PHILADELPHIA (AP/ KYW Newsradio) — A once-every-four-years report card on the upkeep of America’s infrastructure gave it a “C” grade on Tuesday, up slightly from previous reports, largely due to investments made during former President Joe Biden’s administration.
The report from the American Society of Civil Engineers, which examined everything from roads and dams to drinking water and railroads, warns that federal funding must be sustained or increased to avoid further deterioration and escalating costs.
“We have seen the investments start to pay off, but we still have a lot of work to do out there,” said Darren Olson, chair of this year’s report. He said decrepit infrastructure — from poor roads that damage cars to delayed flights to power outages that spoil groceries — hurts people and the economy.
“By investing in our infrastructure, we’re making our economy more efficient, we’re making it stronger [and] we’re making ourselves globally more competitive,” he said.
It’s especially critical that infrastructure can handle more extreme weather due to climate change, said Olson, noting hurricanes that devastated the East Coast and parts of Appalachia last year. The U.S. saw 27 weather disasters last year that cost at least $1 billion, the second-most since 1980.
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The 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act provided $550 billion in new infrastructure investments, but is set to expire in 2026. Another $30 billion came from the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, including for projects focused on clean energy and climate change, the engineering group said.
Pennsylvania’s report card comes out next year. Bob Wright, vice chair of the society’s State Council, said Pennsylvania’s evaluation may also improve from 2022’s “C-” due to spending from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
“With the IIJA legislation, we’ve been able to see more work get out the door and more improvements be affected,” he said.
However, Without funding for continued maintenance, Wright said any improved grades are in danger of sliding back.
President Donald Trump’s administration has targeted some of Biden’s green policies. Public parks improved to a C-minus from a D-plus, for example, thanks in part to significant investments over several years. Recently, however, the Trump administration moved to slash National Park Service staffing.
In 2021, the U.S. earned a C-minus overall. The investments made since then are just a fraction of the $9.1 trillion that the civil engineers group estimates is needed to bring all of the nation’s current infrastructure into a state of good repair.
Even if current federal infrastructure funding were maintained, there still would be a $3.7 trillion gap over a decade, according to the report.
The bill to upgrade and maintain the nation’s roughly 50,000 water utilities, for example, is $625 billion over the next two decades, according to the federal government. The grade for drinking water was C-minus, unchanged from four years ago.
Many communities already struggling to maintain old, outdated drinking water systems also face new requirements to replace lead service lines and reduce per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, collectively known as PFAS.
The bipartisan infrastructure bill helped complete or start “a lot of really important projects,” said Scott Berry, director of policy and governmental affairs at the US Water Alliance. “But the gap has widened so much over the last couple of decades that a lot, lot more investment is going to be needed.”
The bill also provided billions to help the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers upgrade inland waterways, which move roughly $150 billion in commerce every year, improving the grade from a D-plus to a C-minus.
Barges on the Mississippi River, for example, carry enormous amounts of coal, soybeans, corn and other raw materials to international markets. But critical infrastructure like locks and dams — many built more than a half-century ago and requiring regular maintenance and repair — is often invisible to the public, making it easy to neglect, said Mike Steenhoek, executive director of the Soy Transportation Coalition.
And when big projects are funded, it too often comes in stages, he said. That forces projects to pause until more money is appropriated, driving up costs for materials and labor.
“If we really want to make the taxpayer dollars stretch further, you have got to be able to bring a greater degree of predictability and reliability in how you fund these projects,” he said.
The report’s focus on engineering and money misses the importance of adopting policies that could improve how people use and pay for infrastructure, according to Clifford Winston, a microeconomist in the Brookings Institution’s economic studies program.
“You fail to make the most efficient use of what you have,” said Winston. For example, he noted that congestion pricing like that recently adopted by New York City — charging people to drive in crowded areas — places the burden on frequent users and can pressure people to drive less, reducing the need for new bridges, tunnels and repairs.
FULL REPORT
Roads remain in chronically poor shape, receiving a D-plus compared to a D in the last report, despite $591 billion in investments since 2021.
Two categories, rail and energy, received lower grades. Disasters like the derailment of a train carrying dangerous chemicals in East Palestine, Ohio, in 2023 lowered rail’s previous B mark to a B-minus.
The energy sector, stressed by surging demand from data centers and electric vehicles, got a D-plus, down from C-minus.
“While we have cause to celebrate that we saw some real improvement here, there is still a long road to go,” said ASCE Executive Director Tom Smith. “A ‘C’ is still mediocre. It still requires attention. And if you look at those grades, we’ve still got nine of the 18 grades that are in the ‘D’ range, which generally means poor or at risk.”
Engineers say problems in many sectors have festered for so long that the nation must figure out how to address the shortcomings now or pay for them when systems fail.
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