EVENT:  The Orange County branch of the American Society of Civil Engineers will release the 2016 Orange County Infrastructure Report Card. Now in its fourth issuance, the report card provides an overall grade for the county’s infrastructure as well as breakdown evaluations in aviation, electrical power, flood control, ground transportation, natural gas, oil, parks, recreation & environment, school facilities, surface water quality, solid waste, wastewater and water supply. It was developed in collaboration with the UCI Civil & Environmental Engineering Affiliates, an advisory group to the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering in UCI’s Henry Samueli School of Engineering.

WHEN/WHERE:  7:30-11:30 a.m. Thursday, July 21, Irvine City Council chambers, 1 Civic Center Plaza

INFORMATION:  Media planning to attend should contact Vanessa Hahn at 619-400-0644 or vxha@deainc.com. Attendance and parking are free.

HIGHLIGHTS:        

7:30 a.m.   Continental breakfast

8 a.m.        Welcoming remarks
Yaz Emrani, co-chair of the O.C. Infrastructure Report Card Executive Committee
Steven Choi, mayor of Irvine
Gregory Washington, dean of UCI’s Henry Samueli School of Engineering
Brett Sanders, chair of UCI’s Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering

9 a.m.        2016 Orange County Infrastructure Report Card unveiling and overview

9:30 a.m.   Speaker presentations on Orange County’s infrastructure
Mike Kraman, CEO of the Transportation Corridor Agencies
Kurt Berchtold, executive officer of the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board
Shane Silsby, director of Orange County Public Works
Ken Rosenfield, ASCE Region 9 governor and city engineer/director of public services for Laguna Hills

BACKGROUND:  Infrastructure has a direct impact on people’s lives every day – from water to schools to roads and airports. First produced in 2002, the Orange County Infrastructure Report Card is intended to build widespread support and understanding regarding the importance of public infrastructure facilities and systems and their impact on the quality of life and economic vitality in Orange County. The effort is modeled after ASCE’s national Report Card for America’s Infrastructure and considers the key criteria of condition, capacity, operations and resilience/security. More than 110 people worked on this year’s report card, including technical experts from both public and private sectors as well as leaders in the public sector, consultant/private industry, academia and the environmental community.