Show me the money

By Amanda Carlson,

Associate Editor, Practical Welding Today

“Show me the money.”

The phrase was made popular in the 1999 movie “Jerry Maguire,” in which Rod Tidwell, an NFL wide receiver played by Cuba Gooding Jr., jeers his sports agent Jerry Maguire, played by Tom Cruise, telling him to “Show me the money!”

In essence, that seems to be the slogan of the day since the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, in which almost $50 billion of the $787 billion package is reserved for infrastructure projects. While many shops have yet to reap the benefits, plenty of shops are or will very soon. In fact, President Obama recently announced the 2,000th infrastructure project approved by the Department of Transportation. It is unclear, however, how many of those projects have been started.

Those 2,000 projects aside, plenty of other opportunities for work exist, especially if you take into account the findings by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), which recently released its Annual Report Card for Infrastructure. Overall, the society gave U.S. infrastructure a grade of D, with bridges receiving a C.

According to the Transportation Statistics Annual Report released by the U.S. DOT, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, of the 600,905 bridges in the U.S., 72,868 ( 12.1 percent) were structurally deficient and 89,024 ( 14. 8 percent) were functionally obsolete in 2008. While the number of deficient bridges in rural areas decreased from 2005 to 2008, the number increased in urban areas.

To reverse that trend, ASCE proposed that an annual investment of $186 billion on roads and $17 billion on bridges be made. Currently the U.S. spends about $70.3 billion on roads and $10.5 billion on bridges.

What does the organization classify as a substantial improvement? It means setting a national goal of having less than 15 percent of bridges pegged as structurally deficient or functionally obsolete by 2013; spending more money at all levels of government to fund necessary repairs on run-down bridges; and updating bridge inspection standards and increasing funding for transportation research.

With the proper funding and a commitment for improvement from local, state, and federal government, we’re potentially looking at enough work to keep shops busy for a while. It might not materialize right away, but the opportunity and the need definitely exist. More job opportunities mean a demand for workers. In fact, infrastructurist.com rated ironworking No. 7 on its top 10 hottest job opportunities in infrastructure.

Will there be enough workers to fill that demand? Organizations like the International Association of Bridge, Structural, Ornamental & Reinforcing Ironworkers are doing everything they can to attract and train a new generation of workers to handle the load with apprentice programs available through local unions. Others like the American Welding Society, Fabricators & Manufacturers Association, and the Society of Manufacturing Engineers are working hard to provide educational opportunities and offer scholarships to young people interested in welding and fabrication.