Infrastructure Report Card 2005

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For more information on the I-35W bridge collapse, click here.

Long commutes.
Dirty Water.
Delayed flights.
Failing Dams.

With each passing day, aging and overburdened infrastructure threatens the economy and quality of life in every state, city and town in the nation.

Read about the infrastructure issues in your region and how you can help raise the grade on America's failing infrastructure.

Infrastructure: Your Point of View

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Updated for 2008

ASCE estimates that $1.6 trillion is needed over a five-year period to bring the nation's infrastructure to a good condition. Establishing a long-term development and maintenance plan must become a national priority. But in the short term, small steps can be taken by the 110th Congress, as well as state legislatures and local communities, to improve our nation's failing infrastructure.

What are policy experts saying about infrastructure?

ASCE sponsored a Congressional Quarterly Forum that explored the solutions for improving, maintaining, and expanding our nation's infrastructure. Watch here.

Forward or Back?
Recent steps in infrastructure issues

WASHINGTON, Oct 30, Washington transit agency at risk in AIG fallout:

Reuters

Washington, D.C.'s transit agency won a slight reprieve on Thursday from having to pay millions on a defaulted financing deal, which many fear could escalate and cost U.S. public transportation groups up to $16 billion on exposure to other soured financing.

Denver, CO: 09/18/08, A Quiet Crisis Below Ground

The Denver Post

The state of Colorado needs to invest at least $2.6 Billion to fix a drinking water system that has been plagued deterioration that has led to parasites, disease, and damages to roadways. Columnist Susan Thornton argues that not nearly enough attention has been given to the issue.

Kinnelon, NJ: 09/23/08, Water Worries in Kinnelon

The Record of Bergen County

Growth in the area has required the local water company to borrow money from Kinnelon Borough?s water tower. Millions of dollars and years of work are required to increase capacity, and residents are now dealing with significant restrictions on their water usage.

Fresno, CA: 09/28/08, Public Works Projects Pay Off

The Fresno Bee Editorial Board

The editorial board of the Fresno Bee lauds government investment in infrastructure improvements, citing that the subsequent private investment in the area is exactly what the area?s economy needs during the national economic slowdown. The board calls for significant increases in publicly-funded projects to improve the aging region.

Detroit, MI: 10/06/08, Rising Salt Prices Could Be Big Hit to Road Maintenance

Detroit Free-Press

Because salt prices have gone up dramatically, cities are being forced to limit the amount of salt they can purchase to prevent dangerous and icy roads during the winter.

Baltimore, MD: 7/30/2008, MD Shifts Tack on Transit Policy

The Baltimore Sun

In a shift away from highways-first transportation policies, top elected officials in the Baltimore region have decided to direct about $340 million in previously unallocated revenue over 20 years entirely toward mass transit projects. The action by the Baltimore Regional Transportation Board comes in response to protests from citizen advisers and transit advocates that its previous long-range plan, called Transportation Outlook 2035, was too heavily weighted in favor of road projects.

Washington, DC: 07/29/2008, Drop in Miles Drive is Depleting Highway Fund, Loan From Mass Transit is Urged

The New York Times

Gasoline tax revenue is falling so fast that the federal government may not be able to meet its commitments to states for road projects already under way, the secretary of transportation said Monday. The secretary, Mary E. Peters, said the short-term solution would be for the Highway Trust Fund's highway account to borrow money from the fund?s mass transit account, a step that would balance the accounts as highway travel declines and use of mass transit increases. Both trends are being driven by the high price of gasoline and diesel fuel.

Philadelphia, PA: 7/28/2008, U.S. Bridges Falling Down?

ABC News

At least $140 billion is needed to make major repairs or upgrades to one of every four U.S. bridges, transportation officials from states across the country said in a report released Monday. State officials said bridge repairs are just one element of a pressing need for more federal funding to improve the country's deteriorating transportation infrastructure. "We need federal intervention, and federal intervention at a big level," Gov. Ed Rendell said after details were released of the report by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials.

Port Mayaca, FL: 7/29/2008, Engineers make progress with Lake Okeechobee Wall Construction

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

With repair work lingering through another hurricane season, construction crews have finished the first section of wall intended to help prevent breaches of Lake Okeechobee's aging dike. Installation of the initial 3,500-foot section at Port Mayaca was completed July 11. Strength testing is expected to last until mid-August, according to the Army Corps of Engineers. Work is now set to begin on the next 3.5-mile section of wall near Sand Cut. An initial 500-foot test panel of the wall must first clear inspections. Initial construction targets the southeastern side of the Herbert Hoover Dike, considered the most vulnerable part of the 140-mile-long structure.

Harrisburg, PA: 7/08/2008, $335 Million for Bridges

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Gov. Ed Rendell has signed "buy now, pay later" legislation to provide an extra $335 million to repair 411 bridges classified as structurally deficient. Thirty of the bridges are in Allegheny County -- seven on the Parkway East/Interstate 376, including one at the Rodi Road interchange that served as a symbolic backdrop for yesterday's outdoor signing ceremony. Parts of the concrete piers have crumbled away, exposing a lattice of reinforcing rods. The piers, deck and expansion dams will be repaired next year during the final phase of the four-year Parkway East rehabilitation between Downtown and Monroeville.

Seattle, WA: 7/06/2008, America's crumbling infrastructure requires a bold look ahead

Seattle Post-Intelligencer

The Mississippi River pushed relentlessly past dozens of levees this month. Towns were submerged, their buildings tiny islands in murky water. Ducks paddled on ponds that had once been farmland. Some flooding was inevitable, given the force of the swollen Mississippi. But a poorly managed flood-defense system did not help. For the past few years, it has been hard to ignore the crumbling infrastructure, from the devastating breach of New Orleans' levees after Hurricane Katrina to the collapse of a big bridge in Minneapolis last summer.

Phoenix, Arizona: 07/06/2008, Arizona Cities Struggle to Make Road Repairs

The Arizona Republic

Roads are cracking in Eagar. Potholes are cropping up in Cottonwood. Pavement is wearing out in Wickenburg. Streets in cities and towns across are falling into disrepair because there is not enough money to keep them in shape. Some cities are barely able to get by with routine maintenance, let alone build new roads to keep up with growth. Others are worse off. Eagar, for example, can't afford to fill the cracks in its streets. Municipalities rely on the state to fund all sorts of road projects, including routine maintenance. But that funding is no longer keeping up with the soaring costs and rising demands of roadwork.

Washington, DC: 6/11/2008, Infrastructure Funding in Congressional Spotlight

Land Line Magazine

A handful of bills currently under consideration in Congress aim to put billions of dollars toward fixing the nation's transportation and infrastructure crisis, elected and private-sector officials said Tuesday, June 10. The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee conducted a public hearing about financing infrastructure investments as part of an ongoing process to determine funding mechanisms leading up to the scheduled transportation reauthorization legislation due in Congress in 2009.

Los Angeles, CA: 6/10/2008, More Rough Roads Ahead

Los Angeles Times

More than a quarter of California's 49,477 miles of highway lanes are considered in disrepair, an amount so far above normal that the state, by some measures, has the second-worst road conditions in the country. In Los Angeles County and the Inland Empire, Caltrans records show that about 30% of the highways are in disrepair -- most suffering from major structural distress.

Las Vegas, NV: 6/10/2008, Transit Solution Could be Copied Here

Las Vegas Sun

The Las Vegas Valley could learn from communities that are taking creative approaches to traffic management — efforts that began long before $4-a-gallon gas started pushing cities in that direction. In Minneapolis buses can legally cruise along highway shoulders to bypass traffic. Several other cities have "intelligent" signal systems that reduce delays by adjusting to the flow of traffic. And elsewhere cities separate bicycles from auto traffic to promote two-wheeled commuting, or charge motorists stiff fees to enter central urban districts as a way of relieving congestion and raising money for transportation improvements.

Harrisburg, PA: 5/24/2008, Decision to Drive Creates Drop in State Gas Tax Revenue; Bridge Work Threatened

CitizenVoice.com

A recent drop in state gas tax revenues is giving officials concern just as the debate over transportation funding options is heating up again. Gas tax revenue collections for the Motor License Fund are below projections this year, a trend attributed to motorists driving less because of skyrocketing oil prices.

Atlanta, GA: 5/24/2008, Twists and Turns on the Road to Transportation Solutions

The Daily Citizen

There are some things that Georgians clamoring for a way out of traffic congestion simply must accept. Such as the need to direct more money and innovative solutions to this state's transportation challenges. There are others that policy-makers endlessly repeat in an attempt to condition the public into acceptance. Such as "commuter rail" and "subsidy."

St. Paul, MN: 5/24/2008, Transportation Issues Big This Year

Duluth News Tribune

Motorists witnessing a burst of road construction in the coming years may like a transportation package lawmakers approved this year, but teenage drivers may think proposed driving restrictions are, like, totally not cool.

May 12, 2008: Gas Prices Send Surge of Riders to Mass Transit

New York Times

With the price of gas approaching $4 a gallon, more commuters are abandoning their cars and taking the train or bus instead.

May 12, 2008: Growing Number of US Scientists are Mobilizing for Public Office

AP Newswire

He is among a growing number of scientists who feel slighted and abused in the public debate in recent years and are mobilizing for a new effort to inject "evidence-based decision making" into public policy.

May 10, 2008: Prince George's County, MD: Billions Needed to Fix Schools

The Washington Post

The Prince George's County school system requires $2.1 billion to fix its aging buildings, according to a study that found many schools running on antiquated equipment and deteriorating inside and out.

May 8, 2008: Pipeline of trouble: Aging sewer systems pose threat to health, municipal agencies fined $35M since 2003 for overflows.

USA Today

America's aging sewer systems continue to dump human waste into rivers and streams, despite years of fines and penalties targeting publicly owned agencies responsible for sewage overflows, a Gannett News Service analysis shows.

May 8, 2008: Criticized in U.S., the F.A.A. Is Seen in Many Regions as a First-Rate Regulator

New York Times

Despite the heightened scrutiny of the Federal Aviation Administration, regulators elsewhere say they still view the American agency as a model for safety and regulatory compliance.

Long commutes. Dirty Water. Delayed flights. Failing Dams.

Infrastructure: Your Point of View

What are policy experts saying about infrastructure?

Forward or Back? Recent steps in infrastructure issues

Long commutes.
Dirty Water.
Delayed flights.
Failing Dams.

Forward or Back?
Recent steps in infrastructure issues