Comment by youngtaff

11 hours ago

Why do the Army Corps of Engineers get so involved in civil infrastructure in the US - thinking of the Mississippi in particular?

In other countries the government would be involved but it would be a civilian rather than military role

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youngtaff

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bumby  11 hours ago

Not sure about the exact thrust of your question but a few points:

- flood management is not easy to monetize so there is not much incentive for private industry. The timelines for design decisions (100 year, 500 year) often don’t mate well with private incentives

- it crosses many property boundaries which makes it hard to manage unless you have the rights of a government

- much of the work is still done by private companies but managed by the government, just like other infrastructure works like roads, bridges etc.

gsquaredxc  4 hours ago

There's some good answers here but something important is missed. Militaries spend a lot of time having soldiers shoot rounds down the range to ensure everyone is up to snuff. The engineering corps is similar but better. You can fund target practice for your army engineers by having them go build public infrastructure. It's a win for the military (practical experience), win for locals (public infrastructure), and a win for the taxpayer (two for one deal).

  • bumby  2 hours ago

    I don't think that idea necessarily holds for the Army Corps of Engineers. They technically work under a military command, but the vast bulk of the engineers are civilians. The military officers tend to rotate in and out of positions relatively fast. And the civilians aren't required to do construction in combat theaters (although voluntary positions do exist). So the idea that the USACE is set up to give practice for military theaters isn't really apt. It's more about the scope and incentives of the projects they work on. E.g., a private company doesn't have the right timeline or profit incentives to build dams for flood control.

stevenwoo  7 hours ago

In addition to sibling comments for intent, the book Cadillac Desert documents how this government agency can be used to further moneyed interests, ie subsidize developments that would otherwise not be economically viable from local funding but become viable when federal taxpayer foots the bill. (The big examples in the book is building cities and farmland in deserts.)

wbl  11 hours ago

The US did not have a civilian engineering school for a few decades after the founding. West Point was the only institution creating engineers. Given they had responsibility for port defenses the civil engineering of waterways was an easy addition.