New Report Card on Infrastructure Shows Dire Need to Build Back Better
Every four years, the American Society of Civil Engineers’ (ASCE) releases a Report Card grading the nation’s infrastructure from “A” to “F.” In 2017, the Infrastructure Report Card remained stagnant at a “D+”— the same grade the United States received in 2013. The current year’s report incrementally improved to a “C- ” scorecard— five categories increased and just one category decreased in their benchmarks. This improvement, however marginal, is the first time the metric has risen out of the D range in 20 years. Nonetheless, the report once again plainly demonstrates that America’s infrastructure is falling apart at the seams and we are not making long-term strides to fix the basic systems we rely on for clean water, energy, to communicate with each other, or to get from place to place.