What Is Infrastructure?
Every person in the nation needs infrastructure to exist. Infrastructure encompasses a wide variety of services, including local water mains; power lines that connect individual houses with the electrical grid throughout the country; roadways that connect homes to schools, stores, and places of employment; and the national highway system that connects points throughout the nation.
The Grading Process
Every four years, civil engineers in the United States evaluate the nation’s infrastructure categories. With this evaluation comes an assessment of the condition of these systems. This report card is called the ASCE’s Report Card for America’s Infrastructure.
A council of experts assigns grades according to eight criteria. These criteria include capacity, condition, funding, future need, operation/maintenance, public safety, resilience, and innovation. Over the last 15 years, every grade has been perilously close to failing. Most grades average in the D range. These grades are largely because of delayed maintenance and a lack of investment in general.
Solutions
Solving these problems requires a plan and a commitment to realistic changes. Solutions are possible, but will take effort.
- Leadership must adopt vision and goals at the national level to realize improvements. Legislators are in the unique position of instituting effective changes to these systems.
- Transportation systems must be designed to withstand the challenges of today and tomorrow. Resilient designs and ongoing maintenance are two keys to improving national infrastructure.
- Investment must increase wherever possible. These investments will serve national goals and individual systems that make up the national infrastructure.
Recognizing and highlighting these problems makes it possible to work toward real and lasting improvements in these crucial systems.