The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) 2013 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure gave the nation’s infrastructure an overall grade of D+, showing slight progress from the D in the last Report Card issued in 2009.
“The reason why we want to make improvements to our infrastructure is not just simply to improve the grade,” says ASCE President Gregory E. DiLoreto, P.E., F.ASCE. “Investment in our infrastructure will help grow our economy; it will create jobs and improve our quality of life. It means being able to get to work easier without sitting in traffic all day long; and continuing to enjoy safe, clean and reliable drinking water anywhere in the country; and having an electrical transmission grid with fewer or no blackouts.”
Transportation infrastructure included grades for rail, ports, inland waterways and roads. Final grades were assigned based on capacity to meet future demand, condition, funding, future needs, operation and maintenance, public safety, resilience, and innovation.
The grade for rail saw the largest improvement, moving up to a C+ in 2013. Railroads are experiencing a competitive resurgence as an energy-efficient freight transportation option, and both freight and passenger rail have been investing heavily in their tracks, bridges, and tunnels as well as adding new capacity. In 2010 alone, freight railroads renewed the rails on more than 3,100 miles of railroad track, equivalent to going coast to coast. Since 2009, capital investment from both freight and passenger railroads has exceeded $75 billion, actually increasing investment during the recession when materials prices were lower and trains ran less frequently.
U.S. ports received a grade of C from the ASCE because considerable investment is necessary to continue to compete globally, including improved port maintenance, modernization, and expansion.
While port authorities and their private sector partners have planned over $46 billion in capital improvements from now until 2016, their connections to roads, rail, and water channels have suffered from inadequate federal funding. The report also found that more dredging will be necessary to take advantage of higher trade capacity once the expanded Panama Canal opens in 2015.
Inland waterways received a D- grade because conditions are poor and investment remains sluggish. In fact, many sections of the inland waterways systems an locks have not been upgraded since the 1950s, leading to an average of 52 service interruptions a day throughout the inland waterway system, and a backlog of projects with estimated completion dates stretching to the year 2090, according to the report.
Targeted efforts to improve conditions and significant reductions in highway fatalities resulted in a slight improvement in the roads grade to a D this year. However, forty-two percent of America’s major urban highways remain congested, costing the economy an estimated $101 billion in wasted time and fuel annually. While the conditions have improved in the near term, and federal, state, and local capital investments increased to $91 billion annually, that level of investment is insufficient and still projected to result in a decline in conditions and performance in the long term. Currently, the Federal Highway Administration estimates that $170 billion in capital investment would be needed on an annual basis to significantly improve conditions and performance.
Click here to view the full report.
