America’s Infrastructure

What do you usually think about when you are driving? If you’re like me, most of the time you probably think about things unrelated to your transit. When I do dwell on my drive, I usually think about:

(1) The time: I’m often running late;
(2) My speed: I don’t want to get a ticket;
(3) Traffic lights: I hate stop lights and often try to time my arrival so I don’t have to come to a complete stop at them;
(4) Other drivers: Sometimes it gets a bit scary out there;
(5) Gridlock: On those bad days–why are all these vehicles not moving?

One thing I rarely contemplate is the structural condition of the roads/bridges I’m driving on. But according to a recently-released report by the American Society of Civil Engineers, perhaps I should.
Last month the ASCE released a follow up progress report on its 2001 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure, in which it assess the conditions of 12 infrastructure categories, including bridges and roads.
The 2001 Report didn’t paint a pretty picture of America’s infrastructure. The grades were:

Roads [D+]
Bridges [C]
Transit [C-]
Aviation [D]
Schools [D-]
Drinking Water [D]
Wastewater [D]
Dams [D]
Solid Waste [C+]
Hazardous Waste [D+]
Navigable Waterways [D+]
Energy [D+]

For purposes of the report, a grade of “C” is considered “Mediocre” and a “D” is considered “poor.”
Because insufficient time has elapsed to make substantial changes on these large-scale items, the 2003 update does not assign new grades; instead, it offers a current trend assessment. Unfortunately, there’s not much headway to report. In each category, the 2003 trend is either “no progress” or “declining.”
What’s holding progress back? For one thing, the cost of making needed improvements:

In 2001, the estimated cost for infrastructure renewal was $1.3 trillion over a five-year period. Today, that cost has risen to $1.6 trillion over a five-year period.

It will take a multi-tiered effort to overcome this:

[S]olutions to repair our crumbling infrastructure can be addressed through a renewed partnership between citizens, the private sector, and local, state and federal governments, reauthorization of TEA-21, and passage of the Clean Water Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act can provide critical funding to repair our transportation and water infrastructure.

The ASCE website also includes individual state reports. For example, the Tennessee report indicates that:

• 24% of Tennessee’s major roads are in poor or mediocre condition;

• 43% of Tennessee’s urban freeways are congested;

• Driving on roads in need of repair costs Tennessee motorists $505 million a year in extra vehicle repairs and operating costs–$121 per motorist;

• Vehicle travel on Tennessee’s highways increased by 43% from 1991 to 2001. Tennessee’s population grew by 18% between 1990 and 2001;

• The state must invest $1.4 billion over the next 20 years to repair its aging drinking water treatment and distribution systems.

Then there’s this nugget:

Tennessee’s top-notch roads have been built at the expense of mass transit alternatives with little regard for environmental concerns, a new state report concludes. The result: more congestion, longer commutes and dirtier air. State law requires a long-range plan and that it be updated every two years, which has not happened since 1994. Former Gov. Don Sundquist, who was in office from 1995 until earlier this year, said the idea that mass transit would solve the state’s air-quality problem was “a lot of pie-in-the-sky stuff. There’s not enough money anywhere to build mass transit systems in the state.” TDOT has a $1.5 billion budget. The state has spent less than 1% of available flexible federal funds on alternatives that could help relieve congestion and improve air quality. Vehicle miles traveled in Tennessee have more than tripled in the past three decades. Nashville commuters spent 44 hours sitting in traffic in 2000, compared with 27 hours in 1994. (The Tennessean, 7/25/03)

Congestion? Longer commutes? Dirtier air? Here in Tennessee? < /sarcasm>
Large public works projects like roads and sewer systems are expensive. Consequently, politicians often attempt to delay needed upgrades until the need becomes painfully obvious. It’s incumbent on the public to maintain pressure on the government to keep system capacity up with demand. If not, we’ll experience inconvenience, headaches, and perhaps even tragedy.