Many of my conversations with friends and associates are about what a Civil Engineer does.  The simple answer is that we build the infrastructure that cities need.  Whether it be roads and bridges, water distribution, wastewater processing, airports, freight systems, you name it, a Civil Engineer was involved.  The next question that comes up is typically, why are there so many potholes?  

One national society that represents Civil Engineers is the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE).  Part of their function is to periodically rattle the cage when the current political or economic environment results in slashing of transportation budgets.  As you might guess, this is happening at all levels of government now.  This report (http://www.asce.org/economicstudy/?utm_campaign=08.05.11%20ASCE%20E-Newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua) points out the future issues will occur if we ignore the needs of our transportation infrastructure.

Enjoy!