolina. In Downtown Durham North Carolina we are happy to have you all here today. Thank you for being here. We have Henry Petroski whose an acclaimed. The purpose of civil engineeri engineering. Henry petroski has written many books both by engineers and laypeople alike some of which are pushing the limits engineering small Things Considered and many more into this is the first time that he is here with us at the regulator and i introduced a my boss who wanted me to mention we have a collapsed storm water drain. [applause] i want to talk about the infrastructure discussed in the book. Its about roads and bridges which i see as extensions but more generally, its about the infrastructure and the funding of the infrastructure and the problems. The bridges are a problem. If i could see my slides i would get used to this. 600,000 u. S. Bridges total about one out of nine r. Problematics structurally deficient. That means they need work that welwill not necessarily collapse although we note that happens. Rhodes is about 40 million miles of roads in this country. Only half of them are paved. The pothole problem is well known and the question is how do we pay for this and accomplish the repaving when necessary and support so forth. I always like to look at the historical background of things. The automobile and motorized vehicles in general have taken a look at a lot of the blame but even before that we had horses and wagons. In the motorized vehicle there was a symbiotic relationship between them. The horses had no problem, not the complete problem negotiating the roads but the automobiles could not. So very often they had to come to the rescue and this is just one image of many that are similar. There is a situation that occurred in 1919 that was very important for the development of the countrys infrastructure. The u. S. Army wanted to demonstrate the localization capability and they undertook a convoy across the country. We know that that about 3,000 s roughly. The army people on that convoy was the young Lieutenant Colonel dwight david eisenhower, and its made a strong impression on him and we will come back to that plan we talk about the interstates because they are very Much Associated and he was a great proponent of the interstates because of its experience with this transcontinental journey. There are many illustrations of photographs of the strip. The question is where they did find the bridge was it adequate and will stand up under the army trucks. One of the participants in the transcontinental journey basically said while, it wont be so bad if some of them break it down. Will it prove that we need to fill them up better. But anyway, they did finally make it to california but of course as i mentioned it took 60 days. Today, depending on how fast you drive, it takes a little less than that. Eisenhower was instrumental in promoting legislation in the 1950s. It was the act of 1956 with establishing the interstates what he did was establis it didy for paying for the interstates. The idea of a National System of roads was as early as 1920 or the 1930s. The question was how to pay for them. Athe federal government itself cannot build or own roads. The constitution simply doesnt authorize that. So, with the federal government can pay for the roads and set up a system whereby they would share the cost of building the roads and in fact in some cases they shared as much as 90 of the cost which was a great incentive. There was a cost to this of course by having the federal government involved there was a standardization from state to state which means when we crossed the state line we dont have to readjust to a different set of rules. Its highly congested as we all know and when we talk about the state of infrastructure we want to get at grades as the American Society of Civil Engineers does. It takes into account not only their condition but also the congestion factor. If a road is in perfect condition but its highly congested, it doesnt get a very good mark. Where does all this come from, is the congestion due . Theres nothing new under the sun. It was more difficult. There are the cities that have great problems the streetcar was introduced that that created more congestion with the Motor Vehicle being introduced the situation didnt get any better. Controlling traffic was a big part of infrastructure and we dont hear about the sof this oa think about it in terms of traffic lights were road signs with the lines on the road. But these are part of the infrastructure, too and it takes sometimes literally decades for these things to evolve to a mature state so they are really doing the job they are supposed to do. So, i want to talk a little bit about Traffic Control and first come fifth avenue in new york city use as good example because it is so heavily trafficked. 1909, pictures there are very few if any signs, traffic signals, anything along the street with fifth avenue or anywhere else in the country. It wasnt that you are understood and knew how to manage. His name was William Phelps and his name actually lives on today through the foundation for transportation headquartered in washington that he developed some of the signs and first rules of the traffic called rules for driving and he was a proponent for the Traffic Circle and he developed rules and principles for that. He was very lucky. He was born into a welltodo family that used fifth avenue a lot and he had plenty of time to observe the situation and what was going on in the streets and the other intersecting streets. He came up with those exhibited for driving. Not everybody understood the rules were adopted them and fifth avenue continued to become just as the streets in chicago and detroit and elsewhere. The traffic lights on fifth avenue looked like this. They were put in the hours in large part because there was so much congestion only Motor Vehicles but people trying to cross the street and get where they wanted to go to make it more visible. There was a police man that literally had to throw a switch to turn the lights from red to green and vice versa. And the traffic policemen would come to tell where to get a better view of what was coming down the avenue. And when they had multiple towers like this one, the various policemen could communicate with each other mostly visually it worked to a degree that the fifth avenue merchants in particular were not very happy with the looks of the thingthese things they didnt consider them very attractive. So they commissioned a Design Competition to replace the traffic towers with something more in keeping with the style fifth avenue preferred and this was the winning entry from an architect named joseph b. Lander and it was successful. But as traffic continues to grow busy they presented problems of its own because as you can see its in the middle of the street so effectively taking out a lane of traffic so when the cars and trucks approach this they would have to squeeze down into one left lane so the Merchants Association again developed another life that would be on the sidewalk and this is a familiar one in the urban areas. If they only had two lights, green and red in part it took quite a while for people to get useused to the different flights meant and it just added to the confusion. But early signals the yellow appeared while the red was still on and it was the signal that the green was going to come on, just sort of the opposite of what it is today. This gave them the license to rush to green. They took off before it even appeared. They lived with this into the 70s actually. In a system that we have now itw that was more or less universally adopted in the country and again probably because the federal government played a role in what you call modern signals a. Its getting people to understand how they should behave when theres a traffic signal. Safety on the highway we dont have so how do you regulate traffic it is done through the lane markers in the ongoing traffic and early in the 20th century they had no markings at all you could imagine as things start from basically nothing. And that was very dangerous especially on a blind curve was coming up because it was the tendency to hug the insight occurs and it felt like someones coming the other way. Someone up in michigan noticed someone driving along a country road and there was a white wine behind it and it gave them an idea to put a white line down the center of the road. Anyway, white lines began to appear in upper michigan in 1917. You know, today when you drive on the interstate, the lines are on the right and theres a solid line marking the edge of the road which you can tell its to keep from going off the shoulder. The yellow line on the left keeps you from going off to the media and traffic and theres the decades to standardize something almost invisible to us today. If you just think of driving in these conditions its a real lifesaver. Look at the red graph here. The other line is just the population. About the number of accidents started growing exponentially the way automobiles and drivers did. This is a National Growth curve. Almost Everything Grows this way and then it hit the depression in this case it starts leveling out and it starts with world war ii and goes up in the recovery after the war. It was in the early 60s and 70s that peaked around then. Ralph nader published a book since we are talking at the bookstore this is relevant the book unsafe at any speed made the automobile of the safety vehicle that it is today in the sense of having a Steering Wheel that doesnt entail people in an accident and having airbags that came out of this same philosop philosophy. Before ralph nader, there were extra packages. Let me talk about bridges a little bit that are symbolic as much as roads are. Heres a bridge that looks like a fairly ordinary bridge. Is it safe or unsafe . This is the minneapolis highway 35 bridge that became famous in 2007 when it collapsed suddenly during rushhour traffic. It took everybody by surprise. It was a bridge that stood for 40 years and had been inspected regularly house was the federal requirement and get this happened to it. This is what is not supposed to happen. It was traced for some inadequate design inc. And probably something that should have been caught but wasnt and was a very sad occurrence. We dont want this to happen obviously. What happened after that was interesting because the replacement bridge was built within about a year, something we are not used to but you can get a bridge built in a relatively short period of time. This was a drawing of the planned replacement bridge and there wathat there was a timelit up. To detect problems with the bridge. How do we pay for a replacement bridge or roads or to build a new bridge blacks that is probably the biggest topic in washington these days. It should be part of the National Debate for the president ial campaign. So far it has not risen to the level of that despite problems entirely the government contributes 25 of the infrastructure but here we talk about all levels of government we pays state taxes and gasoline taxes and locally be paid taxes on gasoline purchases but the government only pays one out of four of the total cost typically that municipalities will apply the grants from the federal government. There is something called the Highway Trust Fund with the interstate highway act in 1956 it is totally dedicated to highways seem and roads. There should be above few bobby footnotes. The main revenues are the gasoline taxes, fuel taxes. There are some minor taxes white ford trucks and trailers but the bulk is gasoline and diesel back at the order of 63 . This is a growing problem and the federal gasoline tax the revenue into the fund in bed all of the interest fracture problems in there was no room in the budget based on gasoline taxes and if we continued to improve and for stretcher and hasnt kept up with inflation or with the needs but people in washington had a bad taste for raising taxes. At least gasoline taxes. In view conceive where is flat. So what is the alternative . To raise more money for the Highway Trust Fund. Hill looks pretty clear that federal government will not change the source of revenue. That it is flat but the government is not working in opposition to itself to encourage highbred vehicles than electric vehicles and fuel efficient vehicles to bring down gas consumption. And this is one of the main reasons why be. The Government Funds the Motor Vehicles by giving tax credits. Looks little complicated but it is simple you can see on the right where the revenue is flat. That is where the government took power from another source or the general fund but looking at the last year or two every now and then there is a cliff and this is one of them. But a sign number of years the shortterm legislation with those shortterm bills to extend deadlines. In this is to show those are the low taxation states. The states to do a lot in this area to raise gasoline taxes North Carolina had been increased before the legislation last year. Sometimes it has gone down when it is tied to a certain index be. But the estate tax is great then the back estate tax of the federal government is seen as the federal the villain but in maurer cases dont want to ask for more money. The American Society of Civil Engineers issues a report card for american in infrastructure. Did with pot holes and congestion. In the roads encourages have not done too well. As the sea is a typical grade that is not something to be proud of peter. And with those breeding programs and that North Carolinas section make our road better than the National Average. And that has been an ongoing issue. Overall North Carolina has the letter c grade which is mediocre the National Average thickness of us should be proud of the state of our infrastructure the amount of money needed other acceptable standard is astronomical. I know what happened there i am glad i am at the end. But du notice on the bottom 2. 6 trillion is the estimated investment of the infrastructure needed by 2020 but the whole federal budget over one year is 4 trillion. This is a lot of money. It is it clear where this comes from bad or how this would be raised so there are talks about what could be done as alternatives to the traditional means of finding money for the infrastructure. I mention higher fuel taxes and the citizens of the elected officials. To increasingly talk about user fees better going to be taxed on how many miles you driving your vehicle per year. Or again and california have programs going on nasbys see as we speak with the u. S. Department of transportation to offer grants to states and its seems there is a lot of emphasis to switch overbid. Obviously there are questions of privacy so this is quite a bit of opposition double drag out over years if not a decade or so but Publicprivate Partnership can fund a the end for a structure. We to give somebody a other than the government through taxes to pay for wordy in for sharp share. Infrastructure pirko but if you want a new highway for those who are willing to invest based they collect the tolls that this child they get the return on their investment everybody should be happy. The state gets the new road that investors get their return is oversimplification but this has been done quite a few places with bankruptcys still isnt clear but too often we wait until there are too many potholes that is not the way to go by the time you get to that it will be much more expensive than if he did a good job all along but there are ways to figure out how close to be 100 percent the asphalt on another road and for all practical purposes to look at the shoddy workmanship but a will done job there is a short stretch of road that was repaid repaved everybody was happy literally after two months there were bottles again and i attribute that it was not good workmanship either the materials were inferior or the workmanship were done in a condition you dont laydown us all because it was too cold but whatever the reason so who pays for that . So of the issue a contract for the paving job they should make sure they get what they pay for it not done correctly then of course, the contractors should be due the job this goes for large jobs like interstate highways. There are numerous examples without right fraud and corruption in what they contrast to do. To help us save money in accomplished to the same end if done properly. And did you have any questions of the happy to take them back. [applause] what do you think about solar have you heard of this one . Make the solar cells are built inside the road obvious . Obviously is a good idea they are open spaces. It is not congested it would be effectively like a cloud coming over. But it has potential for. Did your research turned up convincing arguments . I understand it depends what you read and henry ford made people drive from the right. There were no rules of of rhode so i had to be introduced to the model t automobile. Increase in the vehicle tax or both blacks. But the automobile dealers the trucking companies, the lobbies is human nature anymore than the next guy. To pay less than the other guy. In the constantly lobbying with the heavier trucks were they lobby for the Truck Drivers in then many people see this as a safety issue but there are issues that they have. Railed traffic as the alternative grex . But the rail traffic in this country as far as freight the rail system is pretty good. Moving yet by a rail is good across the road. It is an embarrassment on the world stage. Japan, france china almost overnight has massive systems of trains. Parallel efforts here and there and the northeast corridor it does not live up to its promise to go that fast the road is in port condition in a lot of roads with the Passenger Rail system could be replaced obviously it means a very Large Capital investment to bring it up to world standards in the airports are the same situation some have been described as third world country Airports Authority had in your city where people fly into what yorkers like to call the Financial Capital of the entertainment capital were so forth is a very big embarrassment not only the airport itself but the surrounding infrastructure. We have a long way to go we built up the a fresh structure very well but now were at this stage to maintain or replace. That isnt sold glamorous. Generally there is an appetite to tear something down to build something new in its place in that case and they should cut the ribbon to get the credit but not very many get to cut the ribbon to fill but pothole. So what do they do well . Look at the society of Civil Engineers study the strength one that has greeted the infrastructure that much different from National Even North Carolina but that is the difference but not enough to talk about california tried but then they get into trouble because they borrow money that is another way you can borrow but then you go into debt and that is one of californias problems renowned. The simple answer is no. [laughter] other than maybe isolated categories. Dimension safety are there other countries that have Better Safety records than the United States . Not developing countries they are much worse. That is where the grass that is said the get there redline that is what we looked at because the is the population for the fair comparison having seen those numbers recently but there very well baby and had the intent to say yes or no not looking specifically and in germany they drive very fast. But at the peak highway deaths were 55,000 in this country now is about 34,000 but to put into perspective perspective, that is about the same number from firearms per year that is apples and oranges but to comparison you go across cultures and different boundaries isnt always easy to make comparisons but if you do what does that mean . Bob. Wholehearted to tell if you are in trouble . If you study correctly mahler over 20 feet long technically are supposed to be inspected every two years than those that show signs of trouble, and every year. It should be a cookbook take a list to check that off but with the case of the minneapolis bridge is one that issues alive as an example. It got relatively good marks but yet there were signs that was in trouble in particular there was spending in some of the steel that was not recorded properly so i guess that falls into the category of the human factor. Information is only as good as the people producing and. Was going to comment on the difference of the roundabout that they are taking out the Traffic Circles be. Is bash a double the yes historic fleet jersey has Traffic Circles or the roundabout we add them here in North Carolina functionally itll think it is a great deal of difference. But i use that term sonata mislead you could drill a distinction. You discuss the politics in your book and unthinking of Road Construction in North Carolina may be next to the university is the most Political Animal in the Competition Among states in the revolution of that is beyond the engineer. I do discuss that here and there and give examples of corruption of bad practices and document them simic the answer is yes but it isnt highlighted in the book and the but it is there what about light rail . Will that have an impact quick. Bad is the political issue of law when you see traffic. Depends on who you talk to people call me bridge person in the previous question but i know about the light rail system going on be almost as long as i have been in North Carolina but hasnt made any sense. I am not sure where it stands. I can talk about trucks going over bridges. So i only know what i saw on pbs or someplace are another couple years ago about the situation involving an elevator in philadelphia. I wonder which is a badly deteriorating. There are literally putting in beings evidently to keep this thing from falling in. I wonder if you track that at all . I dont recognize that place. There was a case case in wilmington, delaware where the bridge started leaning because some soil problems nearby. But now i do not recognize that example. So more generally then what if your book addresses this was structures then are in really serious condition is in the eye 90 collapse in new york. These examples occur like the city annapolis was in 2007 and for many thats high in consciousness because nothing like it has happened cents. So that gives us that we are talking about events rare events relatively speaking. The big picture of the long span is that an accident of that kind occurs maybe once every 30 years. Usually for a totally different reason than historical reason. So that makes it very difficult to predict what is going to happen. But there are signs you can look for if for example certain type of bridge is being made longer and longer and there are efforts to also make it slender and prettier, that is a sure sign that that is something to watch. How do you watch it, you ask experts if their design is proposed how goois
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