I don’t think most people appreciate or understand how fragile and underfunded our country’s infrastructure is.  Our roads, bridges, schools, and other public works, in addition to the infrastructure that delivers our electricity are literally crumbling.  Recently, the American Society of Civil Engineers rated the country’s infrastructure at a “D” level.  Furthermore, those engineers are arguing that the controversial stimulus package is too little, since the price tag for remedying our country’s crumbling infrastructure alone is over $2 trillion dollars. From CNNMoney.com:

The nation’s roads, bridges, power grid, water supply, schools and transit systems are all in a state of disrepair due to under-funding – and the proposed stimulus plan will not go far enough to solve the problem, according to a report released Wednesday.

The American Society of Civil Engineers, which represents 146,000 engineers across the country and grades the nation’s infrastructure every four years, assigned a “D” grade to the country’s infrastructure. The group said the cost to repair crumbling public structures has risen to $2.2 trillion from $1.7 trillion in 2005.

“The nation’s infrastructure crisis is endangering our future prosperity,” ASCE President Wayne Klotz said at a press conference. “Crumbling infrastructure has a direct impact on our personal and economic health.”

The group rated 15 infrastructure categories, none of which received a grader higher than “C+.” Drinking water, inland waterways, levees, roads and wastewater facilities all received a “D-,” the lowest grades on the 2009 report card.

Roads got a particularly poor grade, as Americans spend an estimated 4.2 billion hours a year stuck in traffic, which costs the economy about $78.2 billion a year, according to ASCE. Highway construction is set to receive $30 billion from the stimulus plan – the largest portion of infrastructure spending in the bill.

The national power grid, another key project in the stimulus plan, got a “D+.” ASCE said public investment on the grid has not met rising demand for power and electric utility investment needs could rise to $1.5 trillion in 20 years. President Obama has proposed updating the existing structure to a new “smart” grid.

But even if the federal government passes its economic stimulus plan, ASCE still estimates that infrastructure will be under-funded by $1.1 trillion. State and federal spending will only amount to $903 billion in the next five years, according to the group’s estimates, and stimulus spending is expected to be less than $100 billion.

The group said the stimulus program would amount to a good start, but the country “clearly still has a long way to go.”

—
Photo source for attribution here, here, here, and here. The authors or licensors of these images do not endorse my work or me and their images are protected under an attribution license.

:: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::