Derek SparksComp IILindsey HastingsAmerica’s InfrastructureBased on the ASCE, Arkansas received an overall grade of a “D” on the 2014 report card for its infrastructure. Infrastructure, according to www.wikipedia.com, “ refers to structures, systems, and facilities serving the economy of a business, industry, country, city, town, or area,[1]including the services and facilities necessary for its economy to function”. Now the report card is designed to let society and engineers know the overall condition of our roads, dams, bridges, aviation, transportation, water system,and etc. The infrastructure of America as a whole has been struggled tremendously. We have had blackouts, natural disasters caused by hurricanes, collapse of bridges caused by design faults, and damages from terrorist. To improve this infrastructure, we will need funding, better maintenance, better design construction, and more efficient protection strategies from terrorists. We the people need to speak out about our infrastructure, start funding organizations, and come together within the community and think of ways to improve safety when disasters happen. No one wants to relive Hurricane Katrina or 911. Both were devastating to America and us not being prepared for the worst made it hard to live with and progress from.On August 13, 2003, there was a blackout in eight states and part of Canada. About 45 million people were affected within the eight states. Major power plants shut down due to this blackout. Many people were left without power for a few days. The blackout was caused by a software bug in the alarm system at a control room of the “FirstEnergy Corporation”, according to www.wikipedia.com. Now, there were way to prevent this from happening. Funding plays a big role in this. Now if there were more funds,America could invest in major upgrades, to increase more efficient ways to produce power which would lead to saving money for other parts of the infrastructure. If given more money, the power plant in Ohio,FirstEnergy Corporation, could hire more operators who could possible catch software bugs before a disaster happens. On August 29, 2005 Hurricane Katrina was rushing through New Orleans. This hurricane was one of the biggest disasters in America’s history. When it hit, levees and flood walls broke causing the water to fill the streets of New Orleans. The flood pumps stopped working and there was no way to get the water out of the city. “Katrina affected a large area of the Gulf Coast causing 1,833 deaths and resulting in the largest abrupt displacement of population in the United States since the Dust Bowl migration of the 1930s (Picou and Marshall 2007)”, according to Life after Hurricane Katrina: The Resilience in Survivors of Katrina (RISK) Project1, Mary C. Waters, Academic success database. It costsover 100 billion dollars in damage. This impact could have been weakened if the infrastructure was well maintained. The levees were built with a different type of soil from the levees display before they were constructed. The flood walls could have been thickened to withstand the impact of the water. The flood pumps should have been maintained so that when something like this does happen, they wouldn’t have stopped working. The Superdome was the only safe place for the people and it was terrible. Very little food, very little space, too many people, along with crime. This was a very devastating incident which caused a lot of people to lose their families. The infrastructure lacked maintenance due to lack of funding. Again I encourage you to speak up about your infrastructure. This could’ve happened to anyone so to prevent this from happening pay attention to our infrastructure and help make it better for our society. In April 2013, the Pacific Gas and Electric’s Metcalf substation was gunned down. The gunman destroyed 17 transformers. The gunman ended up escaping the incident. Grid officials got power from plants within the area and routed it around the substation to avoid blackouts. The gunman knew that knocking out substations in America could lead to power loss to most of America. Even during the IraqWar, terrorist damaged power lines in Baghdad so that our military could lose contact with personnel. There have been threats on ISIS targeting our power grid. The military is now adopting a power source on base so that they won’t have to rely so much on the countries power grid due to the fact it being so vulnerable to attacks and natural disasters. www.clearpath.com “The problem with the power grid”.There has been thousands of people each year suffering from our infrastructure. Now if we actually took a step back and asked our self, “what if I was part of that suffering”? What could I do to make my family feel better during this disaster, or why me? Instead of having to worry if something will happen to your love ones next take and initiative and encourage more people about our infrastructure. Our infrastructure is built to make our lives easier so why wouldn’t we want to improve it? Why would we want to stop bridges from falling and killing people, or stop terrorist for invading our power grid, or stop mother nature from doing so much damage by maintaining our levees, strengthening our houses, maintaining our roads, flood pumps, flood walls, and etc. We could be next. There is no telling what the future holds but we do know we can be ready if any disaster happens. . Studies have shown why hurricanes and tornadoes are ripping through cities and leaving familieswith nothing. For instance, back in April of 2014, tornadoes destroyed Vilonia and Mayflower, Ar. On doing research, I have learned that if each person have put and extra 3k on their house, which would have been for stronger wood and materials which could face up to high winds, the tornadoes wouldn’t have destroyed as much. However, you have to think, how many people actually has an extra three grandto spend. Some people cannot even afford a house. After the tornadoes hit, how many safe sites were there? Where could the people go who lost everything? Who was there to help? What if it was you? How would you feel if you were in that situation? You cannot imagine how it feels if you never been in a life changing situation like so. I am encouraging and inspiring us to come together when it’s about our construction on our roads, bridges, flood gates, levees, power grid, transportation, water waste and