PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. (defeo.biz) — The nation’s infrastructure is a mess, according to a new report from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE).
As part of the 2017 Infrastructure Report Card, the organization gave the country’s infrastructure a D+, but said the problems that exist can be fixed.
“While our nation’s infrastructure problems are significant, they are solvable,” ASCE President Dr. Norma Jean Mattei said in a news release. “We need our elected leaders — those who pledged to rebuild our infrastructure while on the campaign trail — to follow through on those promises with investment and innovative solutions that will ensure our infrastructure is built for the future.”
As part of its report, ASCE evaluated 16 categories of infrastructure in the 2017 Report Card, with grades ranging from a B for rail to a D- for transit.
In an overview of its rankings, the ASCE noted the country’s roads are “often crowded, frequently in poor condition, chronically underfunded, and are becoming more dangerous.”
More than two out of every five miles of urban interstates are congested, and traffic delays cost the country $160 billion in wasted time and fuel in 2014, the organization said. One out of every five miles of highway pavement nationwide is in poor condition, and roads have a significant and increasing backlog of rehabilitation needs.