In Defense of Public Road Departments: Challenges from the Staff Perspective

Infrastructure is a hot topic, from our nation’s capital to our local municipalities. We all seem to agree that our economy and our overall quality of life depend on infrastructure systems, particularly our transportation network. And every time the subject of transportation infrastructure comes up, the first things we see are photos of traffic jams, deteriorating bridges, and potholes. Why can’t we ever seem to solve these problems?

In this session, we look at these problems from an often neglected point of view: that of the people whose job it is to manage the construction and maintenance our transportation infrastructure. The employees of State DOTs and municipalities who develop and execute street and highway programs come to work every day to solve these problems for the rest of us, and they work with restrictions and constraints which are poorly understood by the general public, including some who voice the loudest complaints.

Paul Schmitz, Tensar’s Market Manager for Public Roads joins this session. Paul has an extensive and detailed understanding of the challenges facing the public sector as we work to address our transportation infrastructure needs. Our discussion focuses on providing an understanding of the challenges and constraints facing state and municipal staff in this area, including:

Funding, Procurement rules, Incentives and risks, Bureaucratic process, and Outside factors