Durability and sustainability of infrastructure — a state-of-the-art report

This paper discusses the basic concepts involved in infrastructure, durability, and sustainability. At present, infrastructure facilities are designed and constructed on the basis of direct costs only, without explicit consideration of maintenance and depreciation over its service life as in other industries. Proper design, operation, and management of infrastructure must deal with every facet of its service life, ranging from conception, feasibility studies, design, construction, operation, maintenance, repair and rehabilitation, and finally decommissioning and disposal of the system after it has outlived its useful life. Every step of these considerations must be guided by overall socioeconomic and environmental concerns; in summary, they must be guided by the principles of sustainable development, which embrace the issue of embodied energy in the materials, construction, and both initial and recurring maintenance. The degradation of the performance of Canada's infrastructure over the past few decades is reviewed, along with the consequences of proper or deferred maintenance and their impact on Canada's infrastructure deficit. The roles of the civil engineering profession, including education and training, and those of the public and private sectors are discussed briefly.