SPECIAL ISSUE :SPECIAL INFRASTRUCTURE Our Nation’s Infrastructure in the Spotlight COVER STORY On the campaign trail, in the halls of state capitols and in legislative hearing rooms, officials on both sides of the political aisle and at all levels of government are talking about improving America’s infrastructure. President Trump continues to vow to fulfill his campaign promise to invest in the nation’s roads, bridges, airports and other infrastructure, and governors and state legislators are similarly at work to fulfill their own campaign promises. A message that the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) has been sharing for decades is starting to take hold: U.S. infrastructure needs at tent ion and investment . Our communities, families and friends face longer commutes, feel the cost of broken pipes and suffer through increasingly frequent power outages. How Bad Is It? In March, ASCE released the 2017 Infrastructure Report Card, giving the nation an overall grade of “D+” across 16 infrastructure categories. It came with a call to action that now was the time to make a large investment to address the $2 trillion funding deficit to meet the needs of today and ensure our infrastructure is built for the future. The 2017 Infrastructure Report Card can be found at https://www.infrastructurereportcard.org. AUTHOR Emily Feenstra, American Society of Civil Engineers 14 • DEEP FOUNDATIONS • JULY/AUG 2018 ASCE releases an Infrastructure Report Card every four years. On average, Americans make 188 million trips across structurally deficient bridges each day. Prepared every four years since 1998, the Infrastructure Report Card offers the civil engineers’ comprehensive assessment of America’s 16 major infrastructure categories: aviation, bridges, dams, drinking water, energy, hazardous waste, inland waterways, levees, ports, parks & recreation, rail, roads, schools, solid waste, transit and wastewater. Using a simple A-to-F school report card format, the Infrastructure Report Card examines current infrastructure conditions and needs, assigning grades and making recom- mendations to raise the assessed grades. While the 2017 Infrastructure Report Card indicates that some incremental progress has been made toward restoring our nation’s infrastructure since the last assessment in 2013, the progress has not been enough. America’s cumulative GPA is a D+, the same grade as it was in 2013. The 2017 grades ranged from a B for rail to a D- for transit, illustrating the clear impact of investment—or lack thereof—on the grades. Three categories—parks, solid waste and transit— received a decline in grade, while seven—hazardous waste, inland waterways, levees, ports, rail, schools and wastewater—saw slight improvement. Grades for six categories remain unchanged from 2013—aviation, bridges, dams, drinking water, energy, and roads.
