from Nygaard Notes #261, July 2, 2004

The bridge near my house, the one that passes over the freeway, is being rebuilt this summer. All the noise and the local street detours have made it a bit of a neighborhood event. I was talking to one of my neighbors about the project and he told me that the bridge was so far behind in its maintenance that it was in danger of collapsing at any moment. Who knew? This conversation started me thinking about the nation's bridges, and more.

Few readers of the corporate press have heard about a group called the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) or their "Report Card for America's Infrastructure." The latest report card put out by this collection of thousands of engineers from the public and private sectors was issued last September, and it updates their previous report, put out in 2001. (I have been meaning to bring this up, but I guess it took jackhammers in my neighborhood to get me going on this. Sorry.)

ASCE took a comprehensive look at 12 different "infrastructure categories," including roads, bridges, mass transit, aviation, schools, drinking water, wastewater, dams, solid waste, hazardous waste, navigable waterways and energy. In their 2001 Report Card, an ASCE panel of 20 "eminent civil engineers with expertise in a range of practice specialties" gave the United States a grade of "a discouraging ‘D+' overall," and estimated that it would take an investment of $1.3 trillion "to bring conditions to acceptable levels."

Last September's report was not a full Report Card, but just an "update." Why? "ASCE did not issue new grades because the condition and performance have not changed significantly in two years." In other words, the overall grade is still a tragic "D+," the difference being that now the investment needed to address this poor grade comes to $1.6 trillion dollars.

Bad Bridges Everywhere

It turns out that the dangerous bridge in my neighborhood isn't that unique. The ASCE gives the U.S. bridge infrastructure a grade of "C," saying, "As of 2000, 27.5% of the nation's bridges (162,000) were structurally deficient or functionally obsolete, an improvement from 29% in 1998. It is estimated that it will cost $9.4 billion a year for 20 years to eliminate all bridge deficiencies. Present funding trends of state Departments of Transportation call into question future progress on addressing bridge deficiencies."

How about some comments from the engineers on some of the other parts of our infrastructure? Here goes:

TRANSIT got a grade of C- "...our transit systems show signs of decline. Efforts to maintain the systems are outpaced by growth in ridership, which has increased faster than airline or highway transportation. According to the American Public Transit Association, public transportation ridership has increased 22% since 1998 - the highest level in 40 years. According to the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, capital outlays by all governments would have to double to reach the projected $18.9 billion Cost to Maintain level, and increase by 362% to reach the $43.9 billion Cost to Improve level."

SCHOOLS got a grade of D- "Due to either aging, outdated facilities, severe overcrowding, or new mandated class sizes, 75% of our nation's school buildings remain inadequate to meet the needs of school children."

DRINKING WATER got a grade of D "While drinking water quality remains good, the infrastructure of the nation's 54,000 drinking water systems is aging rapidly... There is an annual shortfall of $11 billion needed to replace or rehabilitate facilities that are nearing the end of their useful life and to comply with federal water regulations... The forecast for our nation's drinking water systems indicates a downward slope."

WASTEWATER got a grade of D "The nation's 16,000 wastewater systems face enormous needs. Some sewer systems are 100 years old and many treatment facilities are past their recommended life expectancy. Currently, there is a $12 billion annual shortfall in funding for infrastructure needs; however, federal funding has remained flat for a decade. Because of this continuing shortfall, more than one third of U.S. surface waters do not meet water quality standards.... EPA has reported that without improvements to the nation's wastewater treatment infrastructure, we face the very real risk of losing the environmental gains we have achieved over the last three decades since the passage of the Clean Water Act of 1972."

DAMS got a grade of D "The number of unsafe dams has risen by 23% to nearly 2,600. Because of downstream development, the number of ‘high-hazard potential dams' - those whose failure would cause loss of life - has increased from 9,921 in 2001 to 10,049 in 2003. There have been 21 dam failures in the past two years." The engineers don't comment on the social value - or detriment - of dams in general, but that's another story.

SOLID WASTE got a grade of C+ (the highest grade on the 2001 Report Card) "The amount of solid waste sent to landfills has declined 13% since 1990, while the amount of waste recovered through recycling has nearly doubled and waste-to-energy plants manage now 17% of the nation's trash. ("Waste-to-energy" plants are what most of us call garbage incinerators, the growing use of which has important environmental costs; but, again, that's another story.) Most states have 10 years' worth of landfill capacity... However... Because of a lack of an efficient, U.S.-based management system for [disposal of computer hardware and other electronic components], much of our nation's electronic waste is being stockpiled or sent overseas for disposal."

HAZARDOUS WASTE got a grade of D+ "Since 2001, brownfields redevelopment has increased, with the restoration of 922 sites resulting in increased tax revenue and jobs. The rate of Superfund site clean-up has quickened. Unfortunately, in both arenas, the clean-up rate is not able to keep up with the rate at which new sites are identified and the backlog of potential sites is assessed... The U.S. General Accounting Office estimates that, after nearly 20 years and outlays of more than $14 billion, the Superfund program has yet to complete clean-ups for 42% of the nation's most severely contaminated hazardous waste sites."

Please feel free to quote liberally from the previous thousand words the next time you hear, read, or see the words "NO NEW TAXES!" If you want even more to say - including specific figures on the infrastructure in your state - go look at the report yourself on the ‘net at http://www.asce.org/reportcard/

The bridge near my house, the one that passes over the freeway, is being rebuilt this summer. All the noise and the local street detours have made it a bit of a neighborhood event. I was talking to one of my neighbors about the project and he told me that the bridge was so far behind in its maintenance that it was in danger of collapsing at any moment. Who knew? This conversation started me thinking about the nation's bridges, and more.