By: Dr. John Brown Miller Miller was professor of civil engineering at MIT, chair of the ABA Section of Public Contract Law, and is an expert on infrastructure procurement. He as been a member of ASCE since 1972. Miller is also on LinkedIn and Twitter. Holman W. Jenkins, Jr., had an interesting piece in the
By: Dr. John Brown Miller Moving people, goods, and information more quickly at lower cost has been a common public purpose since George Washington left his Potomac Canal development in 1789 to become President of the United States. Our infrastructure platform allows information to flow, goods to move, and people to work. No nation has
By: Dr. John Brown Miller Joel Moser’s August 4, 2017 column “Five myths about infrastructure” was an interesting read, and I finally have time to rebut it. I know, respect, and like Mr. Moser. As with all complicated subjects, there are competing, conflicting, views. Mr. Moser’s “five myths” are actually “five truths”. I’ve relabeled and
By Dr. John Brown Miller [Originally published on line by Transport Topics on July 27, and in print on August 6, 2018.] Miller was professor of civil engineering at MIT, chair of the ABA Section of Public Contract Law, and is an expert on infrastructure procurement. Support for infrastructure has been historically a non-partisan issue,
By: Dr. John Brown Miller The Trump administration’s Legislative Outline for Rebuilding Infrastructure in America will add the measurement of outcomes against infrastructure plans to federal grant policy. That is a revolutionary change for the better. The program includes $200 billion in new, direct federal spending over a ten-year period, designed to attract $1.3 trillion in
Congressional Infrastructure Dead End – Earmarks or Nothing By: Dr. John Brown Miller [Originally published by in The Hill on June 9, 2018.] Members of Congress are used to logrolling each other to move as many projects from their district’s wish list onto a joint list of projects that can garner 218 votes in the
Infrastructure Off-Track: the Gateway Project to New York By: Dr. John Brown Miller [Originally published by The Washington Examiner on April 8, 2018.] The federal role in financing state infrastructure remains upside down. Instead of using life cycle competition to confirm value for money, Congress remains focused on earmarking state projects in federal appropriation bills.
Pavlov’s Dogs and Federal Infrastructure Dollars By: Dr. John Brown Miller Miller was professor of civil engineering at MIT, chair of the ABA Section of Public Contract Law, and is an expert on infrastructure procurement. Miller is on LinkedIn and Twitter @JohnBrownMiller In a famous behavior psychology study, Ivan Pavlov’s dogs showed that human behavior
Our economy – not government – needs to invest more in infrastructure. By: Dr. John Brown Miller [Originally published by the Washington Examiner on February 5, 2018.] Congressman John Faso’s Op Ed on January 23 presents the arguments for establishing an American Infrastructure Bank. The national grade of “D” grade received from the American Society
Our crumbling infrastructure can be fixed if we change how we fund capital investments and maintenance. By: Dr. John Brown Miller [Originally published by Route Fifty on December 18 2017.] In the United States, we routinely separate “capital” activities from “maintenance and repair” activities. This made sense in 1916, when Congress began funding the US