CitizenReport wins Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon’s 2023 Congressional App Challenge in Pennsylvania’s Fifth District

When asked what inspired the creation of CitizenReport, the students said, “Getting a flat tire from a pothole is bad, but many infrastructure issues, such as a downed stop sign or a failed guard rail, can be quite dangerous. The infrastructure in our area is generally in good order, so the worst we’ve had to personally deal with is a flat tire, but we know not everyone is that lucky. Many people drive on roads with potentially dangerous conditions, unsafe bridges, and downed stop signs.

While many infrastructure issues take time and resources to fix, many are simple and, with the proper information, could be dealt with swiftly. As examples, a downed sign, a malfunctioning stop light, or fallen branches are problems that take minimal resources to fix. The bottleneck in these situations is just information, and it seemed to us like it should be possible for someone who finds an infrastructure problem to quickly and easily report it and ensure that the information gets to the appropriate party. The average citizen should not have to be an expert regarding which municipality, agency, or company has responsibility for a particular piece of infrastructure. The app can do that! Even in cases of road disrepair, which could take more time and resources to fix, it would be useful to learn and confirm that these issues are affecting the lives of people in the community. This app could provide an easy way to keep track of how many reported infrastructure issues have been fixed. The primary inspiration for our app was to enable citizens to report infrastructure problems.”