Infrastructure is an essential part of any modern community. In this informative book, readers will explore the water supply, taking a detailed look at how water is gathered and filtered for safe consumption. Full-color photographs, fast facts, and accessible text provide readers with comprehensive descriptions of the system, an overview of its history and development, a description of the jobs that support the water system, and a look at how technology...

"America is stuck: just look at our crumbling roads and bridges, mismanaged railways, old-fashioned and easily overloaded air traffic control system, and perpetual lack of political will to do anything about it all. In contrast, take a trip around the world. Whiz through the Chunnel connecting England and France, get high-speed Internet and cell service on a remote mountain in Turkey, or travel in a driverless Mercedes in Germany, and see a future...

"This illustrated book extends the field guide genre from natural phenomena to human-made structures, making their design and construction approachable and understandable to non-engineers. Readers will learn to identify characteristics of the electrical grid, roadways, railways, bridges, tunnels, waterways, and more"--

"Anthology of essays examining and debating the status of America's infrastructure and the possibility that a green economy as a solution"--Provided by publisher.

Describes ten large-scale public investments, including the Louisiana Purchase, the Panama Canal, and the G.I. Bill, and their impact on American economics and society.

"Physical infrastructure in the United States is crumbling. The American Society of Civil Engineers has, in its latest report, given American roads and bridges a grade of D and C+, respectively, and has described roughly sixty-five thousand bridges in the United States as 'structurally deficient.' This crisis--and one need look no further than the I-35W bridge collapse in Minnesota to see that it is indeed a crisis--shows little sign of abating short...