The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) provides a comprehensive assessment of the United States of America's infrastructure every four years. There are 16 specific categories and each is given its own letter grade based on the ASCE's findings. The most recent report came out
just two years ago in 2013, and the grades that were given were at best mediocre. Shown here are the grades and categories of the 2013 Infrastructure Report Card. The letter grades are given specific meanings. They are as follows: A = Exceptional, B = Good, C = Mediocre, D = Poor, F = Failing. As you may have put together yourself, it isn't looking good for America's infrastructure.
Before I go any further let's look at what exactly a countries infrastructure is. The Oxford Dictionary defines infrastructure as "The basic physical and organizational structures and facilities (e.g., buildings, roads, and power supplies) needed for the operation of a society or enterprise." The biggest part of the infrastructure that most people notice is the transportation or more specifically the roads.
Most of America's roads and interstates were a product of the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956. The people who built these roads built them thinking that they would never have to be replaced. Obviously these people were very wrong. All you have to do is drive down your nearest highway and interstate and you'll find evidence of this. From cracked roads to highways that have been under construction for years signs of this problem are everywhere.
Fixing these problems as you may know comes down to one thing: money. Because the government is in charge of fixing these issues through the Federal Highway Administration (FHA). As with any government agency they receive the amount of funding from congress. Fortunately, earlier this year in his State of the Union Address, President Obama spoke in favor of creating a bi-partisan bill that would not only help fix America's dwindling infrastructure but also create jobs in the process. This idea was likely to put one trillion dollars into the rebuilding of the infrastructure.
While many agree that the money is at the root of the problem others argue that although money is a good place to begin, it won't matter until we change how that money is being spent. The Federal Highway Administration is not the agency that does most of the spending when it comes to the roads. The FHA funnels the money it receives to the different state agencies, who then use it according to their own discretion. Some people argue that the states just don't know how to spend this money responsibly and make good long term decisions that will not fall apart in the near future.
I'm sure there are many other rational arguments on how to tackle this issue, but if we don't act soon the problem will continue to get worse and worse. We can continue to look back and blame those in the past or we can put that behind us and launch ourselves head on at the issues at hand.
By Quinn Foster
Sources:
Golson, Jordan. "It’s Time to Fix America’s Infrastructure. Here’s Where to Start." Wired.com. Conde Nast Digital, 23 Jan. 2015. Web. 11 Oct. 2015.
"ASCE | 2013 Report Card for America's Infrastructure." ASCE | 2013 Report Card for America's Infrastructure. American Society of Civil Engineering, n.d. Web. 11 Oct. 2015.
Schmitt, Angie. "Streetsblog USA." More Money Won’t Fix U.S. Infrastructure If We Don’t Change How It’s Spent. OpenPlans, 5 Feb. 2015. Web. 11 Oct. 2015.
"Definition of Infrastructure in English:." Infrastructure: Definition of Infrastructure in Oxford Dictionary (American English) (US). OxfordDictionaries, n.d. Web. 11 Oct. 2015.
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