Canada’s infrastructure vulnerable to disaster

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Catastrophic events are increasing and Canada’s buildings, roads, bridges and other infrastructure need immediate work to be able to withstand them, say the organizers of the 23^rd World Conference on Disaster Management.

$172 billion is needed to replace municipal assets alone according to a Municipal Infrastructure Study done last year. Countries around the world face a similar, urgent need to build or upgrade infrastructure, warns Saeed Mirza, professor emeritus in engineering at McGill University in Montreal. The cost, he estimates at close to $100 trillion.

“Every Canadian should be concerned”

“Every Canadian should be concerned because if we don’t take immediate action to improve the condition of our critical infrastructure, the outcome will be disastrous,” warns Mirza in a news release about the conference taking place in Toronto at the end of June.

Disaster has already struck north of Montreal in the province of Quebec. In September 2006 tons of concrete crashed onto a highway when an overpass collapsed killing five people and injuring six others.

The Champlain Bridge which connects Montreal Island to the mainland was found by engineers to be “functionally deficient” for both current and long-term traffic demands, and showing “significant deterioration.” The federal government plans to replace it entirely.

Much of Canada’s infrastructure was built in the 1950s and 60s. Mirza says there was a lack of quality control and knowledge about the way concrete, in particular, deteriorates.  Economic hard times hit in the late 70s and early 80s and maintenance was, in some cases, deferred.

“Maintenance must never be deferred”

“One of the first things that goes is maintenance,” he says. “We put it respectfully as deferred maintenance. But to my mind maintenance must never be deferred.”

Governments need to look at their priorities, Mirza thinks. “If I was the prime minister I would place infrastructure at par with health, education and other social services because infrastructure is the most important ingredient for our economic development because it’ll increase our productivity, enhance our national and international competitiveness and also the quality of life.”

If governments don’t have the financial resources to maintain and rebuild infrastructure he suggests they get help from the private sector. He notes some U.S. states have set up infrastructure banks to fund projects.

“Deterioration…is like cancer”

Deterioration of infrastructure is like cancer, Mirza likes to tell his students. “If we detect it early and deal with it early, it can be cured and the patient can live a very healthy normal life. But if we don’t the deterioration escalates, as it does with infrastructure, and finally it becomes fatal.”