Engineers’ Report Details Infrastructure Decrepitude

Report Blasts American Infrastructure

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WASHINGTON (AP) - America’s infrastructure is full of
cracks,leaks and holes and is getting worse, according
to an analysis by civil engineers that concludes the
nation’s transportation, water and energy systems have
shown little improvement since they were given an
overall grade of D-plus in 2001.

A report by the American Society of Civil Engineers
released Thursday assessed trends over the last two
years in the condition of 12 categories of
infrastructure, including roadways, bridges,drinking
water and energy.

The report blamed the deteriorating infrastructure on a
weak economy, limited federal programs, population
growth and the threat of terrorism, which diverted money
to security.

Americans' concerns about security threats are real, but soare the threats posed by crumbling infrastructure,'' Thomas Jackson, ASCE president, said in a statement.It doesn’t matterif the dam fails
because cracks have never been repaired or if itfails
at the hands of a terrorist. The towns below the dam
willstill be devastated.’’

There was no progress for schools, which received the
worstgrade - D-minus - from the engineers in 2001. The
report said three out of four school buildings are
inadequate. They estimate it will cost more than $127
billion to build new classrooms and modernizeoutdated
schools.

Energy transmission earned a D-plus two years ago, and
theengineers said the trend is getting worse.
Investment intransmission fell by $115 million
annually, to $2 billion a year in2000 from $5 billion
in 1975. Actual capacity increased by only 7,000
megawatts a year, 30 percent less than needed to keep
up withpower demand.

Roads didn’t fare much better. The nation is failing to evenmaintain the substandard conditions we currently have,'' the reportsaid, adding that the average rush hour grew by more than 18 minutes between 1997 and 2000. The engineers' report also saw no improvement on bridges, noting that 27.5 percent of U.S. bridges were structurally deficient or obsolete in 2000. Transportation systems showed signs of decline, despiteincreased spending over the past six years.Efforts to maintainthe systems are outpaced by growth
in ridership,’’ the report said.

Dwayne Kalynchuk, president of the American Public
Works Association, said investing in the nation’s
infrastructure needs tobe more of a priority.

We're all certainly aware of issues, of emergencies, andinvesting in emergencies immediately,'' Kalynchuk said.But Ithink here we have an emergency that is
going to catch up to us inthe next few years if we
don’t deal with it today.’’

The Bush administration in May proposed spending $247
billion onroads, bridges and mass transit, 13 percent
more than the previoussix-year plan.

Rep. Don Young, chairman of the House Transportation
andInfrastructure Committee, has proposed a $375
billion spendingplan, to be paid for by indexing the
gasoline tax to inflation.Young, R-Alaska, said in a
statement that the report reinforced hisserious
concerns about the state of the U.S. infrastructure.

If we don't provide adequate investment in transportation and water infrastructure, we will dearly regret it in the long run,''Young said. The report's other assessments of currents trends included: No improvement for aviation, which received a D in 2001.Little is being done to capitalize on the low
growth period after 9/11 to address the nation’s
aviation infrastructure needs.’’

Signs of decline for drinking water and wastewater.
The nation’s 54,000 drinking water systems are aging
rapidly and some sewer systems are 100 years old, while
federal funding remainsflat.

Declining progress for dams, with the number of unsafe
damsrising to nearly 2,600 and 21 dam failures in the
past two years.