An infrastructure engineer works to improve and maintain a city’s, region’s, or country’s infrastructure. The work could be focused on the upkeep of a variety of systems that are essential to society’s smooth operation, such as the electrical grid, railways, sewers, water supply, bridges, and highways. An infrastructure engineer may also be tasked with repairing or replacing infrastructure that has failed or been destroyed. The levees in New Orleans were damaged by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and a bridge collapse would require similar repairs to keep a city and its people safe.
Many established cities’ infrastructure systems are aging, posing a new set of challenges for infrastructure engineers. Natural gas pipelines, for example, are buried underground, and old maps can be inaccurate over time as landmarks above ground change and grow. Before any infrastructure improvements can be made, the location of existing pipes must be accurately mapped out.
The old age of many of the systems presents a challenge to an infrastructure engineer charged with maintaining them. Older systems were constructed using antiquated methods and designs, and maintenance was often minimal or nonexistent for decades. The task is frequently to use modern equipment and methods to inspect a bridge or levee, for example, and then to devise ways to bring them up to modern safety standards.
Sustainable infrastructure engineering is concerned with the rehabilitation of existing infrastructure systems in order to ensure their long-term viability. This means, for example, that an infrastructure engineer would carry out his responsibilities while keeping an eye on the impact of his work on the environment. In other cases, he might investigate how the environment has influenced historic structures or the best way to dispose of waste without causing further environmental harm.
The responsibilities of an infrastructure engineer vary depending on the project. An infrastructure engineer may be called on to inspect bridges after a flood or earthquake and determine how to repair any damage, or to inspect a bridge as part of routine maintenance on one project. The engineer would inspect levees, design better roadways, or figure out the best way to upgrade a port or rail terminal on other types of projects.