This interagency national challenge brings together the capabilities of the Department of Energy (DOE), the Department of Transportation (DOT), and the National Science Foundation (NSF).
Challenge
America's built infrastructure, including residential and commercial buildings roads, bridges, maritime ports, rail beds, rail track supports, runways, terminals, and transshipment warehouses that connect us, faces high costs and lengthy timelines at every stage of the lifecycle: design, materials, permitting, construction, operations, maintenance, and decommissioning. Developing stronger, longer lasting, and lower cost materials remains slow, requiring years of laboratory testing and validation. When assets enter service, inefficient designs, unseen structural wear, and faulty controls can drive up costs and safety risks. New AI models and advanced simulations can reduce costs, accelerate the discovery of next-generation construction materials and improve the design, operation, and longevity of the Nation's physical infrastructure.
AI Solution
Physics-based machine learning, digital twins, and foundation models for materials science can lower costs and transform the lifecycle of physical transportation infrastructure and residential and commercial buildings. Simulations, digital twins, and models trained on validated physics can run structural, energy, and materials tests orders of magnitude faster than conventional methods, enabling breakthroughs in materials, automated design, predictive maintenance, and cost-effective decommissioning. AI can rapidly discover and optimize new materials with lower cost and improved strength, durability, and resilience, by predicting material properties and guiding experimental validation for high-stress environments. Federal agencies will partner with AI developers, materials manufacturers, academia, national laboratories, infrastructure owners, and other market participants who will provide the data to help validate models and accelerate development.
Justification
DOE's building design expertise, materials science capabilities, integrated research infrastructure, and track record of public-private partnerships positions it well to modernize American buildings and optimize transportation efficiencies. DOT’s expertise in infrastructure engineering, testing, and asset management enables it to innovate across transportation infrastructure. Both American buildings and transportation infrastructure rely on basic and use-inspired research from the NSF in advanced materials, which lead to new construction techniques and materials discovery that transform physical infrastructure design and operation across the full lifecycle. The DOT's relationships with states, localities, port authorities, and transit agencies will enable the integration of the diverse transportation network systems with the partnerships needed to accelerate breakthroughs in the design, materials, construction, and operational efficiencies and safety of the Nation's transportation infrastructure.
National Impact
This effort will accelerate the discovery and deployment of stronger, more resilient, and lower-cost materials, while reducing construction and maintenance costs, thus making physical infrastructure less expensive to build and operate, and safer to use. These advances will increase housing availability and affordability, shorten construction and maintenance time, extend the service life of infrastructure, and reduce operational costs through predictive maintenance. Together, this work will prolong the life and performance of the physical infrastructure that underpins the American economy.