Digitally Transforming the Future of Infrastructure
New infrastructure replacement programs can have a lasting impact on the sustainability and resilience of a community.
The Current State of America's Infrastructure
Sustainable and efficient infrastructure is central to maintaining a safe and resilient community. Proficient public infrastructure connects communities, promotes health, fosters equity, and enriches the quality of life on an individual level.
Whether it is supplying clean water or providing adequate roads, millions of Americans depend on you as infrastructure owners and utility organizations to fulfill these essential needs. However, you and your teams are often overburdened with trying to maintain the integrity of your community’s aging assets, while also staying within the constraints of a limited budget.
The reality is that for years public infrastructure has been largely underfunded and is rapidly aging, becoming outdated, and in some cases unsafe. The American Society of Civil Engineers has pointed out that the U.S. has underinvested in its infrastructure.
Every day, there are 850 water main breaks in North America, a 27% increase over the past six years.
Most wastewater treatment plants are designed with an average lifespan of 40 to 50 years.
The average driver spends $533 annually in extra vehicle repairs and operating costs as a result of poor roadway conditions and insufficient capacity.
It's not for lack of trying. You work hard to maintain the infrastructure in your community—often with constrained resources and little support from outside stakeholders. Now, your organization has a significant opportunity to change how you fund and manage critical infrastructure replacement projects.
Opportunities for Investment
There has been renewed interest in infrastructure from the U.S. federal government. A handful of new bills and packages aim to increase funding for infrastructural improvements in the U.S. Many local government and utility organizations are already gearing up for significant opportunities to upgrade and reinvigorate their infrastructure. Several policies aim at increasing federal funding to aid communities in updating public assets ranging from water and wastewater networks to bridges, roads and improving resilience for an aging power grid.
Of all the proposed and passed infrastructure bills and packages, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) also known as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) is the most ambitious. It is a $1.2 trillion plan that tackles a gamut of infrastructural upgrades, ranging from replacing every lead water service line in the U.S. to fixing tens of thousands of roads and bridges. This bill—recently signed into law—reauthorizes a variety of existing federal funding programs as well as adding $550 billion in new spending to go towards the improvement of infrastructure in communities throughout the U.S.
A Closer Look at Industries Affected
An increase in federal funding will help to remedy dangerous and outdated water infrastructure. There’s a tremendous opportunity to invest in the safe and efficient delivery of water to millions of Americans.
With potential funding on the horizon, infrastructure owners will need digital technology solutions and transparent processes to prepare for a massive influx of capital. Evaluating road conditions, prioritizing repairs, and collaborating with other departments will be key to success.
An increase in federal spending could be dedicated for the improvement and modernization of airports—positioning the U.S. as a global leader in aviation. At the same time, advances in 3D technology offer new solutions for managing airport facilities.
Much of the nation’s power infrastructure dates to the 1930s, and many key components are long past their intended 50-year lifespan. An expansion of infrastructure funding is being proposed to improve the resilience and sustainability of the U.S. grid.
Change is looming in city, county, and state infrastructure, and officials can expect an increase in permitting applications along with a heightened expectation of accountability from residents, the federal government, and more. Local governments and utilities need forward-thinking tools and processes to keep tabs on the increased volume and variety of projects that are coming in the next few years.
The renewed focus on infrastructure is likely to lead to an increase in the volume of public works projects, asset management opportunities, and a large increase in monetary resources for your community. An increase in federal funding is certainly helpful, but the extra funding is not the only driver for successful infrastructure. Utility organizations and local governments need other resources that assist them in planning, executing, and maintaining their infrastructure projects and public assets. That’s where Cityworks can help.
Cityworks and the Trimble connected infrastructure platform, coupled with Esri® ArcGIS® and our robust partner network, create a complete system of action. As a GIS-centric solution, the Cityworks platform helps local government and utilities organize, manage, and maintain complex infrastructure assets, capital improvement, construction permitting, and project management—all while providing deep operational insights for every asset.
Download the Guide
Tackling infrastructure projects and ensuring future asset resilience is no small task. Public works projects are often laden with data and logistics and it can become difficult to keep track of all the moving parts. The adoption or further utilization of a digital asset management system can aid you in gaining a clearer picture of your public assets, their current condition, and can assist in maximizing their future efficiency and sustainability.
Cityworks AMS
Cityworks AMS allows you to make informed decisions when planning for public works projects by using GIS intelligence, dashboards, analytics, and maps to visualize asset data and understand the overall status of your infrastructure. AMS also enables you to identify which of your assets are most at risk—allowing you to prioritize work projects and invest in the right assets.
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Taking Cityworks to the Next Level
Cityworks PLL
Keeping track of permitting, licensing, and land for public works projects can be arduous and overcomplicated, especially if your organization’s permitting process is done through physical paperwork. Cityworks PLL eliminates the need for paperwork and makes permitting, licensing, and land management workflows and data easier to manage. Permitting for large infrastructure projects can be spatially visualized in ArcGIS—giving you direct control over your planning process and pre-operations workflows.
Tips for Before and After Implementation
Understanding Infrastructure Risk Assessment
Performance Budgeting
An increase in federal funding is likely a welcome occurrence for your community, however it puts a lot of pressure on you as sector leaders to maximize the benefits of your extra capital funding. That is why a tool like performance budgeting is handy. Performance budgeting provides a clear picture of budget reports and estimated work activity costs (including cost of equipment, labor, and material). This gives you the ability to know where your federal budget is being allocated, which promotes financial accountability and efficiency.
Enhances Budgeting Efforts with Cityworks
Operational Insights
You want to be sure that you are investing money and time into upgrading infrastructure in your community that needs it the most. Operational insights provides a way to identify and assess high-risk assets and can help inform your infrastructure management strategy. Configuring Operational Insights to your GIS and asset data allows you to calculate Probability of Failure (PoF), Consequence of Failure (CoF), and Business Risk Exposure (BRE) values. You can also utilize heat maps and interactive data visualizations to gain a better understanding of your data—ensuring that improvement funding is accurately applied.
Supporting Your Investment and Operations
Streamline Operations
GIS-centric CMMS streamlines the asset lifecycle across permitting, licensing, service requests, inspections, work orders, maintenance schedules, and more.
Boost Collaboration
Digitally integrate teams to eliminate organizational silos and improve cross-departmental collaboration on day-to-day maintenance tasks and major capital projects.
Mitigate Risk
Procatively extend or replace critical infrastructure while following regulatory requirements, by utilizing reliable real-time monitoring and risk assessment tools.
Cityworks and Trimble offer scalable, end-to-end solutions that can be deployed either as a cloud-hosted platform or as an on-premises solution. From planning and engineering departments to streets and vegetation management crews, the Cityworks platform is flexible and can integrate with other systems like GIS, ERPs, SCADA, or IoT sensors like Trimble IoT devices, creating a data-driven connected community.
START YOUR DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION TODAY
More than 700 organizations around the world are using Cityworks to make their communities more resilient, sustainable, and safe — backed by more than 20 years of commitment to our customers and to GIS-centric solutions. After you submit your information, we will be in touch to learn more about your requirements, answer your questions, and review ways Cityworks can help you and your organization.
- Trimble funding calculator
- Blog Posts
- Links to government bills
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