U.S. Infrastructure Is in Dire Straits, Report Says by MICHAEL COOPER, Published: January 27, 2009

More than a quarter of the nation’s bridges are structurally deficient or functionally obsolete. Leaky pipes lose an estimated seven billion gallons of clean drinking water every day. And aging sewage systems send billions of gallons of untreated wastewater cascading into the nation’s waterways each year.

These are among the findings of a report to be released Wednesday by the American Society of Civil Engineers, which assigned an overall D grade to the nation’s infrastructure and estimated that it would take a $2.2 trillion investment from all levels of government over the next five years to bring it into a state of good repair.

The society had planned to release the report in March, but moved it up to try to influence the debate over the $825 billion economic stimulus bill being negotiated by the Obama administration and Congress. Advocates for greater investment in public works projects have expressed disappointment that less than a third of the current proposal — which could be approved by the House on Wednesday — would be spent on infrastructure, and an even smaller part of that would go toward traditional concrete-and-steel projects like roads and transit.

“Crumbling infrastructure has a direct impact on our personal and economic health, and the nation’s infrastructure crisis is endangering our future prosperity,” the president of the society, D. Wayne Klotz, said in a statement. “Our leaders are looking for solutions to the nation’s current economic crisis. Not only could investment in these critical foundations have a positive impact, but if done responsibly, it would also provide tangible benefits to the American people, such as reduced traffic congestion, improved air quality, clean and abundant water supplies and protection against natural hazards.”

The current stimulus plan is weighted toward tax cuts, aid to the states, and an expanded safety net for people struggling to make ends meet. Much of the infrastructure spending it does contain would be in unusual areas. The plan devotes money to creating a database of health records, for example, and would spend more money making federal buildings energy-efficient than on repairing roads and bridges. In part this is because of questions about how soon major building projects can begin, because the goal of the bill is to inject money into the parched economy as quickly as possible.

The American Society of Civil Engineers, which has been sounding the alarm about the nation’s deteriorating infrastructure for years, and whose members would benefit from a major new investment in building and repair projects, paints a bleak picture of the state of the nation’s roads, transit systems, aviation system and levees. And it warned that in area after area, spending was being far outpaced by needs.

The society gave the nation’s roads a D-minus, noting that Americans are spending an estimated 4.2 billion hours a year stuck in traffic and that 45 percent of major urban highways are congested. Transit and aviation did not fare much better, getting D grades. The society noted that while mass transit use increased 25 percent from 1995 to 2005, nearly half of American households still lacked access to bus or rail transit. And it said that the increasing delays faced by airline passengers highlighted the need to modernize the outdated air traffic control system.

For the first time, this year the group examined the nation’s levees, and gave them a D-minus. The report warned that many of the nation’s levees were built more than 50 years ago to protect crops, but now protect communities. It warned that the cost of repairing and rehabilitating them could exceed $100 billion.

U.S. roads, water and basic systems earn 'D' grade by Seth Borenstein, Associated Press, 1/27/2009

WASHINGTON -- America's roads, public transit and aviation have gotten worse in the past four years. Water and sewage systems are dreadful. The basic physical backbone of American society is barely above failing, a report by top engineers says.

It'll cost $2.2 trillion to fix America's ailing infrastructure, according to highlights of a report being released early, just as the House of Representatives readies its first vote on President Barack Obama's call for a massive economic stimulus spending package.

The country's roads, dumps, dams, bridges, schools and rail systems need lots of that money, say the engineers, who would get a piece of the pie in working on the repairs. Government officials are already aiming billions of dollars at those physical needs as part of what at the moment is a $825 billion economic stimulus package. But the engineers say that's not enough.

Overall, the American Society of Civil Engineers gives the U.S. physical backbone for everything from schools and parks to dams and levees a D. That's the same overall grade as the last time the group gave a report, in 2005, but it really is slipping from a "high D" to a "low D," said report chairman Andrew Herrmann.

Herrmann, an engineer with the New York firm Hardesty & Hanover, said his group is issuing the highlights of the report -- the full document won't be out until late March -- "to be relevant ... investing in our infrastructure will create jobs."

Of the 15 areas the engineers looked at, three got worse and only one got better. The three that worsened were all transportation oriented: aviation dropped from a D+ to a D; so did public transit; and America's intricate roadway system potholed from a D to a D-. Only the energy system improved, from a D to a D+.

In 2005, the engineers said it would cost what would be $1.7 trillion in current dollars to fix what's broken. Now the pricetag is up to $2.2 trillion.

"That just goes to show that waiting has cost money," Herrmann told The Associated Press on Tuesday evening. "We haven't made any progress in four years. If my kid came home with 11 Ds and 4 Cs, I know I wouldn't be happy."

America's solid waste system was the only C+ on the report card. Bridges got a C; parks and rail systems managed C-. The only D+ plus was for energy. Solid Ds went to aviation, dams, hazardous waste, schools and public transit. The worst grades, D-, went to drinking water, inland waterways, roads and sewage systems.

"That absolutely makes sense," said Granger Morgan, head of Carnegie Mellon University's engineering and public policy program and an expert who wasn't part of the 28-engineer panel that handed out the grades. Morgan said just traveling the world shows that American infrastructure, especially in transportation, "is certainly not in the same league as parts of the developing world and parts of Europe."

But just because the federal government is handing out lots of money and society's physical backbone needs plenty of repairs, that doesn't automatically mean the government should spend most of its dollars on things such as new roads and power plants, Morgan said. Often, building newer roads doesn't fix congestion, yet building better public transit would pay off more, he said. And spending on energy efficiency more than physical power plants makes sense, he added.

"One really needs to make these choices on a bit of solid engineering economics as opposed to emotion and rhetoric," Morgan said. "We've got an enormous pent-up need. The only message is: 'Let's be careful to the extent that we can in the manner we spend the money."'

And even though the pricetag to fix America's physical needs is $2.2 trillion over five years, it's really only half that bad because $1.1 trillion of that is already being spent or planned, Herrmann said. The biggest "gap" between what's being spent or planned and what's needed is an additional $548.5 billion in roads and bridges, the report said. Second is $189.5 billion for public transit.

"Do you realize we're driving on a lot of roads that were built during the Eisenhower Administration," Herrmann said.

The report, the first one issued since Hurricane Katrina flooded New Orleans, added America's 100,000 miles of levees as a new area of failing infrastructure. Levees, which hold back floodwaters, get a D minus grade, with the report saying, "The risk to the public health and safety from failure has increased."

Engineers seek stimulus add-on for crumbling infrastructure By Alan Levin, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — The USA's infrastructure is crumbling and threatens the nation's economic well-being, according to a new report by a top engineering group.

A lack of investment in roads, bridges, mass transit and aviation means the cost of repair over the next five years has skyrocketed to $2.2 trillion, according to the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). In its last estimate four years ago, the cost was $1.6 trillion.

The ASCE, which has 146,000 members worldwide, is the country's oldest national engineering society.

Overall, the 15 categories graded by the ASCE received an average grade of "D" or poor, the group said in a press release. Aviation, roads and transit were downgraded from the group's last report.

The group rushed release of its report so it can be considered during debate Wednesday on the $825 billion economic stimulus package President Obama is pushing before Congress. The legislation includes $63 billion in infrastructure spending on transportation and environmental projects. ASCE members would oversee some of that work.

"A failing infrastructure cannot support a healthy economy," said Wayne Klotz, president of ASCE and the head of a civil engineering firm in Houston. "Crumbling infrastructure has a direct impact on our personal and economic health, and the nation's infrastructure crisis is endangering our future prosperity."

Not all infrastructure experts agree with ASCE's approach. University of California-Berkeley economist David Dowall, who teaches city and regional planning, acknowledges that spending on infrastructure has fallen dramatically since the 1950s and '60s.

But he disagrees that simply rebuilding or expanding existing roads or other infrastructure is the best way to improve the economy. Getting people to drive fewer miles or to become more energy-efficient makes more sense than massive construction projects, Dowall said.

Klotz spent Tuesday briefing lawmakers and their staff on Capitol Hill in advance of today's expected vote on the stimulus bill. The group is non-partisan, and has argued for years that the country has neglected its transportation network, sewer systems, public buildings and other infrastructure.

The group estimated that people spend 4.2 billion hours a year stuck in traffic, costing the economy $78.2 billion. Flight delays have surged because of an outdated air-traffic system, it reported.